But before she dropped the money bag on the floor and died
She said if you really love me I'll come back alive

from Nas – Who Killed It? Lyrics on Rap Genius

Here, Nas explains what he thinks is the solution to the death of hip hop: everyone needs to love the art.

At the time that hip hop was said to be dead, there were several allegations as to what caused it; piracy cutting at rappers' profits, rappers going for profits through “ringtone” rap at the expense of deep music, record labels treating their rappers as second class by failing to promote rap albums or making them compete with other rappers by releasing rap albums on the same date to accommodate their other artists.

Nas claims that everyone could save hip hop’s death by respecting it more. Fans should buy music rather than steal, rappers should release quality music, and executives should treat their rappers with the same accommodations as their country stars.

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