Nas
Nas is an American rapper and actor. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, he was born and raised in the Queensbridge housing projects in New York City. Although he dropped out of middle school, he managed to attain a high degree of literacy which is prominent in his lyrics. His debut album Illmatic, was released in 1994 on Columbia Records. Illmatic was critically acclaimed and would go on to be widely hailed a classic in the genre. Nas was part of hip-hop supergroup The Firm, which released one album.
From 2001 to 2005, Nas was involved in a widely publicized feud with rapper Jay-Z; both rappers verbally attacked each other in their songs. The two formally ended their rivalry through duet performances at concerts sponsored by New York City-area hip-hop radio stations. In 2006, he signed to Def Jam, releasing his albums Hip Hop Is Dead in 2006 and an untitled album in 2008. |
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BIO Nas was born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. His father, Olu Dara, is a jazz and blues musician from Mississippi. His mother, Fannie Ann Jones, was a Postal Service worker. He has one sibling, a brother named Jabari Fret who assumes the alias Jungle. While his family lived in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Nas would play the trumpet on his home stoop at age four. His family moved to the Queensbridge Houses in the late 1970s. Nas began writing rhymes at the age of nine. His neighbor, Willy "Ill Will" Graham, influenced Nas's interest in hip hop by playing him records. Nas' parents divorced in 1985, and he dropped out of school in the eighth grade. He educated himself, reading about African culture and civilization, the 360° Lessons of the Nubian Islamic Hebrews scrolls, the Bible and the Qur'an.
As a teenager, Nas enlisted his best friend and upstairs neighbor Willy "Ill Will Graham" as his DJ. Nas first went by the nickname Kid Wave before adopting his more commonly known alias of Nasty Nas.
In 1991, Nas performed on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque", establishing himself as a teenage prodigy. In mid-1992, Nas was approached by MC Serch of 3rd Bass, who became his manager and secured Nas a record deal with Columbia Records the same year. Nas made his solo debut under the name of "Nasty Nas" on the single "Halftime" from Serch's soundtrack for the film Zebrahead. The single increased the buzz surrounding Nas and when MC Serch's solo album was released later in the year, Nas’ standout appearance on "Back to the Grill Again" only intensified interest. Hailed as the second coming of Rakim, his rhyming skills attracted a significant amount of attention within the hip-hop community.
1994: Illmatic
In 1994, Nas's debut album, Illmatic, was finally released. It was awarded Five Mics from The Source. It also featured production from Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S. and DJ Premier, as well as guest appearances from Nas's friend AZ and his father Olu Dara. The album spawned several singles, including "The World Is Yours", "It Ain't Hard to Tell", and "One Love". Shaheem Reid of MTV News coined Illmatic as "the first classic LP" of 1994. Nas performed the song "One on One" for the movie Street Fighter. In 1995, Nas did guest performances on the albums Doe or Die by AZ, The Infamous by Mobb Deep, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx by Raekwon and 4,5,6 by Kool G Rap.
1996–1998: It Was Written and The Firm
Columbia Records began to press Nas to work towards more commercial topics, such as that of The Notorious B.I.G., who had become successful by releasing street singles that still retained pop-friendly appeal. Nas traded manager MC Serch for Steve Stoute, and began preparation for his second LP, It Was Written, consciously working towards a crossover-oriented sound. It Was Written, chiefly produced by Tone and Poke of Trackmasters, was released during the summer of 1996. Two singles, "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill of The Fugees) and "Street Dreams", including a remix with R. Kelly were instant hits. These songs were promoted by big-budget music videos directed by Hype Williams, making Nas a common name among mainstream hip-hop. It Was Written featured the debut of The Firm, a super group consisting of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown, and Cormega. The album also expanded on Nas's Escobar persona, who lived more of a Scarface/Casino-esque lifestyle. On the other hand, Illmatic, which, while having numerous references to Scarface protagonist Tony Montana, was more about his life as a teenager in the projects.
Signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label, The Firm began working on their debut album. Halfway through the production of the album, Cormega was fired from the group by Steve Stoute, who had unsuccessfully attempted to force Cormega to sign a deal with his management company. In addition to the firing of Cormega, Alex Trojano was featured as a start up producer in The Firm. Cormega subsequently became one of Nas' most vocal opponents and released a number of underground hip hop singles "dissing" Nas, Stoute, and Nature, who replaced Cormega as the fourth member of The Firm.[3] Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album was finally released in 1997 to mixed reviews. The album failed to live up to its expected sales, despite being certified platinum, and the members of the group disbanded to go their separate ways.
During this period, Nas was one of five rappers (the others being B-Real, Dr. Dre, KRS-One and RBX) in the hip hop super-group Group Therapy, who appeared on the song "East Coast/West Coast Killas" from Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath. In 1998, Nas co-wrote and starred in Hype Williams' 1998 feature film Belly.
1999–2000: I Am... and Nastradamus
In 1998, Nas began work on a double album, to be entitled I Am... The Autobiography; he intended it as the middle ground between Illmatic and It Was Written, with each track detailing a part of his life. The album was completed in early 1999, and a music video was shot for its lead single, "Nas Is Like." It was produced by DJ Premier and contained vocal samples from "It Ain't Hard to Tell." Music critic M.F. DiBella noticed that Nas also covered "politics, the state of hip-hop, Y2K, race, and religion with his own unique perspective" in the album besides autobiographical lyrics. Much of the LP was leaked into MP3 format onto the Internet and Nas and Stoute quickly recorded enough substitute material to constitute a single-disc release.
The second single for I Am... was "Hate Me Now," featuring Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, which was used as an example by Nas's critics of him moving towards commercial themes. The video featured Nas and Combs being crucified in a manner similar to Jesus; after the video was completed, Combs requested his crucifixion scene be edited out of the video. However, the unedited copy of the "Hate Me Now" video made its way to MTV. Within minutes of the broadcast, Combs and his bodyguards allegedly made their way into Steve Stoute's office and assaulted him, at one point apparently hitting Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle. Stoute pressed charges, but he and Combs settled out-of-court that June.
Columbia had scheduled to release the pirated material from I Am... under the title Nastradamus during the latter half of 1999, but, at the last minute, Nas decided to record an entire new album for the 1999 release of Nastradamus. Nastradamus was therefore rushed to meet a November release date. Though critics were not kind to the album, it did result in a minor hit, "You Owe Me." It was produced by Timbaland and featured R&B singer Ginuwine. The only pirated track from I Am... to make it onto Nastradamus was "Project Windows," featuring Ronald Isley. A number of the other bootlegged tracks later made their way onto The Lost Tapes, a collection of underground Nas songs that was released by Columbia in September 2002. The collection saw decent sales and received glowing reviews.
In 2000, QB's Finest was released on Nas's Ill Will Records. QB's Finest is a compilation album that featured Nas and a number of other rappers from Queensbridge projects, including Mobb Deep, Nature, Capone, the Bravehearts, Tragedy Khadafi, Millennium Thug and Cormega, who had briefly reconciled with Nas. The album also featured guest appearances from Queensbridge hip-hop legends Roxanne Shanté, MC Shan, and Marley Marl. Shan and Marley Marl both appeared on the lead single "Da Bridge 2001," which was based on Shan & Marl's 1986 recording "The Bridge."
2001: Stillmatic, feud with Jay-Z
After trading subliminal criticisms on various songs, freestyles and mixtape appearances, the highly publicized feud rivalry between Nas and Jay-Z became widely known to the public in 2001. Jay-Z, in his song "Takeover", criticized Nas by calling him "fake" and his career "lame". Nas responded with "Ether," in which he compared Jay-Z to such characters as J.J. Evans from the sitcom Good Times and cigarette company mascot Joe Camel. The song was included on Nas's fifth studio album, Stillmatic, released in December 2001. Stillmatic debuted at number five on the Billboard album charts and featured the singles "Got Ur Self A..." and "One Mic."
In response to "Ether", Jay-Z released the song "Supa Ugly", which Hot 97 radio host Angie Martinez premiered on December 11, 2001. In the song, Jay-Z explicitly boasts about having an affair with Nas's girlfriend, Carmen Bryan. New York City hip-hop radio station Hot 97 issued a poll asking listeners which rapper made the better diss song; Nas won with 52% while Jay-Z got 48% of the votes.
By October 2005, the two rappers had eventually ended their feud without violence or animosity. During Jay-Z's I Declare War — Power House concert, Jay-Z announced to the crowd, "It's bigger than 'I Declare War'. Let's go, Esco!" Nas then joined Jay-Z onstage, and the two then performed "Dead Presidents" together, which Jay-Z had sampled from Nas's song "The World Is Yours". The two also collaborated on a song called, "Black Republican" which can be found on Nas's album, Hip Hop Is Dead. They then collaborated again on a song called, "Success" from Jay-Z's album American Gangster.
2002–2005: God's Son and Street's Disciple
In December 2002, Nas released the God's Son album including its lead single, "Made You Look" which utilized a pitched down sample of the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache". The album peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts despite widespread internet bootlegging. Time Magazine named his album best hip-hop album of the year. Vibe gave it four stars and The Source gave it four mics. The second single, "I Can", which reworked elements from Beethoven's "Für Elise", became Nas's biggest hit to date during the spring and summer of 2003, garnering substantial radio airplay on urban, rhythmic, and top 40 radio stations, as well as on the MTV and VH1 music video networks. God's Son also includes several songs dedicated to memory of Nas's mother, who died of cancer in 2002, including "Dance". In 2003, Nas was featured on the Korn song "Play Me", from Korn's Take a Look in the Mirror LP. Also in 2003, a live performance in New York City, featuring Ludacris, Jadakiss, and Darryl McDaniels (of Run-D.M.C. fame), was released on DVD as Made You Look: God's Son Live.
After Nas released God's Son in 2002, he began helping The Bravehearts, made up of his younger brother Jungle and friend Wiz (Wizard), put together their debut album, Bravehearted. The album features guest appearances from Nas, Nashawn (Millennium Thug), Lil Jon, and Mya.
Nas released his seventh studio album, the critically acclaimed double-disc Street's Disciple, on November 30, 2004. The album's first singles were "Thief's Theme" and "Bridging the Gap", which features his father Olu Dara on vocals. The album also includes "These Are Our Heroes", which accuses prominent sports stars and actors such as Kobe Bryant and O. J. Simpson of not setting good examples for the children who look up to them and neglecting their heritage and background. The videos for "Bridging the Gap" and "Just A Moment" received moderate airplay on MTV and BET. Although the album went platinum, its commercial profile was relatively low compared to the rapper's previous releases.
Nas was featured on Kanye West's album Late Registration on a song titled "We Major". West said the song was Jay-Z's favorite on the album, but West was unable to get Jay-Z to record a vocal for the final mix of the song. He also appeared on Damian Marley's song "Road to Zion" and several other songs such as "Death Anniversary" and "It Wasn't You" (featuring Lauryn Hill).
2006: Hip Hop Is Dead
In January 2006, Nas signed a label deal with Def Jam, emphasizing collaboration over competition with former rival Jay-Z. Nas's original title for his next album was Hip Hop Is Dead...The N (shortened to Hip Hop Is Dead), though the UK release features a bonus track at the end called "The N." The album featured production from will.i.am, Kanye West, Dr. Dre, Scott Storch, and NBA All Star Chris Webber, as well as longtime Nas collaborators L.E.S. and Salaam Remi and newcomer Wyldfyer. A street single named "Where Y'all At" was released in June 2006. It was produced by Salaam Remi, and contained a sample from Nas "Made You Look," but it did not make the final cut for Hip Hop Is Dead.
The title record and first single was produced by will.i.am, and contains the same melodic sample ("In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida") as Nas' 2004 single "Thief's Theme." The album debuted on Def Jam and Nas new imprint at that label, The Jones Experience, at number one on the Billboard 200 charts, selling 355,000 copies—Nas's third number one album, along with It Was Written and I Am.... A music video for "Can't Forget About You" premiered on February 5, 2007, the song featuring Chrisette Michele and sampling Nat King Cole's song "Unforgettable". Another video, Hustlers, featuring The Game, would follow. Also, Nas has stated in an interview with MTV that a video for "Black Republican" featuring Jay-Z is also underway. A reality series on MTV entitled Me and Mrs. Jones will feature the lives of Nas and Kelis, with Vibe magazine has reported that the show will premiere in 2008.
The title of the album generated controversy, as many fans and artists (particularly those of Southern origin) began to debate over the actual state of rap music's vitality. With this album, Nas became an unofficial leader of the "Hip Hop Is Dead" movement. Ghostface Killah, on his album Fishscale seemed to agree with Nas and cited Southern crunk and snap music as the primary reasons for why hip-hop was "dead". Many Southern acts, such as rappers Big Boi from Outkast, Lil Boosie, T.I., Young Jeezy, Dem Franchize Boyz, and D4L took offense to the title, taking it to be directed at their region in particular. However, southern rapper André 3000 from Outkast said in a interview that hip-hop is "dying". After the controversy died down, some of the mentioned rappers would go on and collaborate with Nas on several songs, such as T.I. on Dr. Dre's "Topless" and, more notably, Young Jeezy on his song "My President" off his 2008 album The Recession.
Nas worked on a song called "Shine On 'Em" for the film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou, which opened in US theaters on December 8, 2006. His song "Thief's Theme" was featured in one of the scenes in the Academy Award-winning movie The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese.
2007: Bill O'Reilly/Virginia Tech controversy and Greatest Hits
Nas performed at a free concert for the Virginia Tech student body and faculty on September 6, 2007. Nas was joined by John Mayer, Alan Jackson, Phil Vassar, and Dave Matthews Band. When announced that Nas was to perform, Bill O'Reilly and Fox News Channel denounced the concert and called for the removal of the rapper citing "violent" lyrics on songs including "Shoot 'Em Up", "Got Urself A Gun", and "Made You Look". During his Talking Points Memo segment for August 15, 2007, an argument erupted in which O'Reilly claimed that it was not only Nas's lyrical content that made him inappropriate for the event, citing the gun conviction on Nas's criminal record. In the midst of his debate with author Bakari Kitwana ("The Hip Hop Generation"), who defended Nas, claiming that Fox News had "cherry picked" select fragments of the songs to make their case, O'Reilly shouted, "Even in his personal life, man, he's got a conviction for weapons, all right? He's got a weapons conviction, sir! On his sheet! This is a school that had a mass murderer with a shotgun gunning down people—this guy has got a conviction for weapons, and you say he's appropriate? Come on!" O'Reilly repeated the claim another five times before cutting the segment short.
On September 6, 2007, during his set at "A Concert for Virginia Tech," Nas twice referred to Bill O'Reilly as "a chump," prompting loud cheers by members of the crowd. About two weeks later, Nas was interviewed by Shaheem Reid of MTV News, where he criticized O'Reilly, calling him uncivilized and willing to go to extremes for publicity.
Responding to O'Reilly, Nas, in an interview with MTV News, said:
He doesn't understand the younger generation. He deals with the past. The people he represents are Republican, older, a generation that has nothing to do with the reality of what's happening now with my generation. ... He's not really on my radar. People like him are supposed to be taught and people like me are supposed to let niggas like him know. I don't take him serious. His shit is all about getting facts twisted or whatever. I wouldn't honor anything Bill O'Reilly has to say. It just shows you what bloodsuckers like him do: They abuse something like the Virginia Tech [tragedy] for show ratings. You can't talk to a person like that.
Nas's former label, Columbia Records, released his Greatest Hits album in November. This compilation features 14 songs: 12 from his seven first studio LPs under the label and two newly recorded songs. One of the new tracks, "Less Than an Hour," features Cee-Lo of Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley. The track is a new take on the theme of the hugely successful Rush Hour film trilogy starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, and appears on the Rush Hour 3 soundtrack as well. The other new track, "Surviving the Times," contains auto-biographical lyrics about Nas's career and features production by Chris Webber.
2008: Untitled album
On October 12, 2007, Nas announced that his new album would be called Nigger. Both left wing commentators, such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and the news station Fox News were outraged; Jackson called on entertainers to stop using the epithet after comedian Michael Richards used it onstage in late 2006. Controversy escalated as the album's impending release date drew nearer, going as far as to spark rumors that Def Jam was planning to drop Nas unless he changed the title. Additionally, Fort Greene, Brooklyn assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries requested New York's Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to withdraw $84 million from the state pension fund that has been invested into Universal and its parent company, Vivendi, if the album's title was not changed. On the opposite side of the spectrum, many of the most famous names in the entertainment industry expressed a sense of trust in Nas for using the racial epithet as the title of his full-length EP. In an interview with Angie Martinez, a host on New York's Hot 97, Nas stated that the issue had been raised as high up as the United States Congress.
Nas' management worried that the album would not be sold by chain stores such as Wal-Mart, thus limiting its distribution. On May 19, 2008, Nas decided to forgo an album title. He went on to say in a statement:
It's important to me that this album gets to the fans. It's been a long time coming. I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it.
"Hero", the lead single from the album, was released on June 6, 2008, featuring R&B singer Keri Hilson and produced by Polow da Don. In the US, "Hero" reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 87 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and it peaked at number 39 on the Hot Canadian Digital Singles chart. It was also sampled for a Hustler production erotic video Barely Legal 96 Released on July 15, 2008, Untitled is Nas' second album with Def Jam, in conjunction with his own imprint, The Jones Experience. It features production from Polow da Don, stic.man of Dead Prez, Sons of Light - Dustin Moore & J. Myers , Mark Ronson, Cool and Dre, DJ Green Lantern, Salaam Remi, DJ Toomp and more. Guest appearances include The Game, Chris Brown, Keri Hilson, The Last Poets, and Busta Rhymes.
On July 2, 2008, Fila announced that Nas had signed a shoe deal, his second to date. Nas will promote the sneakers in magazines and wear them at concerts. Fila also plans on having Nas release a second sneaker with 1980s-oriented style during the 2008 holiday season.
Responding to Jesse Jackson's remarks and use of the word "nigger" on July 6, 2008 regarding President Barack Obama, Nas, in an interview with MTV News, said:[50]
I think Jesse Jackson's the biggest player hater. His time is up. All you old niggas' time is up. We heard your voice, we saw your marching, we heard your sermons. We don't want to hear that shit no more. It's a new day. It's a new voice. I'm here now. We don't need Jesse; I'm here. I got this. We the voice now. It's no more Jesse. Sorry. Good bye. You ain't helping nobody in the 'hood and that's the bottom line. Goodbye, Jesse. Bye!
In an interview with MTV News in July 2008, Nas speculated that he might release two albums—one produced by DJ Premier and another by Dr. Dre—simultaneously the same day. Nas will also be featured Dr. Dre's long awaited upcoming album Detox.
On July 16, 2008, Nas performed "Hero" with Keri Hilson on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The following week, on July 23, he appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss his opinion of Bill O'Reilly and the Fox News Channel. Nas accused the latter of bias against the African-American community and re-challenged O'Reilly to a debate. During the appearance Nas sat on boxes of more than 625,000 signatures gathered by online advocacy organization Color of Change in support of a petition accusing Fox of race-baiting and fear-mongering. At the end of the show Nas performed the song "Sly Fox" off his new album, to affirm his criticism of Fox News. On August 28, 2008, Nas performed "Sly Fox" on Late Show with David Letterman. On August 4, 2008 Nas performed "Hero" on The Wendy Williams Show. Nas toured in "Rock The Bells." the same year. He was also awarded 'Emcee of the Year' in the HipHopDX 2008 Awards for his latest solo effort, the quality of his appearances on other albums and was described as having "become an artist who thrives off of reinvention and going against the system." On March 4, 2009 the second annual Smirnoff Signature Mix Series released Nas "If I Ruled the World 09" (feat.) Marsha Ambrosius and produced by the Sons of Light - Dustin Moore & J. Myers.
2009: Distant Relatives with Damian Marley
At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Nas confirmed that he was collaborating on an album with reggae musician Damian Marley which released in Fall 2009. Nas said of the collaboration in an interview "I was a big fan of his father and of course all the children, all the offspring, and Damian, I kind of looked at Damian as a rap guy. His stuff is not really singing, or if he does, it comes off more hard, like on some street shit. I always liked how reggae and hip-hop have always been intertwined and always kind of pushed each other, I always liked the connection. I'd worked with people before from the reggae world but when I worked with Damian, the whole workout was perfect". A portion of the profit is planned to go towards building a school in Africa. Nas also revealed that he will begin working on his tenth studio album following the release of Distant Relatives. During Fall 2009 Nas used his live band Mulatto with music director Dustin Moore for concerts in Europe and Australia.
Musical style
Nas has been praised for his ability to create a "devastating match between lyrics and production" by journalist Peter Shapiro, as well as creating a "potent evocation of life on the street", and being compared to Rakim for his lyrical technique. However, Shapiro also notes that Nas has "regressed" ever since his debut album Illmatic. Kool Moe Dee notes that Nas has an "off-beat conversational flow" in his book There's a God on the Mic - he says: "before Nas, every MC focused on rhyming with a cadence that ultimately put the words that rhymed on beat with the snare drum. Nas created a style of rapping that was more conversational than ever before".
O.C. of D.I.T.C. comments in the book How to Rap: “Nas did the song backwards [‘Rewind’]... that was a brilliant idea”. Also in How to Rap, 2Mex of The Visionaries describes Nas’s flow as “effervescent”, Rah Digga says Nas’s lyrics have “intricacy”, Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde explains that Nas doesn’t always have to make words rhyme as he is “charismatic”, and Nas is also described as having a “densely packed” flow, with compound rhymes that “run over from one beat into the next or even into another bar”.
Steve Huey of Allmusic described the lyrics in Illmatic as "highly literate" and "his raps superbly fluid regardless of the size of his vocabulary". Lyrically, Nas is perceived as "able to evoke the bleak reality of ghetto life without losing hope or forgetting the good times". Huey describes the Illmatic track "One Love" as "a detailed report to a close friend in prison about how allegiances within their group have shifted". Reviewing Nas's second album It Was Written, Leo Stanley of allmusic believed the rhymes to be not as complex as those in Illmatic but still "not only flow, but manage to tell coherent stories as well".
Legacy
In 2006, he was listed number five on MTV's "10 Greatest MCs of All Time" list. About.com ranked Illmatic as the greatest hip hop album of all time, and Prefix magazine praised it as "the best hip-hop record ever made".
Personal life
In 1994, Nas' ex-fiancée Carmen Bryan gave birth to their daughter, Destiny. Bryan had allegedly had a sexual relationship with Jay-Z and Allen Iverson after she and Nas had split up. Nas also briefly dated Mary J. Blige. In 2005, Nas married R&B singer Kelis in Atlanta after a two-year relationship. On April 30, 2009, a spokesperson confirmed that Kelis filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Kelis gave birth to his first son on July 21, 2009, although the event was soured by a disagreement which ended in Nas announcing the birth of his son, Knight, at a gig in Queens, NY, against Kelis' wishes.
According to attorneys for Kelis, Nas owes over $200,000 in child and spousal support as well as attorney's fees. In February of 2010, her attorneys filed a contempt motion against Nas due to the fact that he had not yet paid said fees. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted of contempt he could face time in jail. His hearing is set for March 2010.
Filmography
1998 Belly
1999 In Too Deep
2001 Ticker
2002 John Q
2003 Uptown Girls
2009 Vapors
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nas
As a teenager, Nas enlisted his best friend and upstairs neighbor Willy "Ill Will Graham" as his DJ. Nas first went by the nickname Kid Wave before adopting his more commonly known alias of Nasty Nas.
In 1991, Nas performed on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque", establishing himself as a teenage prodigy. In mid-1992, Nas was approached by MC Serch of 3rd Bass, who became his manager and secured Nas a record deal with Columbia Records the same year. Nas made his solo debut under the name of "Nasty Nas" on the single "Halftime" from Serch's soundtrack for the film Zebrahead. The single increased the buzz surrounding Nas and when MC Serch's solo album was released later in the year, Nas’ standout appearance on "Back to the Grill Again" only intensified interest. Hailed as the second coming of Rakim, his rhyming skills attracted a significant amount of attention within the hip-hop community.
1994: Illmatic
In 1994, Nas's debut album, Illmatic, was finally released. It was awarded Five Mics from The Source. It also featured production from Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S. and DJ Premier, as well as guest appearances from Nas's friend AZ and his father Olu Dara. The album spawned several singles, including "The World Is Yours", "It Ain't Hard to Tell", and "One Love". Shaheem Reid of MTV News coined Illmatic as "the first classic LP" of 1994. Nas performed the song "One on One" for the movie Street Fighter. In 1995, Nas did guest performances on the albums Doe or Die by AZ, The Infamous by Mobb Deep, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx by Raekwon and 4,5,6 by Kool G Rap.
1996–1998: It Was Written and The Firm
Columbia Records began to press Nas to work towards more commercial topics, such as that of The Notorious B.I.G., who had become successful by releasing street singles that still retained pop-friendly appeal. Nas traded manager MC Serch for Steve Stoute, and began preparation for his second LP, It Was Written, consciously working towards a crossover-oriented sound. It Was Written, chiefly produced by Tone and Poke of Trackmasters, was released during the summer of 1996. Two singles, "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill of The Fugees) and "Street Dreams", including a remix with R. Kelly were instant hits. These songs were promoted by big-budget music videos directed by Hype Williams, making Nas a common name among mainstream hip-hop. It Was Written featured the debut of The Firm, a super group consisting of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown, and Cormega. The album also expanded on Nas's Escobar persona, who lived more of a Scarface/Casino-esque lifestyle. On the other hand, Illmatic, which, while having numerous references to Scarface protagonist Tony Montana, was more about his life as a teenager in the projects.
Signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label, The Firm began working on their debut album. Halfway through the production of the album, Cormega was fired from the group by Steve Stoute, who had unsuccessfully attempted to force Cormega to sign a deal with his management company. In addition to the firing of Cormega, Alex Trojano was featured as a start up producer in The Firm. Cormega subsequently became one of Nas' most vocal opponents and released a number of underground hip hop singles "dissing" Nas, Stoute, and Nature, who replaced Cormega as the fourth member of The Firm.[3] Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album was finally released in 1997 to mixed reviews. The album failed to live up to its expected sales, despite being certified platinum, and the members of the group disbanded to go their separate ways.
During this period, Nas was one of five rappers (the others being B-Real, Dr. Dre, KRS-One and RBX) in the hip hop super-group Group Therapy, who appeared on the song "East Coast/West Coast Killas" from Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath. In 1998, Nas co-wrote and starred in Hype Williams' 1998 feature film Belly.
1999–2000: I Am... and Nastradamus
In 1998, Nas began work on a double album, to be entitled I Am... The Autobiography; he intended it as the middle ground between Illmatic and It Was Written, with each track detailing a part of his life. The album was completed in early 1999, and a music video was shot for its lead single, "Nas Is Like." It was produced by DJ Premier and contained vocal samples from "It Ain't Hard to Tell." Music critic M.F. DiBella noticed that Nas also covered "politics, the state of hip-hop, Y2K, race, and religion with his own unique perspective" in the album besides autobiographical lyrics. Much of the LP was leaked into MP3 format onto the Internet and Nas and Stoute quickly recorded enough substitute material to constitute a single-disc release.
The second single for I Am... was "Hate Me Now," featuring Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, which was used as an example by Nas's critics of him moving towards commercial themes. The video featured Nas and Combs being crucified in a manner similar to Jesus; after the video was completed, Combs requested his crucifixion scene be edited out of the video. However, the unedited copy of the "Hate Me Now" video made its way to MTV. Within minutes of the broadcast, Combs and his bodyguards allegedly made their way into Steve Stoute's office and assaulted him, at one point apparently hitting Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle. Stoute pressed charges, but he and Combs settled out-of-court that June.
Columbia had scheduled to release the pirated material from I Am... under the title Nastradamus during the latter half of 1999, but, at the last minute, Nas decided to record an entire new album for the 1999 release of Nastradamus. Nastradamus was therefore rushed to meet a November release date. Though critics were not kind to the album, it did result in a minor hit, "You Owe Me." It was produced by Timbaland and featured R&B singer Ginuwine. The only pirated track from I Am... to make it onto Nastradamus was "Project Windows," featuring Ronald Isley. A number of the other bootlegged tracks later made their way onto The Lost Tapes, a collection of underground Nas songs that was released by Columbia in September 2002. The collection saw decent sales and received glowing reviews.
In 2000, QB's Finest was released on Nas's Ill Will Records. QB's Finest is a compilation album that featured Nas and a number of other rappers from Queensbridge projects, including Mobb Deep, Nature, Capone, the Bravehearts, Tragedy Khadafi, Millennium Thug and Cormega, who had briefly reconciled with Nas. The album also featured guest appearances from Queensbridge hip-hop legends Roxanne Shanté, MC Shan, and Marley Marl. Shan and Marley Marl both appeared on the lead single "Da Bridge 2001," which was based on Shan & Marl's 1986 recording "The Bridge."
2001: Stillmatic, feud with Jay-Z
After trading subliminal criticisms on various songs, freestyles and mixtape appearances, the highly publicized feud rivalry between Nas and Jay-Z became widely known to the public in 2001. Jay-Z, in his song "Takeover", criticized Nas by calling him "fake" and his career "lame". Nas responded with "Ether," in which he compared Jay-Z to such characters as J.J. Evans from the sitcom Good Times and cigarette company mascot Joe Camel. The song was included on Nas's fifth studio album, Stillmatic, released in December 2001. Stillmatic debuted at number five on the Billboard album charts and featured the singles "Got Ur Self A..." and "One Mic."
In response to "Ether", Jay-Z released the song "Supa Ugly", which Hot 97 radio host Angie Martinez premiered on December 11, 2001. In the song, Jay-Z explicitly boasts about having an affair with Nas's girlfriend, Carmen Bryan. New York City hip-hop radio station Hot 97 issued a poll asking listeners which rapper made the better diss song; Nas won with 52% while Jay-Z got 48% of the votes.
By October 2005, the two rappers had eventually ended their feud without violence or animosity. During Jay-Z's I Declare War — Power House concert, Jay-Z announced to the crowd, "It's bigger than 'I Declare War'. Let's go, Esco!" Nas then joined Jay-Z onstage, and the two then performed "Dead Presidents" together, which Jay-Z had sampled from Nas's song "The World Is Yours". The two also collaborated on a song called, "Black Republican" which can be found on Nas's album, Hip Hop Is Dead. They then collaborated again on a song called, "Success" from Jay-Z's album American Gangster.
2002–2005: God's Son and Street's Disciple
In December 2002, Nas released the God's Son album including its lead single, "Made You Look" which utilized a pitched down sample of the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache". The album peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts despite widespread internet bootlegging. Time Magazine named his album best hip-hop album of the year. Vibe gave it four stars and The Source gave it four mics. The second single, "I Can", which reworked elements from Beethoven's "Für Elise", became Nas's biggest hit to date during the spring and summer of 2003, garnering substantial radio airplay on urban, rhythmic, and top 40 radio stations, as well as on the MTV and VH1 music video networks. God's Son also includes several songs dedicated to memory of Nas's mother, who died of cancer in 2002, including "Dance". In 2003, Nas was featured on the Korn song "Play Me", from Korn's Take a Look in the Mirror LP. Also in 2003, a live performance in New York City, featuring Ludacris, Jadakiss, and Darryl McDaniels (of Run-D.M.C. fame), was released on DVD as Made You Look: God's Son Live.
After Nas released God's Son in 2002, he began helping The Bravehearts, made up of his younger brother Jungle and friend Wiz (Wizard), put together their debut album, Bravehearted. The album features guest appearances from Nas, Nashawn (Millennium Thug), Lil Jon, and Mya.
Nas released his seventh studio album, the critically acclaimed double-disc Street's Disciple, on November 30, 2004. The album's first singles were "Thief's Theme" and "Bridging the Gap", which features his father Olu Dara on vocals. The album also includes "These Are Our Heroes", which accuses prominent sports stars and actors such as Kobe Bryant and O. J. Simpson of not setting good examples for the children who look up to them and neglecting their heritage and background. The videos for "Bridging the Gap" and "Just A Moment" received moderate airplay on MTV and BET. Although the album went platinum, its commercial profile was relatively low compared to the rapper's previous releases.
Nas was featured on Kanye West's album Late Registration on a song titled "We Major". West said the song was Jay-Z's favorite on the album, but West was unable to get Jay-Z to record a vocal for the final mix of the song. He also appeared on Damian Marley's song "Road to Zion" and several other songs such as "Death Anniversary" and "It Wasn't You" (featuring Lauryn Hill).
2006: Hip Hop Is Dead
In January 2006, Nas signed a label deal with Def Jam, emphasizing collaboration over competition with former rival Jay-Z. Nas's original title for his next album was Hip Hop Is Dead...The N (shortened to Hip Hop Is Dead), though the UK release features a bonus track at the end called "The N." The album featured production from will.i.am, Kanye West, Dr. Dre, Scott Storch, and NBA All Star Chris Webber, as well as longtime Nas collaborators L.E.S. and Salaam Remi and newcomer Wyldfyer. A street single named "Where Y'all At" was released in June 2006. It was produced by Salaam Remi, and contained a sample from Nas "Made You Look," but it did not make the final cut for Hip Hop Is Dead.
The title record and first single was produced by will.i.am, and contains the same melodic sample ("In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida") as Nas' 2004 single "Thief's Theme." The album debuted on Def Jam and Nas new imprint at that label, The Jones Experience, at number one on the Billboard 200 charts, selling 355,000 copies—Nas's third number one album, along with It Was Written and I Am.... A music video for "Can't Forget About You" premiered on February 5, 2007, the song featuring Chrisette Michele and sampling Nat King Cole's song "Unforgettable". Another video, Hustlers, featuring The Game, would follow. Also, Nas has stated in an interview with MTV that a video for "Black Republican" featuring Jay-Z is also underway. A reality series on MTV entitled Me and Mrs. Jones will feature the lives of Nas and Kelis, with Vibe magazine has reported that the show will premiere in 2008.
The title of the album generated controversy, as many fans and artists (particularly those of Southern origin) began to debate over the actual state of rap music's vitality. With this album, Nas became an unofficial leader of the "Hip Hop Is Dead" movement. Ghostface Killah, on his album Fishscale seemed to agree with Nas and cited Southern crunk and snap music as the primary reasons for why hip-hop was "dead". Many Southern acts, such as rappers Big Boi from Outkast, Lil Boosie, T.I., Young Jeezy, Dem Franchize Boyz, and D4L took offense to the title, taking it to be directed at their region in particular. However, southern rapper André 3000 from Outkast said in a interview that hip-hop is "dying". After the controversy died down, some of the mentioned rappers would go on and collaborate with Nas on several songs, such as T.I. on Dr. Dre's "Topless" and, more notably, Young Jeezy on his song "My President" off his 2008 album The Recession.
Nas worked on a song called "Shine On 'Em" for the film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou, which opened in US theaters on December 8, 2006. His song "Thief's Theme" was featured in one of the scenes in the Academy Award-winning movie The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese.
2007: Bill O'Reilly/Virginia Tech controversy and Greatest Hits
Nas performed at a free concert for the Virginia Tech student body and faculty on September 6, 2007. Nas was joined by John Mayer, Alan Jackson, Phil Vassar, and Dave Matthews Band. When announced that Nas was to perform, Bill O'Reilly and Fox News Channel denounced the concert and called for the removal of the rapper citing "violent" lyrics on songs including "Shoot 'Em Up", "Got Urself A Gun", and "Made You Look". During his Talking Points Memo segment for August 15, 2007, an argument erupted in which O'Reilly claimed that it was not only Nas's lyrical content that made him inappropriate for the event, citing the gun conviction on Nas's criminal record. In the midst of his debate with author Bakari Kitwana ("The Hip Hop Generation"), who defended Nas, claiming that Fox News had "cherry picked" select fragments of the songs to make their case, O'Reilly shouted, "Even in his personal life, man, he's got a conviction for weapons, all right? He's got a weapons conviction, sir! On his sheet! This is a school that had a mass murderer with a shotgun gunning down people—this guy has got a conviction for weapons, and you say he's appropriate? Come on!" O'Reilly repeated the claim another five times before cutting the segment short.
On September 6, 2007, during his set at "A Concert for Virginia Tech," Nas twice referred to Bill O'Reilly as "a chump," prompting loud cheers by members of the crowd. About two weeks later, Nas was interviewed by Shaheem Reid of MTV News, where he criticized O'Reilly, calling him uncivilized and willing to go to extremes for publicity.
Responding to O'Reilly, Nas, in an interview with MTV News, said:
He doesn't understand the younger generation. He deals with the past. The people he represents are Republican, older, a generation that has nothing to do with the reality of what's happening now with my generation. ... He's not really on my radar. People like him are supposed to be taught and people like me are supposed to let niggas like him know. I don't take him serious. His shit is all about getting facts twisted or whatever. I wouldn't honor anything Bill O'Reilly has to say. It just shows you what bloodsuckers like him do: They abuse something like the Virginia Tech [tragedy] for show ratings. You can't talk to a person like that.
Nas's former label, Columbia Records, released his Greatest Hits album in November. This compilation features 14 songs: 12 from his seven first studio LPs under the label and two newly recorded songs. One of the new tracks, "Less Than an Hour," features Cee-Lo of Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley. The track is a new take on the theme of the hugely successful Rush Hour film trilogy starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, and appears on the Rush Hour 3 soundtrack as well. The other new track, "Surviving the Times," contains auto-biographical lyrics about Nas's career and features production by Chris Webber.
2008: Untitled album
On October 12, 2007, Nas announced that his new album would be called Nigger. Both left wing commentators, such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and the news station Fox News were outraged; Jackson called on entertainers to stop using the epithet after comedian Michael Richards used it onstage in late 2006. Controversy escalated as the album's impending release date drew nearer, going as far as to spark rumors that Def Jam was planning to drop Nas unless he changed the title. Additionally, Fort Greene, Brooklyn assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries requested New York's Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to withdraw $84 million from the state pension fund that has been invested into Universal and its parent company, Vivendi, if the album's title was not changed. On the opposite side of the spectrum, many of the most famous names in the entertainment industry expressed a sense of trust in Nas for using the racial epithet as the title of his full-length EP. In an interview with Angie Martinez, a host on New York's Hot 97, Nas stated that the issue had been raised as high up as the United States Congress.
Nas' management worried that the album would not be sold by chain stores such as Wal-Mart, thus limiting its distribution. On May 19, 2008, Nas decided to forgo an album title. He went on to say in a statement:
It's important to me that this album gets to the fans. It's been a long time coming. I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it.
"Hero", the lead single from the album, was released on June 6, 2008, featuring R&B singer Keri Hilson and produced by Polow da Don. In the US, "Hero" reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 87 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and it peaked at number 39 on the Hot Canadian Digital Singles chart. It was also sampled for a Hustler production erotic video Barely Legal 96 Released on July 15, 2008, Untitled is Nas' second album with Def Jam, in conjunction with his own imprint, The Jones Experience. It features production from Polow da Don, stic.man of Dead Prez, Sons of Light - Dustin Moore & J. Myers , Mark Ronson, Cool and Dre, DJ Green Lantern, Salaam Remi, DJ Toomp and more. Guest appearances include The Game, Chris Brown, Keri Hilson, The Last Poets, and Busta Rhymes.
On July 2, 2008, Fila announced that Nas had signed a shoe deal, his second to date. Nas will promote the sneakers in magazines and wear them at concerts. Fila also plans on having Nas release a second sneaker with 1980s-oriented style during the 2008 holiday season.
Responding to Jesse Jackson's remarks and use of the word "nigger" on July 6, 2008 regarding President Barack Obama, Nas, in an interview with MTV News, said:[50]
I think Jesse Jackson's the biggest player hater. His time is up. All you old niggas' time is up. We heard your voice, we saw your marching, we heard your sermons. We don't want to hear that shit no more. It's a new day. It's a new voice. I'm here now. We don't need Jesse; I'm here. I got this. We the voice now. It's no more Jesse. Sorry. Good bye. You ain't helping nobody in the 'hood and that's the bottom line. Goodbye, Jesse. Bye!
In an interview with MTV News in July 2008, Nas speculated that he might release two albums—one produced by DJ Premier and another by Dr. Dre—simultaneously the same day. Nas will also be featured Dr. Dre's long awaited upcoming album Detox.
On July 16, 2008, Nas performed "Hero" with Keri Hilson on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The following week, on July 23, he appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss his opinion of Bill O'Reilly and the Fox News Channel. Nas accused the latter of bias against the African-American community and re-challenged O'Reilly to a debate. During the appearance Nas sat on boxes of more than 625,000 signatures gathered by online advocacy organization Color of Change in support of a petition accusing Fox of race-baiting and fear-mongering. At the end of the show Nas performed the song "Sly Fox" off his new album, to affirm his criticism of Fox News. On August 28, 2008, Nas performed "Sly Fox" on Late Show with David Letterman. On August 4, 2008 Nas performed "Hero" on The Wendy Williams Show. Nas toured in "Rock The Bells." the same year. He was also awarded 'Emcee of the Year' in the HipHopDX 2008 Awards for his latest solo effort, the quality of his appearances on other albums and was described as having "become an artist who thrives off of reinvention and going against the system." On March 4, 2009 the second annual Smirnoff Signature Mix Series released Nas "If I Ruled the World 09" (feat.) Marsha Ambrosius and produced by the Sons of Light - Dustin Moore & J. Myers.
2009: Distant Relatives with Damian Marley
At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Nas confirmed that he was collaborating on an album with reggae musician Damian Marley which released in Fall 2009. Nas said of the collaboration in an interview "I was a big fan of his father and of course all the children, all the offspring, and Damian, I kind of looked at Damian as a rap guy. His stuff is not really singing, or if he does, it comes off more hard, like on some street shit. I always liked how reggae and hip-hop have always been intertwined and always kind of pushed each other, I always liked the connection. I'd worked with people before from the reggae world but when I worked with Damian, the whole workout was perfect". A portion of the profit is planned to go towards building a school in Africa. Nas also revealed that he will begin working on his tenth studio album following the release of Distant Relatives. During Fall 2009 Nas used his live band Mulatto with music director Dustin Moore for concerts in Europe and Australia.
Musical style
Nas has been praised for his ability to create a "devastating match between lyrics and production" by journalist Peter Shapiro, as well as creating a "potent evocation of life on the street", and being compared to Rakim for his lyrical technique. However, Shapiro also notes that Nas has "regressed" ever since his debut album Illmatic. Kool Moe Dee notes that Nas has an "off-beat conversational flow" in his book There's a God on the Mic - he says: "before Nas, every MC focused on rhyming with a cadence that ultimately put the words that rhymed on beat with the snare drum. Nas created a style of rapping that was more conversational than ever before".
O.C. of D.I.T.C. comments in the book How to Rap: “Nas did the song backwards [‘Rewind’]... that was a brilliant idea”. Also in How to Rap, 2Mex of The Visionaries describes Nas’s flow as “effervescent”, Rah Digga says Nas’s lyrics have “intricacy”, Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde explains that Nas doesn’t always have to make words rhyme as he is “charismatic”, and Nas is also described as having a “densely packed” flow, with compound rhymes that “run over from one beat into the next or even into another bar”.
Steve Huey of Allmusic described the lyrics in Illmatic as "highly literate" and "his raps superbly fluid regardless of the size of his vocabulary". Lyrically, Nas is perceived as "able to evoke the bleak reality of ghetto life without losing hope or forgetting the good times". Huey describes the Illmatic track "One Love" as "a detailed report to a close friend in prison about how allegiances within their group have shifted". Reviewing Nas's second album It Was Written, Leo Stanley of allmusic believed the rhymes to be not as complex as those in Illmatic but still "not only flow, but manage to tell coherent stories as well".
Legacy
In 2006, he was listed number five on MTV's "10 Greatest MCs of All Time" list. About.com ranked Illmatic as the greatest hip hop album of all time, and Prefix magazine praised it as "the best hip-hop record ever made".
Personal life
In 1994, Nas' ex-fiancée Carmen Bryan gave birth to their daughter, Destiny. Bryan had allegedly had a sexual relationship with Jay-Z and Allen Iverson after she and Nas had split up. Nas also briefly dated Mary J. Blige. In 2005, Nas married R&B singer Kelis in Atlanta after a two-year relationship. On April 30, 2009, a spokesperson confirmed that Kelis filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Kelis gave birth to his first son on July 21, 2009, although the event was soured by a disagreement which ended in Nas announcing the birth of his son, Knight, at a gig in Queens, NY, against Kelis' wishes.
According to attorneys for Kelis, Nas owes over $200,000 in child and spousal support as well as attorney's fees. In February of 2010, her attorneys filed a contempt motion against Nas due to the fact that he had not yet paid said fees. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted of contempt he could face time in jail. His hearing is set for March 2010.
Filmography
1998 Belly
1999 In Too Deep
2001 Ticker
2002 John Q
2003 Uptown Girls
2009 Vapors
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nas
DISCOGRAPHY
Illmatic (1994)
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Illmatic is the debut album of Nas, released April 19, 1994 on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place during 1992 to 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording Studios in New York City. It features production by several renowned hip hop artists, including Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, DJ Premier, and L.E.S.. Illmatic has been noted by music writers for its hardcore style, production quality, Nas's lyricism and multi-syllabic internal rhyme patterns, and inner city themes based on his native Queensbridge, New York.
Upon its release, the album exhibited some commercial success, as it debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 12 and sold 59,000 copies in its first week of release. However, the album's initial sales fell below expectations and its five singles failed to achieve any significant chart success. In spite of initial low sales, Illmatic received positive reviews from several music critics and publications. On January 17, 1996, the album was certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and in 2001, it earned platinum certification after sales in excess of 1 million copies in the United States. Since its initial critical response, writers and music critics have recognized Illmatic as one of the quintessential hip hop recordings. It has also been recognized as a landmark album in East Coast hip hop, as it contributed to the scene's artistic renaissance in New York, while marking an influential, stylistic change in hip hop music at the time. Illmatic has earned high rankings on many publications' "best album" lists, and it has been recognized by critics as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 400 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Background As a teenager, Nas chose to pursue a career in rapping and enlisted his best friend and neighbor, Queensbridge, Queens-native Willy "Ill Will" Graham, as his DJ. Nas first went by the nickname "Kid Wave" before adopting his more commonly known alias of "Nasty Nas". At fifteen, Nas met seventeen-year old producer Large Professor from Flushing, Queens, and was introduced to Main Source, a hip hop group of which Large Professor was a member. Nas made his recorded debut with Main Source, recording the opening verse on "Live at the Barbeque", from Main Source's debut studio album Breaking Atoms (1991), which would soon gather a considerable cult following. He later made his solo debut on the 1992 single "Halftime" for the soundtrack to the drama film Zebrahead (1992). The single added to the buzz surrounding Nas, earning him comparisons to the influential golden age rapper Rakim. Despite the substantial buzz this collaboration generated for Nas in the underground scene, the rapper struggled to gain a recording contract, and was rejected by major rap labels such as Cold Chillin' and Def Jam Recordings. Nas and DJ "Ill Will" Graham continued to work together, but their partnership was cut short when Graham was murdered by a gunman in his native Queensbridge on May 23, 1992, while his brother had also been shot, and survived, that night. Nas later cited this moment as a "wake-up call" for him. Meanwhile, the hip hop group 3rd Bass had dissolved, and MC Serch, a former member of the group, began working on a solo project. In mid-1992, Serch approached Nas. At the suggestion of producer T-Ray, Serch collaborated with Nas for "Back to the Grill", the lead single for Serch's solo debut album, Return of the Product (1992). At the recording session of this song, Serch discovered that Nas did not have a recording contract and, as a result, he contacted Faith Newman, an A&R executive at Sony Music Entertainment. As Serch recounted, "Nas was in a position where his demo had been sittin' around, 'Live at the Barbeque' was already a classic, and he was just tryin' to find a decent deal ... So when he gave me his demo, I shopped it around. I took it to Russell first, Russell said it sounded like G Rap, he wasn't wit' it. So I took it to Faith. Faith loved it, she said she'd been looking for Nas for a year and a half. They wouldn't let me leave the office without a deal on the table. Once MC Serch assumed the role of executive producer for Nas's upcoming debut album, he attempted to connect Nas with various producers. Based on his buzz at the time, numerous New York-based producers were eager to work with him and soon entered the Power House Studios with Nas. Among those producers was DJ Premier, who was known at the time for his raw, aggressive production with jazz-based samples and heavy scratching, and his work with rapper Guru as a part of hip hop duo Gang Starr.[10] After his production work on Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth's Funky Technician (1990) and Jeru the Damaja's The Sun Rises in the East (1994), Premier began recording exclusively at New York City-based D&D Studios prior to working with Nas. Recording Prior to recording, DJ Premier had listened to Nas's debut single, later stating "When I heard 'Half Time', that was some next shit to me. That's just as classic to me as 'Eric B For President' and 'The Bridge'. It just had that type of effect. As simple as it is, all of the elements are there. So from that point, after Serch approached me about doing some cuts, it was automatic. You'd be stupid to pass that up even if it wasn't payin' no money." Serch later noted the chemistry between Nas and DJ Premier, recounting that "Primo and Nas, they could have been separated at birth. It wasn't a situation where his beats fit their rhymes, they fit each other." While Serch contacted DJ Premier, Large Professor contacted Pete Rock to collaborate with Nas on a song that would ultimately be entitled "The World Is Yours". Shortly afterwards, New York producers Q-Tip and L.E.S. also gained the opportunity to work with Nas. Nas's father, Olu Dara, also contributed to the album. His cornet solo and rapper AZ's vocals were mixed with Nas's rapping in "Life's a Bitch". Throughout the recording, expectations for Illmatic were high, as AZ later stated "I got on Nas' album and did the 'Life's a Bitch' song, but even then I thought I was terrible on it, to be honest. But once people started hearing that and liking it, that's what built my confidence. I thought, 'OK, I can probably do this.' That record was everything. To be the only person featured on Illmatic when Nas is considered one of the top men in New York at that time, one of the freshest new artists, that was big." During the sessions for Illmatic, Nas composed the song "Nas Is Like", which would later appear as a single from his third studio album I Am… (1999). Concerning the recording of the album's opening song "N.Y. State of Mind", producer DJ Premier later stated "Nas — he’s one of our saviors now. When we did ‘N.Y. State of Mind,’ at the beginning when he says, ‘Straight out the dungeons of rap / Where fake niggas don’t make it back,’ then you hear him say, ‘I don’t know how to start this shit,’ ’cause he had just written it. He’s got the beat running in the studio, but he doesn’t know how he’s going to format how he’s going to convey it. So he’s going, ‘I don’t know how to start this shit,’ and I’m counting him in [to begin his verse]. One, two, three. And then you can hear him go, ‘Yo,’ and then he goes right into it." DJ Premier later discussed the unexpectedness of Nas's delivery during the recording, stating "He didn’t know how he was gonna come in, but he just started going because we were recording. I’m actually yelling, ‘We’re recording!’ and banging on the [vocal booth] window. ‘Come on, get ready!’ You hear him start the shit: Rappers…. And then everyone in the studio was like, ‘Oh, my God’, ’cause it was so unexpected. He was not ready. So we used that first verse. And that was when he was up and coming, his first album. So we was like, 'Yo, this guy is gonna be big.'" Music Context "The Genesis" The album intro is an aural montage depicting the roots of hip hop and Nas's background, and it contains samples of the film Wild Style (1982) and Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque" (1991). "N.Y. State of Mind" The dark, jazzy opening track was produced by DJ Premier and contains lyrics which recount Nas's participation in gang violence and his philosophy on his dangerous environment and ghetto life. "The World Is Yours" Produced and co-written by Pete Rock, the song provides one of the album's more optimistic narratives and contains predominant scratching by Rock. It contains a notable sample of Ahmad Jamal's "I Love Music" (1970). "One Love" Produced by rapper Q-Tip, the song has a mystical soundscape and was composed as a series of letters to Nas's jailed comrades about life events after the receivers' imprisonment. "It Ain't Hard to Tell" The album closer contains braggadocio rhymes and samples Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" (1983); Large Professor sampled Jackson's vocals to produce a mix of horns and tweaked-out voices. Illmatic contains discerning treatment of its subject matter: gang rivalries, desolation, and the ravages of urban poverty. Nas, who was twenty years old when the album was released, realistically depicts the darker side of urbanity, creating highly detailed first-person narratives that deconstruct the troubling lives of inner city teenagers. The symptoms of urban poverty are also addressed throughout the album, as well as nostalgic views of his environment's history, while the album's general lyrical theme alternates from moments of pain and pleasure to frustration and braggadocio. These narratives originate from Nas's own experiences in his hometown of Queensbridge, as the lyrics allude to the housing projects located in the Long Island City-section of Queens, New York. Critic Sam Chennault wrote, "Nas captures post-crack N.Y.C. in all its ruinous glory ... [r]ealizing that drugs were both empowering and destructive, his lyrics alternately embrace and reject the idea of ghetto glamour". An OhWord.com columnist described Nas as a "genius introvert who rose out of the rubble of Reaganomics to bless the mic with a forward brand of introspective, redemptive street poetry". The columnist also wrote "[his] narration glorifies the emergent poetic self as the embodiment of an elevated creative state that is potentially attainable by most any ghetto child ... [His] narrative voice swerves between personas that are cynical and optimistic, naïve and world-weary, enraged and serene, globally conscious and provincial ... a most worthy candidate to craft a palatable and subversive message for the rotten apple's disenfranchised youth. He was young and observant enough to isolate and analyze the positively formative moments of a project childhood while unflinchingly documenting the tragedies". Richard Harrington of The Washington Post described Nas's performance on the album as "balancing limitations and possibilities, distinguishing hurdles and springboards, and acknowledging his own growth from roughneck adolescent to a maturing adult who can respect and criticize the culture of violence that surrounds him. More importantly, he recognizes the older, deeper culture of familial community that is poverty and racism's first casualty". Lyrics Along with its powerful narratives of inner-city life and social condition, Illmatic has been noted by music writers for Nas's unique style of delivery and lyrical substance. According to Steve Juon of RapReviews.com, Nas "illustrates the Queensbridge trife life of his existence [sic], while at the same time providing hope that there is something greater than money, guns and drugs." Music critic Marc Lamont Hill of PopMatters elaborated on his lyricism and delivery throughout the album, stating "Nas' complex rhyme patterns, clever word play, and impressive vocab took the art [of rapping] to previously unprecedented heights. Building on the pioneering work of Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, and Rakim, tracks like 'Halftime' and the laid back 'One Time 4 Your Mind' demonstrated a [high] level of technical precision and rhetorical dexterity." Hill cites "Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)" as "an exemplar of flawless lyricism", while critic Steve Juon wrote that the lyrics of the album closer, "It Ain't Hard to Tell", are "just as quotable if not more-so than anything else on the LP - what album could end on a higher note than this?": I rap for listeners, blunt heads, fly ladies and prisoners Hennessy holders and old school niggas, then I be dissin a Unofficial that smoke woolie thai I dropped out of Cooley High, gassed up by a cokehead cutie pie Jungle survivor, fuck who's the liver My man put the battery in my back, a difference from Energizer Sentence begins indented, with formality My duration's infinite, money-wise or physiology Poetry, that's a part of me, retardedly bop I drop the ancient manifested hip-hop, straight off the block I reminisce on park jams, my man was shot for his sheep coat Childhood lesson made me see him drop in my weed smoke —Nas, "Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)" The buddha monk's in your trunk, turn the bass up Not stories by Aesop, place your loot up, parties I shoot up Nas, I analyze, drop a jew-el, inhale from the L School a fool well, you feel it like braille It ain't hard to tell, I kick a skill like Shaquille holds a bill Vocabulary spills I'm +Ill+ plus +Matic+, I freak beats slam it like Iron Shiek Jam like a tech with correct techniques So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me Scannin' while you're plannin' ways to sabotage me I leave em froze like her-on in your nose Nas'll rock well, it ain't hard to tell —Nas, "It Ain't Hard to Tell" Production Illmatic also gained praise for its production. DJ Premier's production on the album has been noted by critics for his minimalist style, which featured simple loops over heavy beats. The majority of the album consists of vintage funk, soul, and jazz samples. According to critics, the album's four major producers (Large Professor, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Q-Tip) extensively contributed to the cohesive atmospheric aesthetic that permeated the album, while still retaining each's individual, trademark sound. Q magazine noted that "the musical backdrops are razor sharp; hard beats but with melodic hooks and loops, atmospheric background piano, strings or muted trumpet, and samples ... A potent treat." One music critic wrote that "Illmatic is laced with some of the finest beats this side of In Control Volume 1". With regards to Illmatic's production, music critic Ben Yew wrote "The production, accentuated by infectious organ loop[s], vocal sample[s], and synthesizer-like pads in the background, places your mind in a cheerful, reminiscent, mood...A substantial reason for its phenomenal quality...can be attributed to..the most accomplished and consistently excellent music producers." Content The intro, "Genesis", begins with an audio sample of the "Subway Theme" by Grand Wizard Theodore from the film Wild Style (1982), the first major hip hop motion picture. Nas made another ode to Wild Style, while shooting the music video for his single, "It Ain't Hard To Tell", on the same stage as the finale scene for the film. Nas's debut, "Live at the Barbeque" is played in the background of "Genesis". The aural montage begins with the sound of an elevated train and an almost-inaudible voice rhyming beneath it. Over these sounds, a snatch of dialogue, two men arguing. According to music writer Mickey Hess, in the intro, "Nas tells us everything he wants us to known about him. The train is shorthand for New York; the barely discernible rap is, in fact, his "Live at the Barbeque" verse; and the dialogue comes from Wild Style, one of the earliest movies to focus on hip hop culture. Each of these is a point of genesis. New York for Nas as a person, 'Live at the Barbeque' for Nas the rapper, and Wild Style, symbolically at least, for hip hop itself. These are my roots, Nas was saying, and he proceeded to demonstrate exactly what those roots had yielded." Setting the general grimy, yet melodic, tone of the album,"N.Y. State of Mind" features a dark, jazzy piano sample by DJ Premier. It opens with high-pitched guitar notes looped from jazz and funk musician Donald Byrd's "Flight Time" (1972), while the prominent groove of piano notes was sampled from the Joe Chambers composition "Mind Rain" (1978). The lyrics of "N.Y. State of Mind" have Nas recounting his participation in gang violence and philosophizing that "Life is parallel to Hell, but I must maintain", while his rapping spans over forty bars. "N.Y. State of Mind" focuses on a mind state that a person obtains from living in Nas's impoverished environment in New York City. Critic Marc Hill of PopMatters wrote that the song "provides as clear a depiction of ghetto life as a Gordon Parks photograph or a Langston Hughes poem." In other songs on Illmatic, Nas celebrates life's pleasures and achievements, acknowledging violence as a feature of his socio-economic conditions rather than the focus of his life. "Life's a Bitch" contains a sample of The Gap Band's hit "Yearning for Your Love" (1980), and has guest vocals from East New York-based rapper AZ. It also features Nas's father, legendary jazz player Olu Dara, playing trumpet as the music fades out. A columnist for OhWord.com wrote that Dara's contribution to the song provides a "beautifully wistful end to a track that feels drenched in the dying rays of a crimson sunset over the city". "The World Is Yours" provides a more optimistic narrative from Nas's viewpoint, as he cites political and spiritual leader Gandhi as an influence in its verse, in contrast to the previous Scarface references of "N.Y. State of Mind". While citing "Life's a Bitch" as "possibly the saddest hip-hop song ever recorded", Rhapsody's Sam Chennault wrote that "The World Is Yours" "finds optimism in the darkest urban crevices". "The World Is Yours" was named the seventh greatest rap song by About.com. The nostalgic "Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)" contains a Reuben Wilson sample managed by DJ Premier, which comprises the sound of a Hammond organ, guitar, vocals and percussion, adding to the ghostly harmonies of "Memory Lane". Spence D. of IGN stated that the song's lyrics evoke "the crossroads of Old School and New School." "One Love" is composed of a series of letters to incarcerated friends, recounting mutual acquaintances and events that have occurred since the receiver's imprisonment, including unfaithful girlfriends, emotionally-tortured mothers and underdog loyalty. According to one writer, the phrase "one love" represents street loyalty in the song. After delivering "shout-outs to locked down comrades", Nas chastizes a youth who seems destined for prison in the final verse, "Shorty's laugh was cold blooded as he spoke so foul/Only twelve tryin to tell me that he liked my style ... Words of wisdom from Nas, try to rise up above/Keep a eye out for Jake, shorty-wop, one love" Produced by Q-Tip, "One Love" samples the double bass and piano from the Heath Brothers' "Smilin' Billy Suite Part II" (1975) and contains a drum break from Parliament's "Come In Out the Rain" (1970), which add to the song's mystical and hypnotic soundscape. The song is followed by the battle rhyme braggadocio of "One Time 4 Your Mind". With a simliar vibe as "N.Y. State of Mind", the upbeat "Represent" has a serious tone, as exhibited in the opening lines of the first verse: "Straight up shit is real and any day could be your last in the jungle/get murdered on the humble, guns will blast and niggaz tumble" While the majority of the album consists of funk, soul and jazz samples, "Represent" contains a sample of "Thief of Baghdad" by organist Lee Erwin from the 1924 film of the same name. Nas discusses his lifestyle in an environment where he "loves committin' sins" and "life ain't shit, but stress, fake niggas and crab stunts", while describing himself as "The brutalizer, crew de-sizer, accelerator/The type of nigga who be pissin' in your elevator". "It Ain't Hard to Tell" is a braggadocio rap: "Vocals'll squeeze glocks, MC's eavesdrop/Though they need not to sneak/My poetry's deep, I never fail/Nas's raps should be locked in a cell" It opens with guitars and synths of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" (1983); the song's vocals are sampled for the intro and chorus sections, creating a swirling mix of horns and tweaked-out voices. Large Professor looped in drum samples from Stanley Clarke's "Slow Dance" (1978) and saxophone from Kool & the Gang's "N.T." (1971). Artwork In an early promotional interview, Nas claimed that the name "Illmatic" (meaning "beyond ill" or "the ultimate") was a reference to his incarcerated Queensbridge friend, Illmatic Ice. Nas later described the title name as "supreme ill. It's as ill as ill gets. That shit is a science of everything ill." The album cover features a picture of Nas as a child, which was taken after his father, musician Olu Dara, returned home from an overseas tour. The original cover was intended to have a picture of Nas holding Jesus Christ in a headlock, reflecting the religious imagery of Nas's rap on "Live at the Barbeque"; "When I was 12, I went to hell for snuffing Jesus". The accepted cover, designed by Aimee Macauley, features a photo of Nas as a child superimposed over a backdrop of a New York city block, taken by Danny Clinch. In a 1994 interview, Nas discussed the concept behind the photo of him at age 7, stating "That was the year I started to acknowledge everything [around me]. That's the year everything set off. That's the year I started seeing the future for myself and doing what was right. The ghetto makes you think. The world is ours. I used to think I couldn't leave my projects. I used to think if I left, if anything happened to me, I thought it would be no justice or I would be just a dead slave or something. The projects used to be my world until I educated myself to see there's more out there." XXL magazine called the album cover a "high art photo concept for a rap album" and described the artwork as a "noisy, confusing streetscape looking through the housing projects and a young boy superimposed in the center of it all." The XXL columnist also compared the cover to that of rapper Lil Wayne's sixth studio album Tha Carter III (2008), stating that it also "reflects the reality of disenfranchised youth today." Music columnist Byron Crawford later called the cover for Illmatic "one of the dopest album covers ever in hip-hop." On the song "Shark Niggas (Biters)" from his debut album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (1995), rapper Raekwon with Ghostface Killah criticized the cover of The Notorious B.I.G's Ready to Die (1994), which was released a few months after Illmatic, for featuring a picture of a baby with an afro, implying that his cover had copied the idea from Nas. In a 2009 interview with XXL, Nas discussed the purpose behind the album artwork among other promotional efforts, stating "Really the record had to represent everything Nasir Jones is about from beginning to end, from my album cover to my videos. My record company had to beg me to stop filmin' music videos in the projects. No matter what the song was about I had 'em out there. That’s what it was all about for me, being that kid from the projects, being a poster child for that, that didn’t exist back then." Release and reception Illmatic was released on April 19, 1994 through Columbia Records in the United States. The album also featured international distribution that same year in countries including France, the Netherlands, Canada and the United Kingdom. In its first week of release, Illmatic made its debut on the Billboard 200 albums chart at number 12, while selling 59,000 copies. In spite of this, initial record sales fell below expectations. The album's five radio singles failed to obtain considerable Billboard success, as each single did not gain significant charting on the Billboard Hot 100. The lead single "Halftime" only charted on the Hot Rap Singles chart at number 8, while "Life's a Bitch" did not chart at all. Though initial sales were low, the album was eventually certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 17, 1996 after selling 500,000 copies; the RIAA later certified Illmatic platinum on December 11, 2001, following sales in excess of one million copies. Track List 1. The Genesis 2. N.Y. State of Mind 3. Life's a Bitch 4. The World Is Yours 5. Halftime 6. Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park) 7. One Love 8. One Time 4 Your Mind 9. Represent 10. It Ain't Hard to Tell |
It Was Written (1996)
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It Was Written is the second studio album by Nas, released July 2, 1996 on Columbia Records in the United States. Following the moderate sales success of his acclaimed debut album, Illmatic (1994), Nas chose to focus his efforts in a more mainstream direction. Primarily produced by Trackmasters, it is a departure for Nas from the raw, underground tone of Illmatic towards a more polished, mainstream sound. The album contains a mafioso concept and lyrical themes, and it marks the first appearance of Nas's short-lived supergroup The Firm, which included rappers Foxy Brown, AZ, and Cormega.
The album proved to be Nas’s most commercially successful release, debuting at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and selling 3 million copies worldwide. It also heralded Nas’s mainstream popularity, despite its appeal being hindered by the success of other mafiaso rap albums such as Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (1995) and Reasonable Doubt (1996). However, his stylistic changes and increased mainstream success fostered accusations of selling out within the hip hop community. It Was Written also received mixed criticism for not being on-par with Illmatic, serving as an example of the sophomore jinx. Following its initial mixed reaction, It Was Written's standing improved considerably, and it has been viewed by music writers as one of Nas's best work. It has also been credited for helping usher in the mafioso rap subgenre, and it has had a considerable amount of influence on hip hop artists. Similar to Illmatic's critical comparison to his following work, It Was Written has remained as Nas's best-selling release, as his subsequent albums have not been able to parallel its sales success. On September 9, 1996, the album was certified double platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Track List 1 Album Intro 2 The Message 3 Street Dreams 4 I Gave You Power 5 Watch dem Niggas 6 Take It in Blood 7 Nas Is Coming 8 Affirmative Action 9 The Set Up 10 Black Girl Lost 11 Suspect 12 Shootouts 13 Live Nigga Rap 14 If I Ruled the World (Imagine That) |
I Am... (1999)
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I Am… is the third studio album by Nas, released April 6, 1999 on Columbia Records. Considered a comeback album after a three-year gap between releases, the album features the singles "Nas Is Like" and "Hate Me Now". It debuted #1 on the charts, selling over 470,000 copies in its first week. I Am… would later be certified 2x platinum in the United States. Despite negative criticism towards its mainstream-oriented material, the album received generally mixed to positive reviews from most music critics.
Track List 01. Album Intro 02. N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II 03. Hate Me Now 04. Small World 05. Favor For A Favor 06. We Will Survive 07. Ghetto Prisoners 08. You Won't See Me Tonight (feat. Aaliyah and Timbaland) 09. I Want To Talk To You 10. Dr. Knockboot 11. Life Is What You Make It (feat. DMX) 12. Big Things 13. Nas Is Like 14. K-I-SS-I-N-G 15. Money Is My Bitch 16. Undying Love 17. Nature Shines (feat. Nature (Rap)) 18. Pray |
Nastradamus (1999)
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Nastradamus is the fourth studio album by Nas, released November 23, 1999 on Columbia Records in the United States. It was originally scheduled to be released as a follow-up album comprised of material from recording sessions for his third album, I Am… (1999) on October 26, 1999. Due to bootlegging of the material, Nas recorded separate songs for Nastradamus to meet its November release date.
The album debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 232,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, Nastradamus received generally mixed reviews from most music critics, and it has been regarded as Nas's weakest effort. Despite its mixed reception, it achieved considerable commercial success and spawned two charting singles. On December 22, 1999, the album was certified platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Track List 1 "The Prediction"(feat. Jessica Care Moore) 2 "Life We Chose" 3 "Nastradamus" 4 "Some of Us Have Angels" 5 "Project Windows"(feat. Ronald Isley) 6 "Come Get Me" 7 "Shoot 'Em Up" 8 "Last Words"(feat. Millennium Thug (Nashawn)) 9 "Family"(feat. Mobb Deep) 10 "God Love Us" 11 "Quiet Niggas"(feat. Bravehearts) 12 "Big Girl" 13 "New World" 14 "You Owe Me"(feat. Ginuwine) 15 "The Outcome"(feat. Jessica Care Moore) |
Stillmatic (2001)
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Stillmatic is the fifth studio album by Nas, released December 18, 2001 on Columbia Records in the United States. In contrast to his previous work's gangsta rap themes, it contains socially conscious and philosophical themes similar to those of his debut album, Illmatic (1994). Nas's lyrics address topics such as ghetto life, U.S. domestic and foreign policies, and his beef with rapper Jay-Z.
Stillmatic served as a commercial and critical success that helped re-establish Nas' career, following a period of critical disappointment with the releases of I Am… and Nastradamus (1999). It debuted at number 5 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, eventually selling over 1.7 million copies by November 2002. Upon its release, Stillmatic received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 69/100 from Metacritic. The album received a classic 5 mic rating from The Source magazine. Track List 1. Stillmatic (The Intro) 2. Ether 3. Got Ur Self A... 4. Smokin' 5. You're da Man 6. Rewind 7. One Mic - (remix) 8. 2nd Childhood 9. Destroy & Rebuild 10. Flyest, The - (featuring AZ) 11. Braveheart Party - (featuring Mary J. Blige) 12. Rule - (featuring Amerie) 13. My Country 14. What Goes Around 15. Every Ghetto - (bonus track) |
God's Son (2002)
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God's Son (originally titled Nasir Jones: God's Son) is the sixth studio album by Nas, released December 13, 2002 on Columbia-imprint Ill Will Records. Production was handled by several hip hop producers, including Salaam Remi, Chucky Thompson, Ron Browz, and The Alchemist. Partly inspired by Nas's feud with Jay-Z and the death of his mother in early 2002, God's Son covers lyrical themes such as religion, violence, and his own emotional experiences. It has been recognized by music writers as a personal work by Nas.
Upon its release, God's Son reached number 12 on the Billboard 200 chart, and its three singles achieved a considerable amount of success. It also garnered universal acclaim from writers and music critics, earning praise for Nas's lyrical ability, despite some criticism as to the album's production. While some compared it to his landmark debut Illmatic (1994), music writers also praised God's Son for exhibiting a maturity and lyrical progression by Nas. On January 14, 2003, the album was certified platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), following sales in excess of one million copies. Track List 1. Get Down 2. The Cross 3. Made You Look 4. Last Real Nigga Alive 5. Zone Out 6. Hey Nas 7. I Can 8. Book of Rhymes 9. Thugz Mansion (N.Y.) 10. Mastermind 11. Warrior Song 12. Revolutionary Warfare 13. Dance 14. Heaven |
Street's Disciple (2004)
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Street's Disciple is the seventh studio album by Nas, released November 30, 2004 on Columbia Records in the United States. A double album, its title taken from Nas's first verse of "Live at the Barbeque", the Main Source song, which served as his debut . The album's cover art is a digitally created image with photos of Nas to create an adaptation of The Last Supper.
The album debuted at number 5 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 232,000 copies in its first week. On November 18, 2005, Street's Disciple was certified platinum in sales by the RIAA, making it Nas's seventh consecutive platinum album in the U.S. Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 80/100 from Metacritic. Track List Disc 1 1 Intro 2 Message To The Feds, Sincerely, We The People 3 Nazareth Savage 4 American Way 5 These Are Our Heroes 6 Disciple 7 Sekou Story 8 Live Now 9 Rest Of My Life 10 Just A Moment 11 Reason 12 You Know My Style Disc 2 1 Suicide Bounce 2 Street's Disciple 3 U.B.R. (Unauthorized Biography Of Rakim) 4 Virgo 5 Remember The Times (Intro) 6 Remember The Times 7 The Makings Of A Perfect Bitch 8 Getting Married 9 No One Else In The Room 10 Bridging The Gap 11 War 12 Me & You (Dedicated To Destiny) 13 Thief's Theme 14 Thief's Theme remix |
Hip Hop Is Dead (2006)
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Hip Hop Is Dead is the eighth studio album by Nas, released December 19, 2006 on Def Jam Recordings in the United States. His first album for the label, it was co-financed by Nas's previous label, Columbia Records, which once distributed for Def Jam. The album's title was inspired by Nas's view of the music industry and the state of hip hop at the time.
Track List 1 Money Over Bullshit 2 You Can't Kill Me 3 Carry On Tradition 4 Where Are They Now 5 Hip Hop Is Dead 6 Who Killed It? 7 Black Republican 8 Not Going Back 9 Still Dreaming 10 Hold Down The Block 11 Blunt Ashes 12 Let There Be Light 13 Play On Playa 14 Can't Forget About You 15 Hustlers 16 Hope |
untitled (2008)
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The untitled ninth studio album by Nas was released by Def Jam and Columbia Records on July 15, 2008 in the United States, with earlier dates in some other countries. Its original title--Nigger—was changed due to controversy surrounding the racial epithet. The album is distinguished for its political content, diverse sources of production and provocative subject matter. It is Nas' fourth album to debut at number 1 on the Billboard 200 album charts. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 71/100 from Metacritic. It has been certified Gold in the U.S. by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Track List 1 Queens Get The Money 2:12 2 You Can't Stop Us Now 3:05 3 Breathe 3:34 4 Make The World Go Round 3:49 5 Hero 4:00 6 America 3:52 7 Sly Fox 4:23 8 Testify 2:46 9 N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave And The Master) 4:33 10 Untitled 2:51 11 Fried Chicken 2:50 12 Project Roach 1:48 13 Y'all My Niggas 4:16 14 We're Not Alone 5:40 15 Black President 4:29 |
Distant Relatives (2010)
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Distant Relatives is a collaborative studio album by Nas and Jamaican reggae artist Damian Marley, released May 18, 2010, on Universal Republic and Def Jam Recordings. Production for the album took place during 2008 to 2010 and was handled primarily by Damian Marley and Stephen Marley. Fusing musical elements of hip hop and reggae, Distant Relatives features lyrical themes concerning ancestry, poverty, and the plight of Africa.
The album debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 57,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, Distant Relatives received generally positive reviews from most music critics. Track List 1. As We Enter 2. Tribal War ft. K’naan 3. Strong Will Continue 4. Leaders ft. Stephen Marley 5. Friends 6. Count Your Blessings 7. Dispear 8. Land Of Promise ft. Dennis Brown 9. In His Own Words ft. Stephen Marley 10. Nah Mean 11. Patience 12. My Generation ft. Joss Stone & Lil Wayne 13. Africa Must Wake Up ft. K’naan |
