Born as Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones, in Brooklyn NewYork and known popularly as Nas, this highly talented singer who was once a proclaimed teenage prodigy has successfully carved a niche for himself in the Hip Hop music arena. His debut album Illmatic released in 1994 is regarded as a masterpiece in this category and Nas mixtapes conforming to this collection secured innumerable accolades. One of his stellar performances as a teenager include “Main source’s “ “Live at the Barbeque” A lot of hype around Nas Mixed tapes can be attributed to his fine rhyming skills.“Nasty Nas” as he wished to be known does not boast of a highly educative background but his lyrics have been described by stalwarts of the music industry like Steve Huey of All music to be ‘Highly Literate”. Again his second album released in 1996 named “It was written” boasts of not only scintillating music but also tells coherent stories as well. Nas mixtape collections are available extensively covering this collection.The year 1999-2000 witnessed the release of his album “I Am and…Nostradamus” which saw him move into more of commercial themes. The album didn’t do so well as expected but the track “You Owe Me” was well received and features in several Nas mixtape collections.His association with Jay-Z around 2001 which included several stage appearances together, Nas mixtapesreleases and freestyles later on became a much publicized feud. It was finally in 2005 that the two covered up their differences and Nas performed on Jay-Z’s “I declare War power house” concert.His “God’s son” album brought out in December 2002 with its lead single “Made You look” earned the honor of best Hip Hop album of the year bestowed by Time magazine. The 2004 album – Street’s disciple received a luke warm response though it did cut platinum. Nas became part of another controversy in 2006 when he named his latest album “Hip Hop is dying”. Several artists and fans took offense to the title and Nas in fact became the unofficial leader of the ‘Hip Hop is dying’ movement.Nas earned another credit when one of his songs “Thief’s Theme” featured in an award winning movie “The Departed”. On June 9th 2009, Nas released a mixed tapes along with DJ Lantern called “The Ni*ger Tape”. This mixtapes collection includes several unreleased tracks and was sponsored by the apparel company Fila. Another Nas mixtapes compilation called” Soulmatic” featured remixed versions of Nas’s classic album “Stillmatic”.
