Nas talks to CNN about the death of Derrion Albert

Nas recently sat down with CNN to talk about the sudden passing of Derrion Albert, a Chicago honor student that was beaten to death late last month by boys his same age.

As always, Nas carries himself well and articulates his answers even after they attempted to paint him in a bad light.

I'm not one to defend Hip-Hop. I feel a lot of commercial Hip-Hop tends to play on and glorify the violent aspect of inner city living, something that Nas did for some parts of his career; however, mixed in with some of those tracks are songs that hold positive messages that could be applied to the lives of the listeners for their better good.

Whats funny is that the media hardly ever shine light on Hip-Hop songs that speak the truth and send out positive messages like Slick Rick's "Hey Young World", KRS-One's "You Must Learn", or Ludacris's "Runaway Love."

I agree that music is a big influence on the lives of the youth, but I also feel that upbringing and parenting is even bigger. If there is an absence in the home than the TV and the music will play substitute and they are the worst babysitters.