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Nas, or Nasir Jones grew up in Queensbridge, New York. His father, Olu Dara, was a successful jazz trumpeter who has played with Art Blakey and Taj Mahal among others. Nas had a reasonably comfortable childhood, there was food on the table and his mother wasn't a crackhead. At the age of nine, he turned his attention to the streets, and immersed himself in the culture of the ghetto. Originally he rapped under the name of Nasty Nas, appearing on Main Source's Live at the Barbecue when he was 18. Then he was 'discovered' by 3rd Bass' MC Serch, changed his name, and had his underground hit 'Halftime' on the soundtrack of the film Zebrahead. Although these early tracks were gangsta rap, they we're broader and cleverer than those of most artists in the genre, and like most other Nas songs were rarely violent.

When he released Illmatic on Columbia in 1994, Nas was already seen as a rising star by fellow rappers.  His debut proved this, phat beats from some of hip hop's finest producers, including Pete Rock and Large Professor combining with Nas' meaningful and intelligent rhymes to produce the greatest rap album of all time. Containing songs such as N.Y. State of Mind, Life's a bitch and the constantly under-rated Memory Lane, the album is now considered a hip hop epic. However, despite all the hype surrounding it (the Source gave the album the virtually unprecedented rating of 5 mics), the album was not a commercial success. It still hasn't gone platinum, 7 years on. Buy it, it's bloody good, and Nas' masterpiece.

Expectations were high for It Was Written, Nas' sophomore effort, but the album was a disappointment. There are a few good songs, but neither of the albums' two hit singles (Street Dreams and If I Ruled The World) were original Nas songs. This album was produced by Dr. Dre, and it shows. Dr Dre stripped Nas bare of the elaborate beats that made him so fucking good, leaving us with just an average gangsta rap album. Although there's nothing wrong with this album it lacks the depth and quality of Illmatic. Nas instead tries to attract a wider audience with catchy hooks. However, it easily outsold sold, and peaked at #1 on the Billboard R'n'B charts.

By the time he released I Am..., Nas was a superstar. Many people thought that, having proved he could sell records, Nas would return to his previous style. He did to an extent, (Nas is Like is Illmatic worthy material) but there are also several predictable pop rap tunes (Hate Me Now). It's still a reasonable album, but is very glossy. However, what do you expect from a man with five years of Armani behind him.

Album number 4 Nastradamus was originally intended to be recorded as a double album with I Am, but Columbia wouldn't wait or some bullshit like that, so it was released six months later, in October 1999. By the time it came out, I was getting a bit bored with Nas after two average albums, but this is some high quality shit. It is quite similar to Illmatic, although its still obvious that fame has gotten to the ghetto poet's head. However, Come Get Me is fucking brilliant.

Album number 5 Stillmatic was classic. In my opinion, that was Nas' come back. The Source also gave Stillmatic 5 mics. Stillmatic had one of the best track of 2001, One Mic which was nominated for all the awards. Another single off the album, Got ur self a gun was an average song. However Ether, diss to Jay-Z is said to be second greatest diss track of all time after Tupac's Hit em' up.



Rest of the bio coming soon.
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