Nas

    Nas(born Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones September 14, 1973) is an American Rapper. He is the son of Olu Dara a jazz musician. Nas came of age in the Notoriously rough Queensbridge Projects. With lyrics and beats virtually built into Queensbridge’s concrete walls, Nas had soaked up his talents from suck influences before he was ond enough to put pen o paper. So it was only a matter of time before this young boy would attempt to wow the crowds on his own. Nas first went by the nickname Kid Wave before adopting his more commonly known alias of Nasty Nas. In the late 1980s, he met up with the producer "Large Professor" and went to the studio where Rakim and Kool G Rap were recording their albums. When they were not in the studio, Nas would go into the booth and record his own material. However, none of it was released. 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. his rhyming skills attracted a significant amount of attention within the hip-hop community.

    In 1994, Nas Released his first album “Illmatic”. Album was awarded Five Mics from The Source. It attracted attention for its depiction of ghetto life and Nas' refusal to include the violence evident in some hip-hop. the album, which featured production by DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, and Q-Tip, and a relatively unknown emcee named AZ, was lauded as a masterpiece. It spawned several singles, including "The World Is Yours", "It Ain't Hard to Tell", and "One Love".  With such a good start, he continued making music and dropped another effort "It Was Written" two years later. With this record, he soared higher on the U.S. albums chart, peaking at the No. 1 position. Beside becoming his first chart topper, this album was also his platform to showcase his rap supergroup which was signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath label and consisted of AZ, Foxy Brown and Cormega(The Firm).

 

    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. Nature replaced Cormega as the fourth member of 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 four rappers (the others being B-Real, 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.

   

    April 1999 was the time when Nas came out with his third album "I Am...". Already embraced by Hip-Hop community due to his talent, he had an access to acclaimed musicians and used the advantage to hire some of them for his collaborators. The result was he had  P. Diddy, DMX, Aaliyah and Scarface on the hook. Like its predecessor, this album ruled Hot 200. Due to its huge success, he planned a re-release of "I Am..." materials under the new title "Nastradamus" but after a while he scrapped the plan and decided to fill the effort with all new tracks. The album was rushed to meet a November release date. Only seven months in the making apparently was not enough to make a hit and it proved as the effort could only peak at No. 7 on albums chart.  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 December 2002, Nas released the "God's Son" album including its lead single, "Made You Look". 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. "I Can", which reworked elements from Beethoven's "Für Elise", became Nas's biggest hit to date during the spring and summer of 2003. Nas apparently took the criticism of "God's Son" seriously as he returned to his roots in his next album "Street's Disciple". Nas did not slow down as he returned to studio soon after "Street's Disciple". He dropped "Hip Hop Is Dead" in 2005 and it became his first project which had his then-foe Jay-Z. Additionally, will.i.am, Kelis, Kanye West, Chrisette Michele, Snoop Dogg and The Game were listed on it. The album ruled Hot 200, becoming his first taste on the top spot after 1999 "I Am...". The critics described it as a collection of songs which "is impossible not to admire, but hard to love."

    In 2008, Nas released his 2nd Def Jam album, “Untitled”. A year later at the 2009 Grammy Awards, he announced plan to release a collaborative album with reggae musician Damian Marley. 

Discography:

• Illmatic (1994)
• It Was Written (1996)
• I Am... (1999)
• Nastradamus (1999)
• Stillmatic (2001)
• God's Son (2002)
• Street's Disciple (2004)
• Hip Hop Is Dead (2006)
• Untitled (2008)