Nas announces scholarship fund to ease transition from college to career

According to The New York Times, Nas has invested $100,000 in Seattle-based company Koru—which helps new graduates with transitioning into their careers—where he’s established the Nas Scholarship Fund and plans to work closely with the company on plans to help coach its students. The rapper issued the following statement about the pairing:

I’m inspired to support Koru participants because I know how hard it can be to carve out your path and purpose in life. It takes conviction, hard work and the right network. The young people going through Koru are gritty, book smart and street smart. The Koru program gives them an opportunity to put those smarts to work. I can’t wait to work directly with them and share what I’ve learned through my own life experiences.

Koru’s founder Kristen Hamilton also issued a statement about the collaboartion:

What companies are looking for is for people with the capacity to come up against a wall and think about what they’ll do when they get through it or around it rather than about how thick the wall is, or how challenging. This has been Nas’ reality. He didn’t go to college–he studied in the school of the real world, and became a successful artist and businessperson. He didn’t have his way paved for him. He embodies the notion of grit. So we started talking about how we could work together.

​[via Pitchfork]