Jim Jones Says He Didn’t Realize How Many People Loved Nas Until Viral Comparison: ‘I’m Watching People Go Absolutely Batsh– Crazy’

Jim Jones sat down with Angie Martinez for her IRL podcast recently and talked about the debate that’s had a stranglehold on rap social media.

The legendary journalist and radio host said that the day after she booked Jim for an episode, the Nas debate went viral and asked if he’s been trolling people a bit with some of his quotes surrounding the situation.

“I mean you’re definitely correct,” he said with a smile before explaining how the conversation started in the first place. “But I didn’t start it. There was a young gentleman that they asked a question to and his clip went viral. He was on a podcast and they asked him who’s more relevant: Jim Jones or Nas? That went super viral and that led to all these people with platforms to ask that question.”

Adding that he was only defending himself after being asked a question, he then brought up his earlier back-and-forth with fellow Diplomat Cam’ron earlier this year. “Even from the beginning of the year when I did the Justin [Laboy] interview — I didn’t start it,” Jones said. “They asked me how I felt about what was said about me from another platform from some other people. I’m not a troublemaker, but I like trouble if that’s the case. I’m built for it. My whole type of thing has been that engagement, and here we are.”

Jones then talked about how easy it is to go viral with today’s social media landscape and how something like that can benefit an artist in the digital age. “I gave people a prerequisite,” he told Martinez. “I know how to go viral, this is easy. We’re in a community where everything goes viral… and turns into a revenue stream. I’m on everybody’s Explore page, I’m at the top of this page, the top of that page. You like me, don’t like me, know who I was… one click away from making me some money. I also have a record label, I have artists, I have music out. It makes it that much easier to know who Jim Jones is. I’m worried about myself when I make these moves. I know how to turn my negatives into a positive.”

The kicker, though? He underestimated how many people have Nas at the top of their favorite rapper list.

“Man, I didn’t know how many people loved Nas, though,” he said before making himself and Angie burst into laughter. “I’m watching people go absolutely batsh– crazy, like goddamn. But that’s hip-hop. There’s people that I adored as a fan too that I’ll probably go batsh– crazy for in the same situation, I love it, that’s what the game was built on. Let’s not make no mistake, I put in a lot of work and I did a lot of incredible things that a lot of people have not gotten to do in this industry.”

A few weeks back, a clip of a young 22-year-old from New Jersey went viral because he said the Harlem rapper was more relevant to him than Nas. This opinion predictably got people up in arms and Jones’ subsequent media run after continued to fan the flames. Jones defended himself on Fat Joe and Jadakiss’ podcast and told the people to pull up the Billboard stats and he told the BagFuel podcast that he basically did Nas a favor by talking about him so much. “What I did for Nas probably never been done for him in his life. He’s never been that viral at all. Ever,” he said. “Ever. He’s never been talked about like this ever in his life.”

You can watch the full episode below.