Okayplayer had the privilege of catching up with the legendary NaS and Damian Marley while down in Austin, TX at the 2010 SxSW Music Conference. Here is part 1 where the guys talk about how the Distant Relatives collaboration (in stores May 18th) came to be, the overall aesthetic of the album, health care, and Barack Obama after completing one year in office. Let me explain that it was a bit of a challenge at the time for us to get Nas and Damian together so we actually ended up interviewing Nas first and just as we finished, Damian entered. We then interviewed Damian and that is why Nas took a back seat. There is a second part of the interview with Nas coming later this week.