Nas Biography
|
In the mid 1990’s Nas was one of New York’s favorite rappers and stayed on top for over ten years.
Nas’ place at the top only began to be challenged when other rivals such as Jay-Z came on the seen in the
early 2000’s. Throughout his career, Nas went through many different stages and transformations such as
Nasty Nas the street hustler to Nas Escobar the gangster to Nastradamus the poet/prophet, and lastly to
the Stillmatic Nas which was a rebirth of himself. Nas was born Nasir Jones on September 14, 1973
and his father was a jazz musician named Olu Dara. When Nas reached the eighth grade he dropped out
of school and got caught up in the streets. This is where he learned “street mathematics”. In his
time outside of hustling he read. Nas studied African culture, Western civilizations, the Qu’ran
and the Bible. In 1991 he teamed up with Main Source and was given a verse in one of their songs
called “Live at the Barbeque”. The song was popular in New York and everyone wanted to know who
Nas was. Nas got his break when he was asked by MC Serch of 3rd Bass to contribute a track for the
Zebrahead soundtrack. He submitted an original song called “Halftime” and this track was made the
lead track of the soundtrack.
A lot of people began to notice and talk about Nas and Columbia signed him.
All of the best producers in New York wanted to work with Nas. His album “Illmatic” was
released in April of 1994 and was considered flawless. Two years later Nas followed up with
“It Was Written”. “If I Ruled the Word” and “Street Dreams” were national hits and Nas began
to expand outside of New York. It seemed however that the success value of the “Illmatic”
album was hard to duplicate. Nas began to go downhill when he came together with Dr. Dre to
create an album along with Dr. Dre, the Trackmasters, Foxy Brown, Nature, and AZ. The
album was a flop. After this setback Nas did not return to the game until 1999 with his
albums “I Am…The Autobiography” and “Nastradamus”. These albums were released two months
apart and these albums went in a different direction that “Illmatic”. He focused more on
the catchy hooks that made “If I Ruled the World” and “Street Dreams” hits. Nas had a
growing number of critics. Some of the hit singles from these albums were “Hate Me Now,”
“You Owe Me,” “Nas If Like”, and “Nastradamus”. In 2001 Nas came out with his albume
QB Finest but did not sell many copies. However he did get a hit with his song
“Oochie Wally”. After this he established his own label Ill Will and the Bravehearts
came about. Nas started in a new direction but dissing Jay-Z on a song called “Takeover”.
However at this time Jay-Z was New York’s new favorite rapper. Several months later in
2001 Nas releasued “Stillmatic”. This album rose to number five on the Billboard charts
and stayed there for weeks. His return was highly puplicized as he released dramatic
videos such as “Get Ur Self A…” and “One Mic”. These videos contrasted the
“cash, money, hoes” videos that were popular at this time. After this album Nas
was considered to be back in the game for a while.
In 2005 Nas married singer Kelis however they later divorced in 2009.
Kelis gave birth to Nas’ first son in 2009 as well. In early 2010 Kelis’s attorneys
filed charges against Nas saying that he owes $200,000 in child and spousal support
along with attorney’s fees. It is possible if Nas does not pay the charges he could face jail time.
written by: Rosalynda Thorn
|
|
|
