SEP 14 - TODAY IN HIP HOP
Nas was born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones in Long Island City, Queens, New York. His father, Olu Dara, is a jazz and blues musician from Mississippi. His mother, Fannie Ann Jones, was a Postal Service worker.
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. 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 1991, Nas performed on Main Source’s “Live at the Barbeque.” 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. Called the new Rakim, his rhyming skills attracted a significant amount of attention within the hip-hop community.
In 1994, Nas’s debut album, Illmatic, was finally released. It was awarded Five Mics from The Source. It also featured production from Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S. and DJ Premier, as well as guest appearances from Nas’s friend AZ and his father Olu Dara. The album spawned several singles, including “The World Is Yours,” “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” and “One Love.” Shaheem Reid of MTV News called Illmatic “the first classic LP” of 1994.
Nas went on to release 9 more full-length albums.
