It's wild just on page 77 or so of this thread (2021 at the time) some were saying Nas would be relevant in 10 years.
I don't think you can blame Nas' downfall on queerness at least much. Almost no younger pop or pop-rap artists of any demographic are lasting very long or crossing over to multiple generations. I think that's 'cause of the purely social media-based marketing of all new pop music. Not everybody gets their music that way. I'm not a heavy SM user, but it's there I heard a snippet of the jam that's "Bed Chem" by Sabrina Carpenter. Never would've otherwise.
Also, I'm not a hater, more indifferent musically, but objectively Nas isn't that hugely talented? Lol. Even on 'Old Town Road' the chorus he didn't perform is the part people most remember I'd say. He lacks much vocal distinction (he both raps and sings but does neither outstandingly), and he also relies heavily on non-musical image, visual etc. stuff to draw attention to his music. I know every pop artist does that, but Nas leans far more heavily into that side than most.
It's a generation back now, but Lady Gaga's top flight world-dominating pop career only lasted about 3-4 years (2009-2013 or so) because no matter how vocally-talented she was (more than Nas) or even when she showed 'serious' sides here and there, people just saw her as an oversaturated gimmick who wore meat dresses.
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Basically I don't know if he was ever set up for long term relevance musically speaking. But Nas is still so so hot. Although I'm not musically interested, sometimes I get in the mood just to come here and look at his latest thirst traps
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