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Nas: From Illmatic to Hip Hop is Dead
But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. We have to set up the big surprise before we tell you whether or not Nasty Nas actually lived up to his big billing. We have to go back to find out just how Nas was discovered in the middle of the hood. That, we find out, happened because of a group that was huge in the early 1990s, called 3rd Base, of "Gas Face" fame.
One of the leaders of 3rd Base, MC Serch, discovered Nas and eventually would become his manager. Smart move, right? For both of them. MC Serch ended up getting Nas a record contract with Columbia, and that was followed up by the first Nas song, called "Halftime." More Nas lyrics made appearances on Serch's solo album in 1992, especially on the song called "Back to the Grill." Even here, people were saying that Nas could become the next Rakim of Erik B. & Rakim fame.
Explosion Onto the Scene
Finally, with all this hype, Nas proved all the haters wrong and all his fans right. Let's set the stage again. The year is 1994, and with the Nas single "Halftime," the first ever solo Nas album "Illmatic" is released. It has huge names producing behind the scenes on it, the likes of Q-Tip, Pete Rock, Large Professor, and DJ Premier, but to name a few. Even his father makes an appearance on the record, along with his buddy AZ.
Technically, this Nas record didn't break any sales records. Some say it's because so many bootlegs were made of the album. Some say it's because the dark and expressive Nas lyrics were just too real for any corporate record label to properly promote it. Whatever. When you got as much props as Nas did with this album, who cares? The Illmatic is still considered one of the best records ever in the rap world.
Nas followed it up by working with a host of other rappers on their own music, including with Raekwon, Mobb Deep, and AZ. But even though he had all the respect in the world, Nas wasn't happy.
Going Mainstream
Nas wanted mainstream success, so he ditched Serch in favor of a new manager, Steve Stoute, and he released his 1996 Nas album, "It was Written." The album got him the huge hits that he wanted. The touching yet poppy Nas song "If I Ruled the World" still gets play on the radio, and the hit "Street Dreams" was also big.
This record was followed by the 1999 "Nastradamus," which again reinforced the belief of many that Nas was going corporate. One big Nas song off the album called "You Owe Me," got some play. But since this time, perhaps what Nas has been most known for has been his feud with Jay Z, which went back and forth between Jay Z songs and Nas songs.
Of course, Nas kept releasing albums, such as the 2001 "Stillmatic," the 2002 "God's Son" record, and the 2004 "Street's Disciple," which reaffirmed a lot of Nas' street cred and reputation as a hardcore rapper of the streets. Then there was the 2006 "Hip Hop is Dead," whose name alone was enough to get people fired up all over again about Nas.
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