It's said that art mirrors life. In the Nation's case, there has always been a deliberate entanglement of perception and reality. Fans demand their MCs be real but never too real, never this REAL. Successful hip-hop is about the hint of the danger, the tease of it, the mystique, reality, and hit music. Hip-hop is about balance. The Nation is a group of artists striving for that balance, volatility versus musicality. Philosophy versus practicality. Morality versus legality.
Controversy regarding their acclaim, including feuds with rival street crews within/without their city as well as brushes with the law, with insufficient regard paid to their intellect, considerable mic skills, raw talent, and business acumen; the Nation is looking to wrest there names from public speculation and let their own words do the talking. It should be forewarned to never mistake their bravado or machismo for self-absorption. The vicissitudes of the Nation's careers have dictated a longer view.
Lyrics aside, they seem to be less preoccupied with visible means of success and more so with acting as an emissary from the under-repped city of Washington, D.C. "I went to school in that neighborhood, I worked there, I trapped there, I hustled there, and I got my name there. "We're proud to be from D.C. and show out-of-towners what we do as well as hold that on our backs and carry that, to be the first one from there to really rock, and let people outside of the district to know that there's something special here in Washington, D.C."
