“Nas is a great artist, but he’s not a great businessman,” said Quan.
King Quan is finally speaking out about what sparked the beef and severed his affiliation with Nas.
In the early ’00s, Quan had gained hype after appearing on “Just A Moment” off Nas’ 2004 album Street’s Disciple before signing to Nas and Atlantic Records. Over the years, Quan always claimed that they were cool personally, until he called out Nas for not being there after the passing of his child. Although he never revealed the exact details as to why they parted ways, their fall-out remained mystery until today.
According to a new interview, Quan a.k.a Don Ferquan claims his production deal with Nas is what initially sparked the beef. Ferquan begins by explaining why he didn’t like Nas’ situation at Sony. He knew the Queensbridge rapper was bound to leave the label, which eventually happened in 2006. The Virginia native continues by revealing the Atlantic Records executives’ real plan was to “piggy-back off Nas.”
“Nas is a great artist, but he’s not a great businessman,” said Quan. “This is where different fallouts happen.”
Quan’s deal with Atlantic was worth $2.2 million and entitled Nas with at least $220,000 from the signing. Afterwards, Nas gave Quan a 7-album deal and attempted to walk away with 50% of his publishing. The deal also charged him $50,000-60,000 for a Nas feature, even after he “just sold him a hit record for almost little to nothing.”
“I remember us beefing over that,” Quan added. “‘No, you’re not getting 50% of my publishing. You shouldn’t get none of my motherf**king publishing. I just sold you a hit record. I didn’t cost nobody no money. I made money for everybody. The f**k you mean you want 50% of my publishing. N*gga, you crazy.’”
In Part two of the interview, Quan reflects on his experience after signing with Atlantic Records. He said he received some very important Information from 50 Cent after finding out the two shared the same lawyer. The meeting almost led to a potential signing before 50 headed back out to the West Coast, however Quan signed with Nas.
Watch parts 1 and 2 of Quan’s interview below.
Props to Mikey T The Movie Star
