Exclusive Video: Nas Shares His Passion For Hip-Hop Cassettes

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In this short film produced for TDK Life on Record's Chronicles series, Nas discusses his passion for cassettes. The rapper reminisces about his long-gone tape collection, explains the importance of cassettes in early hip-hop culture and recalls the art of recording songs off the radio. His deep love of the medium and the music comes through in every moment, most especially when he talks about the '80s rap legends who inspired him to become one of the most acclaimed emcees of the '90s.

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Song Stories

“V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.”

Fishbone | 1985

Quite a few musicians have utilized initials for song titles -- Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T.," Abba's "S.O.S.," Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y.," etc. But the more curiously initialed tune has to be "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.," short for "Voyage to the Land of the Freeze-Dried Godzilla Farts." Fishbone's original guitarist, Kendall Jones, explained to Rolling Stone, "When Norwood [Fisher] wrote it, he introduced it to the band saying, 'Man, I've been hearing about all these Nazi right-wing groups on the news saying the Holocaust was staged. So what if America said it never dropped two atom bombs on Japan, that it was actually Godzilla popping a couple off?' Only Norwood would come up with something that out." The same year "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F." was released, the film Godzilla 1985 appeared in North America.

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