Mario on Nas’ Storytelling, Being Inspired by Tupac & More | R&B Hip-Hop Power Players 2023

Mario opens up about his love for R&B and hip-hop, being inspired by 2Pac’s “Dear Mama” and more.

Mario:
It’s the 50th anniversary and everybody’s here with me celebrating hip-hop or R&B.

Yeah. Billboard 50th anniversary, thank y’all for all you have done. So many stories told through music, so many lives touched, so many lives changed.

I was just talking to my Virgo brother Nas, right? He was the epitome of what hip-hop was in my middle school years. Lyricism, the beat selection, the storytelling, the way he transitioned through his albums, the competitiveness of hip-hop, we all learned that you know what I’m saying? I learned that through Nas. I learned that through people like Jay-Z, you know what I’m saying?

Keeping it nostalgic, you learn that through Puff. Puff takes samples from the ’80s and the ’70s and ’60s, and he brings it and he makes it fresh. He puts great R&B records and groups together it’s just hip-hop has had such a great marriage with R&B from like the late ’90s and the early 2000s. And it just makes you appreciate storytelling and makes you appreciate the texture and makes you appreciate the culture of hip-hop and R&B.

My mother played “Dear Mama” for me from Tupac, I will say my early middle school years. And I just remember telling her one day I said “Mom, I’m gonna write a song like that for you.” It’s not quite the same as “Dear Mama” but I ended up writing a song for my mom so like, I don’t know, I just think hip-hop is just- it’s something that when you hear it and you feel it, it takes you back to a space in time. R&B, when you hear it and you feel it, it makes you want to express yourself, makes you feel something, makes you feel your emotions, and it makes you feel your vulnerability.

Watch the full video above.