Nas was born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones in
Long Island City, Queens,
New York.
[1][5] His father,
Olu Dara, is a jazz trumpeter and 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.
[6] Nas began writing rhymes at the age of nine.
[7] His neighbor, Willy "Ill Will" Graham, influenced Nas's interest in
hip hop by playing him records.
[6] Nas' parents
divorced in 1985,
[6] and he dropped out of school in the eighth grade.
[1] He educated himself, reading about
African culture and civilization, the 360° Lessons of the
Nubian Islamic Hebrew scrolls, the
Bible and the
Qur'an.
[8]Despite dropping out of school, Nas developed a high degree of literacy that would later characterize his rhymes.
Career
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.
[9]In 1991, Nas performed on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque" concert, 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.
[1] 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,
[10] 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 the first album awarded Five Mics from
The Source.
[11] It also featured production from
Large Professor,
Pete Rock,
Q-Tip,
L.E.S. and
DJ Premier, as well as guest appearances from Nas' friend
AZ and his father Olu Dara. The album spawned several hit singles: "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.
[12] Nas performed the song "One on One" for the movie
Street Fighter.
[13] In 1995, Nas did guest performances on the albums
Doe or Die by
AZ,
The Infamous by
Mobb Deep, and
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx by
Raekwon.
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" using the same sample as
Tupac Shakur's All Eyez on Me base track and 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 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.
[1]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. 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.
[2]Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album was finally released in 1997 to mixed reviews and didn't live to the high sales expectation despite being certified platinum, and the members of the super group went 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 supergroup
Group Therapy, who appeared on the song "
East Coast/West Coast Killas" from
Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath.
[14] In 1998, Nas co-wrote and starred in
Hype Williams' 1998 feature film
Belly.
[1]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.
[1] 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.
[15] 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.
[16]The second single for
I Am… was "
Hate Me Now," featuring
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, which was used as an example by Nas' 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.
[16]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."
[1] 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.
[17]In 2000,
QB's Finest was released on Nas's
Ill Will Records.
[1] 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."
[18]2001: Nas vs. Jay-Z and StillmaticAfter 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.
[1] Jay-Z, in his song "
Takeover", criticized Nas by calling him "fake" and his career "lame".
[19] 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.
[20] Stillmatic debuted at number five on the
Billboard album charts and featured the singles "Got Ur Self A Gun" 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.
[19] In the song, Jay-Z explicitly boasts about having an affair with Nas's girlfriend, Carmen Bryan.
[21] 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.
[22]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.
[23]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.
[24] 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.
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.
[1]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.
[1] Nas's original title for his next album was Hip Hop Is Dead...The N
[25] (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
[26], and contained a
sample from Nas "
Made You Look,"
[27] but it did not make the final cut for
Hip Hop Is Dead.
[28]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….
[29] 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".
[30] Another video,
Hustlers, featuring
The Game, would follow.
[31] 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.
[32]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.
[33]. However, southern rapper
André 3000 from Outkast said in a interview that hip-hop is "dying".
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.
[34]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,
Phil Vassar, and
Dave Matthews Band.
[35] 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 pistol 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 four times before cutting the segment short.
[36]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.
[37]Responding to O'Reilly, Nas, in an interview with
MTV News, said:
[38]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 ratings or whatever. I wouldn't honor anything Bill O'Reilly has to say. It just shows you what bloodsuckers 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.
[39] The other new track, "
Surviving the Times," contains biographical lyrics about Nas's career and features production by
Chris Webber.
2008: NiggerOn 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
conservative leaning
Fox News were outraged; Jackson called on entertainers to stop using the epithet after comedian
Michael Richards used it onstage in late 2006.
[40] 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.
[41] 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.
[42][43][44] 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.
[45]Nas' management worried that the album would not be sold by chain stores such as
Wal-Mart, thus limiting its distribution.
[46] On May 19, 2008, Nas decided to forgo an album title.
[47] 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.
[48]”
"
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.
[49] 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,
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,
Busta Rhymes and
Tupac Amaru Shakur.
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.
[50]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:
[51]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.
[52] Nas will also be featured on the upcoming albums
Detox by
Dr. Dre[53] and
The Recession by
Young Jeezy.
[54]On July 16, 2008, Nas performed "Hero" 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.
[55] At the end of the show Nas performed the song "Sly Fox" off his new album, to affirm his criticism of Fox News. Nas is currently touring in "Rock The Bells."
[56] Nas 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."
[57]2009: Distant Relatives with Damian Marley
At the
2009 Grammy Awards, Nas confirmed that that he was collaborating on an album with
reggae musician
Damian Marley which is expected to be released in Spring 2009, with a special edition expected to be available exclusively through
Best Buy or
Target. A portion of the profit is planned to go towards building a school in
Africa.
[58] He went on to say that it was "too early to tell the title or anything like that".
[59] The Los Angeles Times reported that the album would be titled Distant Relatives.
[60]Personal lifeIn 1994, Nas' ex-fiancée Carmen Bryan gave birth to their daughter, Destiny. Bryan allegedly had sexual relationships with
Jay-Z and
Allen Iverson, after she and Nas split up.
[61][62][63] He also briefly dated
Mary J. Blige.
[62] In 2005, Nas married
R&B singer
Kelis in
Atlanta after a two-year relationship.
[64][65] The couple is expecting their first child together, a son, in 2009.
[66] On April 30, 2009, a spokesperson confirmed that Kelis filed for
divorce, citing
irreconcilable differences.
[67][68]
