Nas, Grandmaster Caz, Steve Stoute & Ben Horowitz on Paying Hip-Hop’s Pioneers Their Due

I think in life it's impossible to do anything great if you start with what's possible. You have to start with what's right. Hip-hop's not that big. Like, the guys who made the art form are not that many, and so why can't we honor them?

Acknowledging and celebrating and then bringing this group of people together is something that the industry should have done a long time ago. When people see me and they see my passion, this nigga still got it. He's still doing it. Because I have to. Hip-hop don't have Social Security. You have to work. The whole thing about hip-hop is about to grow, to be better, and I think we are living our lyrics with Paid in Full. I want everybody to know around the world what Grandmaster Caz looks like and to celebrate him and applaud this man for what he's done, and celebrate Roxanne and celebrate Melle and the D.O.C. and everybody else who's had these achievements. The thing is the honor. The thing is putting you in the light that you deserve to be in. If you're watching this and love hip-hop-

Hip-hop changed music, fashion, language, and culture. But many of the people who built it never received the recognition or financial rewards that matched their impact. In this episode, Ben Horowitz and I sit down with Nas, Grandmaster Caz, and Steve Stoute to tell the story behind the Paid in Full Foundation and its mission to honor hip-hop's pioneers. We discuss why the foundation pairs financial support with recognition, what happens when generations of hip-hop artists come together, and why giving these artists their flowers is about more than an award. And Caz shares what that recognition has meant firsthand, from his place in hip-hop history to how Paid in Full helped change his life. So this is the first time this group has gotten together to publicly talk about the Paid in Full Foundation. Guys, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So Ben, why don't you introduce the foundation and maybe let's get into the origin story as far back as you want to go as to how this came to be.

Yeah, so Paid in Full is an organization meant to honor the legacy of the people who created one of the most important musical art forms of all time, hip-hop, and make sure that they're paid in full financially, spiritually, and culturally. And the idea kind of started with me, Steve, and Nas. So it always bothered me that I bought Paid in Full, the album, for ten dollars, and I got, you know, in my career, and you know, people in tech know this, I probably got at least five million dollars worth of value out of that record, but there was no way to pay it back, and it needed to be paid back. And so I had the idea originally, and I called Steve. Steve and I have been friends for many, many years, and I said, "Steve, I have this idea. What do you think?" And he said, "Well, it's not only a good idea, but it's a very timely idea because people are talking about this right now, but they're not doing anything." So if you listen to the podcast, people are saying, oh, these rappers, these old guys, they don't have any money, they're dusty, they're this, they're that, and all these kinds of things. And these are very, very important guys, but nobody's