Even legendary MC Nas says he’s excited about the competition between his two mic peers.

“I love what’s happening,” Nas said. “At first, with the sh– 50’s doing [creating controversy], I thought it was disgraceful that he [would need] Kanye West to help him sell records after last year, when he talked [trash] about everybody. But now I see what he did is something he needed to do to make people pay attention to him. I look at the excitement of it.”

Nas added that he had enjoyed Kanye’s album and that he was also interested in hearing what 50 was bringing to the table with Curtis.

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Nas shook things up by claiming Hip-Hop is Dead with his last album. Now, he’s ready for the next release.

“I was on the Virgin Islands on New Year’s Day, I got the news I had another #1 album. I think I made some heads turn. I did my thing: no radio. Not much radio spins. Now I wanna have fun with the radio. I’ll still try to reach for a higher ground and come sometime in December,” he told MTV.

“I’m really into [the idea of having] a summer album…But they say the fourth quarter is for big dogs. I been doing the fourth quarter for years, so I guess I’m at home in the fourth.”

He noted that he is halfway done with the project and may still work with Will.i.am, DJ Premier and others. For now, he’s holding off on all of the details.

He also spoke on Rock the Bells.

“That was amazing…I wasn’t on all the dates. It’s a great tour. We had 40,000 people in San Francisco alone. Wu-Tang were incredible. I’m thinking about doing the next one and taking it global. I’m thinking about jumping in with [the promoters] and taking it all the way global.”

Aside from his next album on Def Jam, Sony is still slated to release a Greatest Hits compilation of Nas tracks including a couple of new Nas tracks.

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Nas joined forces with John Mayer, Phil Vassar and the Dave Mathews Band on Thursday night to bring “A Concert for Virginia Tech” to the college’s Blacksburg campus. According to The Richmond Times-Dispatch, the rapper cheekily dedicated the last song of his set, “Hate Me Now,” to TV pundit Bill O’Reilly, who had previously said it was an “abomination” and “atrocity” that Nas was going to perform at the free concert. “For those who don’t understand what Nas is about, like that chump Bill O’Reilly, I got a song for you,” he said before breaking into the tune. More than 45,000 people reportedly attended the concert. …

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You can add Nas to the growing list of MCs who have responded to controversial television and radio personality Bill O’Reilly.

During a recent airing of his Fox News show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” the commentator blasted Nas’ free concert for the students of Virginia Tech as an “abomination” and “atrocity.” O’Reilly referred to Nas — or “Nazz,” as the TV host pronounced it — as a “gangsta rapper” and said his lyrics are as “violent as they come,” citing songs such as “Shoot ‘Em Up,” “One Mic,” Ether” and “Made U Look” as his musical history of violence. (The show also displayed some of Nas’ concert footage and videos, plus the scene where Jay-Z gets shot in the video for “99 Problems.”) O’Reilly called Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger “a villain” for allowing Nas to perform.

“Having a rapper who trades in violence perform at Virginia Tech insults the victims, the university and the entire commonwealth,” O’Reilly declared. The Nas controversy has been the topic of several of his shows.

Nas spoke exclusively to MTV News on Wednesday, dismissing his detractor.

“It’s what he’s supposed to do. He has an image to uphold,” Nas said initially, laughing it off.

But the conversation took a more serious turn when Nas described O’Reilly’s stance against him — and previous outbursts against peers such as Snoop Dogg and Ludacris (see “Ludacris Barks Back At Pepsi, O’Reilly; P-Roach Antics Not An Issue For Soda Giant”) — as being prejudiced and outdated.

“He’s a racist,” Nas said. “Everybody has a marketing plan; his marketing plan is racism.

“He doesn’t understand the younger generation. He deals with the past,” Nas continued. “The people he represents are Republican, older, a generation that has nothing to do with the reality of what’s happening now with my generation. … He’s not really on my radar. People like him are supposed to be taught and people like me are supposed to let n—as like him know. I don’t take him serious. His sh– is all about getting ratings or whatever. I wouldn’t honor anything Bill O’Reilly has to say. It just shows you what bloodsuckers do: They abuse something like the Virginia Tech [tragedy] for show ratings. You can’t talk to a person like that.”

Nas maintained that some of his harsher lyrics are no more rigid than the reality that inspired them.

“Here’s somebody that speaks about America in his music, and the community that I come from has the same kind of violence as Virginia Tech,” the legendary rapper said about himself. “It’s unnecessary, stupid violence. Hip-hop is a part of the generation of [Virginia Tech] as well as alternative and pop and rock. Hip-hop is a part of that. That’s why I’m [performing at the concert]. With Bill O’Reilly, it doesn’t raise an eyebrow to me because it’s garbage, its bullsh–. He has nothing to do with the real people who go to school or the parents who had to endure that tragedy.”

The New York MC also opined that O’Reilly should be exploring the inspiration for music’s depictions of violence instead of making blanket statements about the content itself.

“Let him ask why I made the songs I made,” Nas said. “It didn’t come from nowhere. It came from this country. I’m not talking about Russia in my music. I’ve never been to Russia. I’m not talking about Africa, Switzerland, China. I’m talking about me being American and growing up in a crazy world and helping to reflect all different sides of life. I got songs also about totally different things — ‘Black Girl Lost,’ you feel what I’m saying?”

Besides O’Reilly, seven families of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy have spoken out against Nas performing, and there was an editorial in the school newspaper saying it would be a poor choice for the rapper to perform some of his songs where he talks about guns.

University officials responded by saying the announcement of the concert has been getting overwhelmingly positive feedback and that the lineup would not be changed.

Despite the controversy, Nas says he was asked by the school to perform and there are many people who would be disappointed if he did not come.

“I’m still coming,” he reiterated. “Unfortunately, man, a lot of places in America have to deal with unnecessary violence. Somebody like me who knows it firsthand and could relate, … I had a best friend killed, plenty other friends killed. I been through it. I seen it. My music reflects reality. I think that’s what makes it important that I come through and show love to those people [at Virginia Tech]. They deserve it.”

“A Concert for Virginia Tech” takes place at the school Thursday (September 6). John Mayer, Phil Vassar and the Dave Mathews Band will also perform. A spokesperson for O’Reilly was unavailable for comment.

A Canadian venue, which had agreed to hold an election drive for University students, has reportedly backed out after Nas was added to the event, claiming the rapper’s lyrics promote violence.

According to CBC News, the Ottawa Congress Centre had agreed with student groups from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa to host “Rock the Vote,” an event to encourage students to vote in the upcoming Ontario election.

But after confirming Nas as their headlining act, the student groups were told the concert could not go on as planned. The event was scheduled to take place on October 1st.

Isaac Cockburn, vice president of student issues for the Carleton University Students’ Association, told CBC News that the students were told the Ottawa Congress Centre has a policy against rap music and that Nas’ lyrics promote violence.

Cockburn claimed that Peter Seguin, vice president of food and beverage for the centre, told him the centre has a policy banning hip-hop and rap.

“He in fact said that he’d had over 200 requests for hip-hop shows that he’s turned down over the past couple of years,” Cockburn explained. “He said that it was an increased security risk and that it was a vulnerability that the Congress Centre was not willing to take on.”

Cockburn says the students had been negotiating with the centre about the event since July and did not think picking Nas would be an issue because the hard rock band Alexisonfire played there last September.

Lynne Martichenko, the Congress Centre’s spokesperson, denied that neither Nas nor hip-hop was the problem. She said the event was not suitable for the Congress Centre room the students tried to book, which has new carpets and chandeliers.

She emphasized the center is designed for meetings, trade shows, and conventions. She also revealed that the students had not signed any contract with the Congress Centre and they should find a venue which was more appropriate.

Martichenko also mentioned the controversy caused by Nas’ forthcoming performance at a memorial concert in Virginia Tech next month.

Earlier this year, Seung Hui-Cho, a Virginia Tech student, opened fire on several students and staff members of campus killing 32 people and then committing suicide.

Several families of the victims of the shooting say that Nas’ inclusion to the event is disrespectful for the people killed, because of his violent lyrics.

Despite their complaints , Nas is still scheduled to perform at Virginia Tech on September 6 alongside the Dave Mathews Band and John Mayer.

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