Nav Is Listening To His Critics, Only Because He Always Wants To Improve

A recent viral video shared by Nav has kept the internet laughing for weeks.

In the video, released earlier this month, security cameras caught Nav and Lil Uzi Vert leaving Nav’s studio together. Lil Uzi Vert is seen attempting to hop an island in the middle of a pool, but instead slipping on the border and falling into the water. You can see Nav and Lil Uzi Vert bursting out laughing.

It might’ve embarrassed Lil Uzi Vert, but Nav just had to post the video to his 2.1 million Instagram followers.

“Once it happened, we went to tell our friends and everybody, like [XO Records co-founder and Nav’s manager] Cash and them,” Nav says. “Like, ‘Yo, this guy just slipped in the pool and he’s totally wet.’ He needed clothes from some of the homies. Then when we got the footage from the security camera, he was like, ‘Yo, you gotta post that. You gotta post that.’ I was like, ‘Yo, post it.’ You know what I mean?”

“We were all watching on the big screen in the studio,” he continues. “All of us were dying laughing.”

The Canadian rapper and signee to The Weeknd’s XO label is in good spirits as he heads out on his Never Sleep ’23 Tour, which started on Valentine’s Day in Minneapolis and comes to Dallas on March 6, when he’ll perform at South Side Ballroom with support from RealestK and SoFaygo.

While calling in on Zoom during the first day of his tour, Nav seems laser-focused on accomplishing two things when he finishes the 22 dates: delivering his best performance each night and completing his next project, Nav 2.

“I’ll have my engineer with me and all my equipment with me,” he says. “I’ll be making beats and recording on tour.”

“Lately” is the first single from Nav 2, an Afrobeats-inspired song that deals with wanting to be single after being in a relationship. “Lately” is just a taste of Nav giving back to his fans, delivering Nav mixtape vibes but with a polished sound.

“The fans have been asking for that original sound for the longest,” Nav says. “I kept pushing away from it and doing other things. Now it just feels right. The timing feels right. I’ve done all the things I feel like I could do. I rapped on everybody’s beats. I’ve done all those different flows. Now it is just time to go back to what started everything.”

The hip-hop artist has been learning from his critics and taking their comments into consideration to improve his music and live production. Nav is constantly trying to improve his performance. Many Dallas fans haven’t seen him perform since the Bad Habits Tour in 2019. Back then, he says, he was “younger, more careless” and now his approach is “more methodical.”

“I’m really trying to make my setlist the best and my production level up,” he says. “Also, staying focused and not partying too much or anything. Just making sure I have the best show and the best energy on stage.”

Like many touring artists, Nav had to bounce back from the pandemic. He performed at Rolling Loud stops throughout 2021 and 2022. The Never Sleep Tour ’23 marks the first time the chart-topping artist is hitting the road since the pandemic.

“It was a little nerve-wracking to perform again like Rolling Loud and these places,” Nav says. “I got right back into it quickly. I used to watch a lot of my old footage and critique it myself. It’s hard to watch sometimes. You know, you’re watching yourself and hearing yourself. It is tough sometimes. But I just had to, and that helped me be prepared. A lot of warm-up shows at a lot of festivals helped too.”

“I’ve done all the things I feel like I could do. I rapped on everybody’s beats. I’ve done all those different flows. Now it is just time to go back to what started everything.” – Nav

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Since Nav signed with XO in 2017, each of his tours represents a benchmark for his career. The Freshman Tour — which came after the release of his Nav mixtape and opening for The Weeknd on the Starboy Tour — was named after he felt snubbed by the publication XXL for not putting him on its “2018 Freshmen” list.

But he would prove not to need that title; his second album Bad Habits became his first No. 1 album on the Billboard charts in 2019. He’s remained loyal to XO for years, and he considers the label’s connection to Canada and the fact that its owner’s parents are immigrants as creating a real similarity between them.

“It feels like people I grew up with in high school, so that part is easy,” Nav says. “They’ve never done anything bad, and it has always been good. I would never have it any other way.”

In support of his fourth studio album, Demons Protected By Angels released in 2022, he named his latest tour “Never Sleep,” a single featuring frequent collaborators Travis Scott and Lil Baby that very much captures the luxurious lifestyle he presents in his music. The Tay Keith banger of a collaboration will likely be the opener to the show, complementing a long list of melodic trap songs such as “Last of the Mohicans,” “beibs in the trap,” “Tap,” “Up” and “Turks,” which have racked up millions of streams.

While his setlist will have the makings of a late-night rager until the sun rises, fans should be excited for Nav’s four-year return to Dallas.

“Just expect a lot more energy, a lot more confidence, a lot more joy emanating from the stage,” Nav says. “I’m just so grateful that I’m even in this position where people even want to show up to my shows.”