Nas - War [Dirty]

NAS

Birth name Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones

Also known as Nasty Nas

Born September 14, 1973 (1973-09-14) (age 38)
Long Island City, Queens, New York

Origin Queensbridge, Queens, New York

Genres Hip hop

Occupations Rapper

Instruments Sampler, keyboard

Years active 1991--present

Labels Columbia, Def Jam, Ill Will, The Jones Experience

Associated acts Olu Dara, The Firm, AZ, Bravehearts, Kelis, Mobb Deep, Damian Marley, Large Professor, Wu-Tang Clan

Early life
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. He has one sibling, a brother named Jabari Fret who assumes the alias Jungle. His neighbor, Willy "Ill Will" Graham, influenced Nas's interest in hip hop by playing him records. Nas's parents divorced in 1985,[5] and he dropped out of school in the ninth grade.[4] He educated himself about African culture through the Five Percent Nation, the Nuwaubians, the Bible and the Qur'an.

Career beginnings (1989-1992)
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.

Street's Disciple (2004)
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.

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).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Hostile
• Angry
• Bleak
• Brooding
• Bitter
• Cynical
• Sarcastic
• Ironic
• Visceral
• Tense
• Anxious
• Aggressive
• Thuggish
• Rowdy
• Confident
• Brash
• Rousing
• StreetSmart
• Ominous
• Confrontational
• Menacing
• Intense
• Raucous
• Harsh
• Somber
• Gritty
• hiphop
• undergroundhiphop
• underground
• classic
• timeless
• priceless
• unclean
• uncut
• filthy
• emmyaward
• singing
• ryhming
• battling
• nas
• nasir
• jones
• illmatic
• westcoast
• eastcoast
• newyork
• la