Nas (born Nasir Jones on September 14 , 1973 in Long Island City, Queens, New York) is an American rapper who throughout various times during his career, he has also gone by the stagenames of Nasty Nas, Nas Escobar (after Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar), God's Son, and Nastradamus.
The son of jazz trumpeter Olu Dara, Nas is best known for his 1994 debut LP Illmatic, widely considered one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. This album established Nas as one of hip-hop's most gifted lyricists, introducing his signature descriptive rhyme style and poetic lyrics. In the years following the release of Illmatic, Nas pursued a more commercial direction which resulted in wider success but decreased standing and artistic credibility among critics and hip-hop purists. A rivalry with Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z in 2001, however, led to the LP Stillmatic, which is often credited for revitalizing the rapper's career. Since Stillmatic's success, Nas has pursued a decidedly street-level, personal aesthetic that differs greatly from his most successful work, but has ensured that he remains one of the most respected contemporary rappers.
Biography
Early years
Nas is the elder of Olu Dara and Ann Jones' two children; his brother Jabari (nicknamed "Jungle" because he was born in the Congo) is the younger of the two. The family lived for a time in Brooklyn, before moving to the large Queens public housing project of Queensbridge. Olu Dara left the household in 1986, when Nas was 13, and Ann Jones raised her two boys on her own. Nas dropped out of school in the ninth grade and began selling drugs on the streets of New York while educating himself, reading about African culture and civilization, the Qur'an, the Bible and the Five Percent Nation.
As a child, Nas had gone through various stages of wanting to be a instrumentalist (at the age of three, Nas played his father's trumpet on the step of their Brooklyn home) and a comic book artist. By his preeteen years, he had settled on persuing a career as a rapper, and as a teenager enlisted his best friend and upstairs neighbor Willie "Ill Will" Graham as his DJ. Nas and Graham soon met hip-hop producer and Queensbridge resident Large Professor, who introduced Nas to his group, Main Source.
In 1991, Nas made his on-record debut with a verse on "Live at the Barbeque", from Main Source's LP Breaking Atoms. Hailed as the second coming of Rakim, his rhyming skills attracted a significant amount of attention within the hip-hop community. Despite the substantial buzz for Nas in the underground, the rapper was rejected by the major labels and was not signed to a recording contract. Nas and Graham continued to work towards success, but their dream was cut short when Graham was shot and killed by a gunman in Queensbridge on May 23, 1992.
Illmatic
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 on the single "Halftime" from Serch's soundtrack for the film Zebrahead. For two years, rumors flew about Nas' future as he worked on his debut album. Many were concerned that Columbia, being a major label, would try to dilute his New York based style. In 1994, the debut album, Illmatic was finally released. Featuring production from Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip (of A Tribe Called Quest) and DJ Premier, as well as guest appearances from Nas' friend AZ and his father Olu Dara on the song "Life's a Bitch", Illmatic was immediately hailed as a masterpiece by critics, and is still highly regarded as one of the definitive hip-hop albums of all time. Standout songs on the album included "NY State of Mind" (produced by Premier), "The World Is Yours" (produced by Pete Rock), "One Love" (produced by Q-Tip) and "It Ain't Hard To Tell" (produced by Large Professor), which featured a sample of Michael Jackson's hit song "Human Nature". Sales-wise however, due in part to extensive bootlegging, the record sales fell below expectations, selling 500,000 copies instead of the million or more the label had expected.
It Was Written
Columbia prevailed upon Nas to work towards the commercial success of rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G., another New York MC who had become successful by releasing pop-friendly singles. Nas traded manager MC Serch for Steve Stoute, and began preparation for his second LP, It Was Written, consciously working towards a more commercially viable sound.
It Was Written, chiefly produced by Poke and Tone of Trackmasters Entertainment, was released during the summer of 1996 and featured a more crossover oriented sound. Two of the songs on It Was Written, "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill of The Fugees) and "Street Dreams" (a remix with R. Kelly) were national hits, promoted by big-budget videos directed by Hype Williams, and made Nas a common name among more mainstream music fans. Other notable tracks on the album included "The Message" and "I Gave You Power," which tells a story from the perspective of a gun. The album also featured guest appearances from Mobb Deep, who became regular collaborators with Nas, Joel "Jo-Jo" Hailey of Jodeci, and the debut of The Firm, a supergroup consisting of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown, and Cormega. The album featured Nas's Mafioso-inspired character "Nas Escobar" living more of a Scarface/Casino inspired lifestyle. On the other hand, Illmatic, which, while having numerous references to Tony Montana and the theatrical hit featuring Al Pacino, was more about Nas' life as a teenager in the projects, hustling and smoking marijuana.
The Firm
The Firm signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label, and 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. Cormega therefore became one of Nas' most vocal opponents, releasing a number of underground hip-hop singles dissing Nas, Stoute, and Nature, who was Cormega's replacement in The Firm. The Firm: The Album was finally released in 1997 to mixed reviews and lackluster sales and the members of the supergroup went their separate ways.
At about this time, Nas became a spokesperson for the Willie Esco urban clothing line, but had no other connection with the clothing line. He stopped promoting Willie Esco in 2000, disatisfied with the company's operations.
I Am...
In 1998, Nas began work on a double album to be entitled I Am...The Autobiography, which he intended as the middle ground between the extremes of Illmatic and It Was Written. The album was completed in early 1999, and a music video was shot for its lead single, "Nas Is Like," produced by DJ Premier and featuring vocal samples from "It Ain't Hard to Tell." However, much of the LP was leaked in MP3 format onto the Internet, and Nas and Stoute quickly recorded enough subsistute material to constitute a single-disc release. Now simply title I Am..., Nas' third album was issued by Columbia in April of 1999.
The second single for I Am was "Hate Me Now," featuring Sean "Puffy" Combs (now "Diddy"). Hype Williams shot an allegorical video for the single, which featured Nas and Puffy being crucified in a manner similar to Jesus; representative of how Nas' critics crucified him for allegedly going pop. After the video was completed, Combs, a Catholic, 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, and was premiered on April 15, 1999 on TRL by Carson Daly. Upon learning that the original edit was the one that made it to broadcast, a furious Combs and his bodyguards allegedly made his 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.
Nastradamus
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, decided Nas should record an entirely new LP for release. Nastradamus was therefore rushed to meet a November release date, and though critics were not kind to the album, it did result in a minor hit single, the Timbaland-produced "You Owe Me," featuring 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. Overlooked album cuts that live up to his earlier standards include "Life We Chose" and "Last Words".
QB's Finest, Stillmatic, and the Nas/Jay-Z rivalry
The highly publicized rivalry between Nas and Jay-Z began as a rivalry between Nas and Jay-Z's protege, Memphis Bleek. On his debut album Coming of Age, Bleek made a song entitled "Memphis Bleek Is", which was similar in concept to Nas' single "Nas is Like". On the same album, Bleek recorded "What You Think Of That" featuring Bleek's mentor Jay-Z, which contains the refrain, "I'ma ball 'til I fall/what you think of that?" In retaliation, "Nastradamus," the title track from Nas' second 1999 album, featured a reference to "What You Think Of That": "If you wanna ball 'til you fall/I can help you with that/Want beef?/I could let a slug melt in your hat". Memphis Bleek perceived the reference on "Nastradamus" as a diss, and therefore dissed Nas on the lead single for his The Understanding LP, "My Mind Right": "Your lifestyle's written/so who you supposed to be?/ Play your position".
2000 saw the release of the first album on Nas' imprint Ill Will Records, named after his late childhood friend Willie Graham. QB's Finest was a compilation album that featured Nas and a number of other rappers from Queensbridge, including Mobb Deep, Nature, Littles, The Bravehearts (which included Nas' younger brother Jungle among its members), and Cormega, who had briefly reconciled with Nas. The album also featured guest appearances from QB hip-hop legends Roxanne Shante, and MC Shan & Marley Marl, both of whom appeared on the lead single "Da Bridge 2001" (based on Shan & Marl's 1986 classic "The Bridge"). "Da Bridge 2001" also featured a response from Nas to Memphis Bleek, in which Nas called out most of the then-Roc-a-Fella Records roster, including Bleek, Damon Dash, Beanie Sigel, and Jay-Z.
Jay-Z responded to Nas' songs with an onstage swipe during the 2001 Hot 97 Summer Jam concert in New York City, when he premiered his song "Takeover." Initially, the song was to only be a Mobb Deep diss, only including one line about Nas near the end. Nevertheless, Nas recorded the "Stillmatic Freestyle," which sampled Rakim and Eric B.'s "Paid in Full" beat, and attacked Jay-Z and his Roc-a-Fella label. On his critically-acclaimed 2001 album The Blueprint, Jay-Z rewrote "Takeover," dedicating half of the song to dissing Nas, claiming that Illmatic was his only good album and that he had fabricated much of his past.
Nas' responded with "Ether," the second track on his 2001 album Stillmatic. The track begins with gunshots and a repeated, slowed-down sample of 2Pac rapping "Fuck Jay-Z." In "Ether," Nas accuses Jay-Z of stealing ("biting") lyrics from The Notorious B.I.G. and brown-nosing Nas and other rappers for fame. He also claims "Eminem murdered you on your own shit," referring to the "Renegade" track on The Blueprint that features Eminem.
Stillmatic managed to be not only a critically acclaimed comeback album, but a commercial success as well, debuting at #7 on the Billboard album charts and featuring the hit singles "Got Ur Self A Gun" and "One Mic." The album also featured a track entitled "Rewind," in which Nas tells a typical street tale in reverse.
The album saw a blatant edit on the self-assuring "You're Da Man." On the second verse of the uncut version, he claims to have drank his own urine and semen, comparing that to the poisons of materialism.
The last quarter of the album displays an unraveling of emotions in reaction to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th. On "Rule" he calls for peace. On "My Country", he draws parallels between the street life and the life in the armed forces with protoge Nashawn playing the soldier role. "What Goes Around" is a spectacular lesson in karma, as he calls everything from drugs to TV and radio "poison."
The closing "Every Ghetto" finds Nas in his most hectic tone, accusing his own anatomy of being jealous of itself. Newcomer Blitz holds his own between Nas' two verses.
Jay-Z responded to "Ether" with a freestyle entitled "Supa Ugly." going into detail about how he and NBA star Allen Iverson both had sex with Carmen Bryan, the mother of Nas' daughter Destiny. Nas dismissed the track by claiming that he was no longer with Carmen during the time the affair took place.
New York Radio Station Hot 97 settled the battle taking votes comparing "Ether" and "Supa Ugly." Nas edged him out with 5
By 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 Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents" together, and Nas performed several of his own hits.
God's Son
In December 2002, Nas released the God's Son album. The lead single, "Made You Look" created enough street buzz to allow the album to debut at #18 on the Billboard charts despite widespread internet bootlegging. The second single, the inspirational "I Can", which reworked elements from Beethoven's "Fur Elise", became Nas' 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' mother, who died of cancer in 2002. In 2003, Nas was featured on the KoЯn song "Play Me", from KoЯn's Take a Look in the Mirror LP.
Street's Disciple
Nas released his seventh studio album, the 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. There is also a song, "These are Our Heroes", which disses Kobe Bryant. The videos for "Bridging the Gap" and "Just A Moment" received moderate airplay on MTV and BET. The album has production by L.E.S., Salaam Remi and even Nas himself. The album's topics vary from his past, his impending marriage, his daughter, his father, his ex-wife, his own death, his influences, and political issues facing African-Americans. Though the album managed to go platinum, its commercial profile was relatively low compared to the rapper's previous releases.
Recent work
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 popular underground songs such as "Death Anniversary" and "It Wasn't You" (featuring Lauryn Hill).
At a free concert in Central Park, New York, Nas made a statement regarding the quality of 50 Cent's music. "this is the real shit, not that 50 Cent shit!" In response, 50 Cent included a stab at Nas by speaking negatively of his wife Kelis on his single "Piggy Bank". Nas was quoted as saying that he feels no obligation to retaliate, remarking "[50 has] got a good five to six more albums before I can really respond to him." Nas eventually decided to retaliate, and in July 2005 released "Don't Body Ya Self (MC Burial)", a song which taunts 50 Cent and his G-Unit crew.
Nas has one daughter, Destiny (who is credited as the executive producer of Stillmatic), and married R&B singer Kelis on January 8, 2005.
In January 2006, Nas signed a label deal with Jay-Z's Def Jam, further emphasizing the Jay-Z/Nas truce and raising expectations for a collaboration even higher. Nas' new label will be called "The Jones Experience" and his album due in fall of 2006 will come out under this imprint. Recently, Nas told a NY Daily News reporter that he was naming his album "Nigger". Jana Fleishman, a spokeswoman for Def Jam talked with Nas and said that "Nas says he was being facetious. He just started recording last week."
Discography
Albums
- 1994: Illmatic #12 US GoldRIAA
- 1996: It Was Written #1 US (4 weeks) 2x PlatinumRIAA, #38 UK
- 1997: Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album #1 US
- 1999: I Am... #1 US (2 weeks) 2x PlatinumRIAA, #31 UK
- 1999: Nastradamus #7 US PlatinumRIAA
- 2000: Nas and Ill Will Records Present: QB's Finest #53 US
- 2001: Stillmatic #5 PlatinumRIAA
- 2002: The Best Of Nas
- 2002: The Lost Tapes #10 US
- 2002: God's Son #12 US PlatinumRIAA, #75 UK
- 2002: From Illmatic to Stillmatic...The Remixes
- 2004: Street's Disciple #5 US PlatinumRIAA, #45 UK
- 2006: Nasdaq Dow Jones
- 2006: The Lost Tapes 2
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | US R&B/Hip-Hop | US Rap | UK Singles Chart | |||
| 1993 | "Halftime" | - | - | - | - | Illmatic |
| 1994 | "It Ain't Hard To Tell" | #91 | #57 | #13 | #64 | Illmatic |
| 1994 | "One Love" | - | - | #24 | - | Illmatic |
| 1994 | "The World Is Yours" | - | #64 | #27 | - | Illmatic |
| 1996 | "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill) | #53 | #17 | #15 | #12 | It Was Written |
| 1996 | "Street Dreams" | #22 | #18 | #1 | #12 | It Was Written |
| 1997 | "Firm Biz" (The Firm featuring Dawn Robinson) |
- | - | - | - | The Album |
| 1997 | "Head Over Heals" (Allure featuring Nas) |
#35 | #17 | - | #18 | Allure |
| 1999 | "Hate Me Now" (featuring Puff Daddy) |
#6 | #18 | #8 | #14 | I Am... |
| 1999 | "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" | - | #50 | - | - | I Am... |
| 1999 | "Nas Is Like" | #86 | #30 | #3 | - | I Am... |
| 1999 | "Hot Boyz" (Missy Elliot featuring Nas, Eve, & Q-Tip) |
#5 | #1 | #1 | - | Da Real World |
| 1999 | "Nastradamus" | #92 | #27 | #4 | #24 | Nastradamus |
| 2000 | "You Owe Me" (featuring Ginuwine) |
#59 | #13 | - | - | Nastradamus |
| 2000 | "Da Bridge 2001" (QB's Finest featuring Nas, Mobb Deep, MC Shan, Cormega, & Nature) |
- | - | #17 | - | QB's Finest |
| 2000 | "Oochie Wally [Remix]" (QB's Finest featuring Nas and The Bravehearts) |
#26 | #11 | #2 | #30 | QB's Finest |
| 2001 | "Ether" | - | #50 | - | - | Stillmatic |
| 2001 | "Got Ur Self A..." | #87 | #37 | #2 | #30 | Stillmatic |
| 2002 | "I'm Gonna Be Alright [Remix]" (Jennifer Lopez featuring Nas) |
#10 | #32 | - | - | J.Lo |
| 2002 | "Made You Look" | #32 | #12 | #9 | #27 | God's Son |
| 2003 | "I Can" | #12 | #7 | #6 | #19 | God's Son |
| 2004 | "Bridging The Gap" (featuring Olu Dara) |
#94 | #49 | - | - | Street's Disciple |
| 2004 | "Theif's Theme" | - | - | - | - | Street's Disciple |
| 2004 | "You Know My Style" | - | #64 | - | - | Street's Disciple |
| 2005 | "Just A Moment" (featuring Quan) |
- | #52 | #24 | - | Street's Disciple |
| 2005 | "Virgo" (featuring Ludacris and Doug E. Fresh) |
- | #69 | - | - | Street's Disciple |
| 2006 | "Both Eyez Open" (featuring Jadakiss) |
- | - | - | - | Make No Cents |
Underground Releases & Remixes
- 2003: God's Stepson [Album] by producer 9th Wonder
- 2003: SoulMatic [Album] by producer Soul Supreme
- 2003: NastraDoomus [Album] by producer MF Doom
- 2003: NastraDoomus: Vol. 2 [Album] by producer MF Doom
- 2004: Hova's Son [Album] by producer DJ Lt. Dan
- 2005: "Warrior Song" (Remix) [Single] by producer Dave Jonsen (a.k.a. Harvey Dent)
- 2005: "I Can" (Remix) [Single] by producer Dave Jonsen
References
- "Shots fired during UK rap concert", BBC News. March 22 2005. Retrieved October 26 2005.