Nas
Wikimp3 information about the music of Nas. On our website we have 70 albums and 70 collections of artist Nas. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Nas represents Hip Hop/R&B genres.
Biography
[Edit]Beginning with his classic debut, Illmatic (1994), Nas stood tall for years as one of New York City's leading rap voices, outspokenly expressing a righteous, self-empowered swagger that endeared him to critics and hip-hop purists. Whether proclaiming himself "Nasty Nas" or "Nas Escobar" or "Nastradamus" or "God's Son," the self-appointed King of New York battled numerous adversaries for his position atop the epicenter of East Coast rap, none more challenging than Jay-Z, who vied with Nas for the vacated throne left in the wake of the Notorious B.I.G.'s 1997 assassination. Such headline-worthy drama informed Nas' provocative rhymes, which he delivered with both a masterful flow and a wise perspective over beats by a range of producers: legends like DJ Premier, Large Professor, and Pete Rock; hitmakers like Trackmasters, Timbaland, and will.i.am; street favorites like Swizz Beatz, Megahertz, and the Alchemist; and personal favorites of his own like L.E.S., Salaam Remi, and Chucky Thompson. Nas likewise collaborated with some of the industry's leading video directors, including Hype Williams and Chris Robinson, presenting singles like "Hate Me Now," "One Mic," and "I Can" with dramatic flair. Throughout all the ups (the acclaim, popularity, and success) and downs (the expectations, adversaries, and over-reaching), Nas continually matured as an artist, evolving from a young street disciple to a vain all-knowing sage to a humbled godly teacher. Such growth made every album release an event and prolonged his increasingly storied career to epic proportions.
Born Nasir Jones, son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas dropped out of school in the eighth grade, trading classrooms for the streets of the rough Queensbridge projects, long fabled as the former stomping ground of Marley Marl and his Juice Crew as immortalized in "The Bridge." Despite dropping out of school, Nas developed a high degree of literacy that would later characterize his rhymes. At the same time, though, he delved into street culture and flirted with danger, such experiences similarly characterizing his rhymes. His synthesis of well-crafted rhetoric and street-glamorous imagery blossomed in 1991 when he connected with Main Source and laid down a fiery verse on "Live at the Barbeque" that earned him up-and-coming notice among the East Coast rap scene. Not long afterward, MC Serch of 3rd Bass approached Nas about contributing a track to the Zebrahead soundtrack. Serch was the soundtrack's executive producer and had been impressed by "Live at the Barbeque." Nas submitted "Halftime," and the song so stunned Serch that he made it the soundtrack's lead-off track.
Columbia Records meanwhile signed Nas to a major-label contract, and many of New York's finest producers offered their support. DJ Premier, Large Professor, and Pete Rock entered the studio with the young rapper and began work on Illmatic. When Columbia finally released the album in April 1994, it faced high expectations; Illmatic regardless proved just as astounding as it had been billed. It sold very well, spawned multiple hits, and earned unanimous acclaim, followed soon after by classic status.
The two years leading up to Nas' follow-up, It Was Written (1996), brought another wave of enormous anticipation. The ambitious rapper, who had begun working closely with industry heavyweight Steve Stoute, responded with a significantly different approach than he had taken with Illmatic: where that album had been a straightforward hip-hop album with few pop concessions, the largely Trackmaster-produced It Was Written made numerous concessions to the pop-crossover market, most notably on the two hit singles, "Street Dreams" and "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)." These singles — both of which drew from well-known songs, Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and Kurtis Blow's "If I Ruled the World," respectively — broadened Nas' appeal greatly and awarded him MTV-sanctioned crossover success. This same crossover success undermined some of his hip-hop credibility, however, and a minor backlash by purists resulted.
Nas addressed his critics on "Hate Me Now," the second single from his next album, I Am (1999). The effort had originally been planned as a double-disc concept album comprised of autobiographical material, but when some of the tracks were leaked, I Am was scaled down and released as a single disc, with the DJ Premier-produced "Nas Is Like" chosen as the lead single. Besides "Nas Is Like" and "Hate Me Now," which both broke into the Billboard Hot 100, "You Won't See Me Tonight" and "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" also charted as singles. Originally scheduled by Columbia as a follow-up album comprised of the pirated material from the I Am sessions, Nastradamus (1999) — released in time for the holiday shopping season, roughly six months after its predecessor — was instead comprised almost entirely of new material, recorded quickly to meet the late-November release date. The album failed to garner the abundance of critical praise that had become customary for Nas. Moreover, unlike its two predecessors, Nastradamus failed to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, peaking at number seven instead, and failed to go double platinum. Though relatively disappointing on these counts, Nastradamus still went platinum and spawned two charting singles, "Nastradamus" and "You Owe Me," so the album wasn't a failure, just disappointing.
In the late-'90s wake of the Notorious B.I.G.'s assassination, Nas reigned atop the New York rap scene alongside few contemporaries of equal stature. In addition to his endless stream of hits by the industry's most successful producers — "If I Ruled the World" (produced by the Trackmasters), "Hate Me Now" (Puff Daddy), "Nas Is Like" (DJ Premier), and "You Owe Me" (Timbaland), among others — he co-starred in the Hype Williams-directed film Belly (1998) alongside DMX and contributed to the soundtrack. Furthermore, Nas led a short-lived supergroup of New York rappers known as the Firm (also comprised of rappers Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature, with producers Dr. Dre and the Trackmasters) and assembled a broad coalition of fellow Queensbridge rappers for the QB Finest compilation (2000). Amid all of this publicity, though, criticism began to mount. For every crossover fan Nas won with his dramatic MTV-aired videos, he lost support among purists, some of whom felt he had sold out, abandoning hip-hop ideals in favor of commercial success. The relative disappointment of Nastradamus was symptomatic of this downturn.
A series of incidents in 2001 provided a key turning point for Nas' decline. The rapper's personal life was becoming increasingly complicated; he encountered relationship trouble with the mother of his daughter and, of greater consequence, his mother began suffering from cancer. To make matters worse, longtime rival Jay-Z pointedly dissed Nas on "Takeover," the much-discussed lead-off song from his acclaimed Blueprint album (2001). (It didn't help that Jay-Z had risen atop the New York rap scene, giving him ample justification to call out Nas, who had receded from the public eye while he dealt with his personal issues.)
Nas responded strikingly in December 2001 with Stillmatic, the title a reference to his classic Illmatic album, which had been released nearly a decade earlier. Stillmatic opened with the song "Ether," a very direct response to Jay-Z, followed by the aggressive lead single "Get Ur Self A...." These two songs in particular rallied the streets while the moving video for "One Mic" received heavy support from MTV. Throughout 2002, Nas continued his comeback with a number of guest appearances, among them Brandy's "What About Us?," J-Lo's "I'm Gonna Be Alright," and Ja Rule's "The Pledge," as well as yet more news-making controversy, this time involving his no-show at popular radio station Hot 97's annual Summer Jam.
Amid all of the drama, Nas managed to salvage his esteemed reputation and reclaim his lofty status atop the New York scene. Stillmatic earned immediate acclaim from fans and critics alike and sold impressively, while Columbia furthered the comeback campaign with two archival releases, one of remixes (From Illmatic to Stillmatic [2002]), the other of outtakes (The Lost Tapes [2002], which notably includes some of the pirated I Am material). Then at the end of the year Columbia released a new studio album, God's Son (2002), and Nas once again basked in widespread acclaim as the album sold well, spawned sizable hits ("Thugz Mansion," "Made You Look," "I Can"), and received rampant media support. Two years later Nas returned with Street's Disciple (2004), a sprawling double album that delved deeply into various issues, most notably politics and his impending marriage to Kelis. The two-sided "Thief's Theme"/"You Know My Style" single dropped in summer 2004, several months before the album's release, and was followed that fall by the proper lead single "Bridging the Gap."
Street's Disciple came and went, however, without the level of commercial success that had become customary, as it struggled to go platinum. More troubling, new kid on the block 50 Cent took a swipe at Nas on "Piggy Bank," a call-out song on The Massacre (2005), further bringing the veteran rapper's status into question. In a surprising turn of events later that year, Nas made a surprise appearance at Jay-Z's much-hyped I Declare War concert in October 2005. Together the two rivals performed "Dead Presidents," Jay-Z's 1996 debut single; the classic song, produced by Ski Beatz and featured on Reasonable Doubt (1996), features a prominent sample of "The World Is Yours," a 1994 classic by Nas. The reconciliation of Jay-Z and Nas opened the door to a deal with Def Jam. The record label, overseen by Jay-Z as president at the time, signed Nas and, in turn, released Hip Hop Is Dead (2006). The album didn't sell especially well, but it did inspire a lot of commentary about the state of hip-hop and included a much-anticipated collaboration with Jay-Z, "Black Republican." A politically charged self-titled album, at one point considered to be titled N*gger, materialized in 2008, and not without some controversy of its own. Following his divorce from Kelis, Nas released Distant Relatives, an album-length collaboration with Damian "Junior Gong" Marley, in 2010. Two years later, his divorce was addressed on the venomous Life Is Good, an album that featured Nas holding Kelis' wedding dress on the cover.
Title: NY Se Mumbai (feat. DIVINE, Naezy & Ranveer Singh) - Single
Artist: Nas
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Distant Relatives (Explicit Version)
Artist: Nas, Damian Jr Gong Marley
Genre: Reggae, World Music, Latin
Title: Nah Mean (Intanatty Remix) - Single
Artist: Nas, Damian Jr Gong Marley
Genre: Dancefloor, Dance Pop
Title: This Bitter Land (Single)
Artist: Nas
Genre: Electronica, Tech House, Hip Hop/R&B, Rap, Death Metal
Collections
Title: 100 Hip Hop Hits
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Man's Best Friend
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: 21 Throwback Jams
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: 21 Sweet 90s Hits!
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap, Rock, Pop
Title: R&B: From Doo-Wop to Hip-Hop (feat. O.D.B.)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: Belly (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: Raised On Hip Hop
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: The One & Only 2
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Classic S**t
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Back In the Days
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: The Good Old Days
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: The Music of Grand Theft Auto IV
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap, Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Hip Hop 101
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Wendy Williams Brings the Heat, Vol. 1
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap, Soul
Title: The One & Only 4
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Men In Black - The Album
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Hip Hop Future Hits
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Hip Hop Classics
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Exit Wounds the Soundtrack
Genre: Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Hip Hop Classics 2
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: This Is Hip Hop
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: 50 Hip Hop Classics
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Hip Hop Classics 1
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Def Jam Sessions, Vol. 1
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap, Punk Rock
Title: Timbo Rap
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Monster Hip Hop
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Like Mike (Music from the Motion Picture)
Genre: Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Bone Thugs-N-Family
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: This Is Hip Hop
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Bone Box - Thugs-For-Life
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Fidel Cashflow
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Mandatory Trap Music
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Bad Christmas Vol.2
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Hits of Compilation
Genre: Latin
Title: The Rise Vol.1
Genre: House, Dancefloor, Dance Pop
Title: Music Inspired By Jackass
Genre: Rock
Title: Codine Prescription
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: This Is Gangsta Rap (Disc 1)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: The Tonite Show Compilation, Vol. 1
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Young Noble & JT the Bigga Figga Present: Street Warz
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Hot Summer Club
Genre: Pop
Title: Belly (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Genre: Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Def Jam 25, Vol. 18: Shawty's a Rider
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Def Jam Recordings 25, Vol. 17 - Music to Ride To
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: This Is East Coast Hip Hop
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Never Turn Down 4
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Blazin' Hip Hop & R & B
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap, Soul
Title: Mixtape Talents Fâchés / Mixtape Talents Faches
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Best Of Good Hands
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: FB Entertainment Presents: The Good Life Album
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: The Tonite Show Compilation
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Irakian Gangsta
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: Addicted To Bass 2013 - Ministry of Sound
Genre: Dancefloor, Dance Pop
Title: Summer Hit Compilation 2005
Genre: Pop
Title: Big Money Vol.2
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Featuring albums
Title: Baller Blockin' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: The Miseducation Of Eunice Waymon
Artist: Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill, Amerigo Gazaway
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap, Soul, Funk
Title: Liоnеss: Нiddеn Trеаsurеs (Jараnеsе Еditiоn)
Artist: Amy Winehouse
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Funk
Title: Watch Dogs (Original Soundtrack) (Deluxe Edition) (CD2)
Artist: Brian Reitzell, Peter Connelly
Genre: Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Chances Dancefloor (CD3)
Artist: 230 DJ Loaded
Genre: House, Drum & Bass, Reggaeton, World Music, Nu Disco, Dubstep, Trap