1. Nas made his recording debut on Professor's group, Main Source's 1991 song "Live at the Barbeque".
83 Facts About Nas
1. 2.
Nas signed with Columbia Records in 1992, and released his debut studio album, Illmatic, two years later.
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From 2001 to 2005, Nas was involved in a highly publicized feud with fellow New York rapper Jay-Z, popularized by the former's diss track "Ether".
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Nas then reconciled with Jay-Z prior to signing with his then-spearheaded label, Def Jam Recordings in 2006; he adopted a more provocative, politicized direction with the albums Hip Hop Is Dead and his untitled ninth studio album.
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In 2010, Nas released Distant Relatives, a collaborative album with Damian Marley that donated its royalties to active African charities.
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Nas has been second ranked by The Source on their "Top 50 Lyricists of All Time" list in 2012, fourth on MTV's Annual Hottest MCs in the Game list in 2013, and was named the "Greatest MC of All Time" by About.
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Nas has released seventeen studio albums since 1994, ten of which are certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum in the US.
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Nas's mother, Fannie Ann was a US Postal Service worker from North Carolina.
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Nas has a brother, Jabari Fret, who raps under the name Jungle and is a member of hip-hop group Bravehearts.
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Nas's father adopted the name "Olu Dara" from the Yoruba people.
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Nas is a cousin of actors Yara Shahidi and Sayeed Shahidi.
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Nas's parents divorced in 1985, and he dropped out of school after the eighth grade.
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Nas educated himself about African culture through the Five-Percent Nation and the Nuwaubian Nation.
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In 1989, then-16-year-old Nas met up with producer Large Professor and went to the studio where Rakim and Kool G Rap were recording their albums.
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In 1991, Nas performed on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque", produced by Large Professor.
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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 during the same year.
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In 1994, Nas recorded the song "One on One" for the soundtrack to the film Street Fighter.
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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.
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Nas parted ways with manager MC Serch, enlisted Steve Stoute, and began preparation for his second album, It Was Written.
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The album was chiefly produced by Tone and Poke of the Trackmasters, as Nas consciously worked towards a crossover-oriented sound.
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In late 1998, Nas began working on a double album, to be entitled I Am.
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In 1998, Nas co-wrote and starred in Hype Williams's feature film Belly.
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DiBella noticed that Nas covered "politics, the state of hip-hop, Y2K, race, and religion with his own unique perspective" in the album besides autobiographical lyrics.
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Fans and critics feared that Nas's career was declining, artistically and commercially, as both I Am.
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Nas responded with "Ether", in which he compared Jay-Z to such characters as JJ Evans from the sitcom Good Times and cigarette company mascot Joe Camel.
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In December 2002, Nas released the God's Son album including its lead single, "Made You Look" which used a pitched down sample of the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache".
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The second single, "I Can", which reworked elements from Beethoven's "Fur Elise", became Nas's biggest hit to date in 2003, garnering substantial radio airplay on urban, rhythmic, and top 40 radio stations, as well as on the MTV and VH1 music video networks.
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In 2003, Nas was featured on the Korn song "Play Me", from Korn's Take a Look in the Mirror LP.
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Nas released his seventh album Street's Disciple, a sprawling double album, on November 30,2004.
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On October 12,2007, Nas announced that his next album would be called Nigger.
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On May 19,2008, Nas decided to forgo an album title.
32.
At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Nas confirmed he was collaborating on an album with reggae singer Damian Marley which was expected to be released in late 2009.
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Nas's stuff is not really singing, or if he does, it comes off more hard, like on some street shit.
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Nas went on to say that it was "too early to tell the title or anything like that".
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Nas revealed that he would begin working on his tenth studio album following the release of Distant Relatives.
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Nas called the album a "magic moment" in his rap career.
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In 2011, Nas announced that he would release collaboration albums with Mobb Deep, Common, and a third with DJ Premier.
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In January 2013, Nas announced he had begun working on his twelfth studio album, which would be his final album for Def Jam.
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In October 2013, DJ Premier said that his collaboration album with Nas, would be released following his twelfth studio album.
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In October 2013, Nas confirmed that a rumored song "Sinatra in the Sands" featuring Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, and Timbaland would be featured on the album.
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Nas has collaborated with the Australian hip-hop group, Bliss n Eso, in 2014.
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Nas was featured on the song "We Are" from Justin Bieber's fourth studio album, Purpose, released in November 2015.
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Nas was announced as one of the executive producers of the Netflix original series, The Get Down, prior to its release in August 2016.
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Nas narrated the series and rapped as adult Ezekiel of 1996.
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In November 2016, Nas collaborated with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dave East and Aloe Blacc on a song called "Wrote My Way Out", which appears on The Hamilton Mixtape.
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In June 2017, Nas appeared in the award-winning 2017 documentary The American Epic Sessions directed by Bernard MacMahon, where he recorded live direct-to-disc on the restored first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s.
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On September 12,2023, Nas announced the 3rd installment to the Magic album series, Magic 3, which would be released two days later, on his fiftieth birthday.
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Nas executive produced the 2024 concept album by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis, Warriors.
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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 he has even been compared to Rakim for his lyrical technique.
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Nas's catalog includes songs narrated before birth and after death, biographies and autobiographies, allegorical tales and epistolary ones, he's rapped in the voice of a woman and even of a gun.
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On March 15,2012, Nas became the first rapper to have a personal verified account on Genius, where he explains his own lyrics and occasionally comments on lyrics from other rappers he admires.
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In 2013, Nas was ranked fourth on MTV's "Hottest MCs in the Game" list.
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Jay-Z requested that Nas appear on his 1996 album Reasonable Doubt on the track "Bring it On"; however, Nas never showed up to the studio and was not included on the album.
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Jay-Z responded with a freestyle over the instrumental to Nas's "Got Ur Self a Gun", known as "Supa Ugly".
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The feud was officially brought to an end in 2005, when Jay-Z and Nas performed on stage together in a surprise concert featuring P Diddy, Kanye West and Beanie Sigel.
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Nas appeared on Power 105.1 days later and addressed a number of fellow artists, including Nelly, Noreaga and Cam'ron himself.
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Nas praised Cam'ron as a good lyricist, but branded his album Come Home With Me as "wack".
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Nas did not respond directly but appeared on the radio days later, calling Cam'ron a "dummy" for supposedly being used by Hot 97 to generate ratings.
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Nas eventually responded on his 2002 album God's Son on the song "Zone Out", claiming Cam'ron had HIV.
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On his 2006 mixtape, The Prophecy, Vol 2: The Beginning of the N, Nas had a track titled "Life's Gone Low".
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Nas lifted vocal hooks and the entire beats from the duo's work.
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Nas neither obtained clearance nor did he credit the Sisters for the reuse.
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On September 6,2007, Nas performed at a free concert for the Virginia Tech student body and faculty, following the school shooting there.
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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.
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About two weeks later, Nas was interviewed by Shaheem Reid of MTV News, where he criticised O'Reilly, calling him uncivilized and willing to go to extremes for publicity.
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On July 23,2008, Nas appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss his opinion of O'Reilly and Fox News, which he accused of bias against the African-American community and re-challenged O'Reilly to a debate.
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In 2020, after Doja Cat faced accusations of participating in racist conversations on the internet, Nas referenced her in his song "Ultra Black"; in the song, Nas describes himself as "unapologetically black, the opposite of Doja Cat".
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Nas has a partnership with Hennessy and worked on their "Wild Rabbit" campaign.
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In 2014, Nas invested as part of a $2.8M round in viral video startup ViralGains another addition to Queens-bridge venture partners portfolio.
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In May 2014, Nas partnered with job placement startup Koru to fund a scholarship for 10 college graduates to go through Koru's training program.
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Nas is a co-owner of a Cloud-based service LANDR, an automated, drag-and-drop digital audio postproduction tool which automates "mastering", the final stage in audio production.
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In June 2015, Nas joined forces with New York City soul food restaurant Sweet Chick.
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Nas has continued to invest heavily in technology startups including Dropbox, Lyft, and Robinhood.
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Nas grew up in a Christian Southern Baptist family, and while not directly affiliated with any religious denomination, believes there to be a higher power.
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Nas is a fan of his hometown baseball team the New York Mets and English soccer team Everton FC.
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Nas announced the birth of his son, Knight, at a gig in Queens, New York, against Kelis's wishes.
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In 2018, Kelis accused Nas of being physically and mentally abusive during their marriage.
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Nas replied to the accusations on social media, accusing Kelis of attempting to slander him in the time of a custody battle and accusing Kelis of abusing his daughter, Destiny.
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Nas's great-great-great-grandmother, Pocahontas Little, was an enslaved woman who was sold for $830.
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Nas was shown the marriage certificate of his great-great-great-grandmother, Pocahontas, and great-great-great-grandfather, Calvin.
81.
In January 2012, Nas was involved in a dispute with a concert promoter in Angola, having accepted $300,000 for a concert in Luanda, Angola's capital for New Year's Eve and then not showing up.
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American promoter Patrick Allocco and his son, who arranged for Nas's concert, were detained at gunpoint and taken to an Angolan jail by the local promoter who fronted the $300,000 for the concert.
83.
Nas has won one Grammy out of 17 nominations altogether.