In 1991, Nas performed on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque". When they were not in the recording studio, Nas would go into the booth and record his own material. 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. Nas initially went by the nickname "Kid Wave" before adopting his more commonly known alias of "Nasty Nas". In his early years, he played the trumpet and began writing his own rhymes.ġ980s–1994: Underground beginnings and album debutĪs a teenager, Nas enlisted his best friend and upstairs neighbor Willy "Ill Will" Graham as his DJ. He educated himself about African culture through the Five Percent Nation and the Nuwaubian Nation. His parents divorced in 1985, and he dropped out of school after the eighth grade. His neighbor, Willy "Ill Will" Graham, influenced his interest in hip hop by playing him records. His other roots include British and Native American ancestors he also found that his Y-DNA traces directly back to Scandinavia, through which he is a descendant of the Vikings.Īs a young child, Nas and his family relocated to the Queensbridge Houses in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens. His matrilineal DNA haplogroup is of African origin, found among the Yoruba and Fulbe populations in Western Africa. His African DNA indicates he has roots in countries with high Yoruba populations Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana – as well as Mali, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo, South Africa, and Senegal. His father took his name "Olu Dara" from the Yoruba people. He has one sibling, a brother named Jabari Fret who is best known as "Jungle", a member of the hip-hop group Bravehearts. His mother, Fannie Ann (Little) Jones, was a Postal Service worker from North Carolina. His father, Olu Dara (born Charles Jones III), is a jazz and blues musician, from Mississippi. Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones was born on September 14, 1973, in Brooklyn, New York. In 2016, Nas narrated The Get Down and rapped as Adult Ezekiel of 1996. ranked him first on their list of the "50 Greatest MCs of All Time" in 2014, and a year later, Nas was featured on "The 10 Best Rappers of All Time" list by Billboard. In 2013, Nas was ranked 4th on MTV's "Hottest MCs in the Game" list. In 2012, The Source ranked him #2 on their list of the "Top 50 Lyricists of All Time". MTV ranked him at #5 on their list of "The Greatest MCs of All Time". Nas is often named as one of the greatest hip-hop artists. His 11th studio album, Life Is Good (2012) was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2010, he released Distant Relatives, a collaboration album with Damian Marley, donating all royalties to charities active in Africa. From 2001-2005, Nas was involved in a highly publicized feud with Jay-Z. Nas's follow-up It Was Written debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, stayed on top for 4 consecutive weeks, went Double Platinum in 2 months, and made Nas internationally known. His debut album Illmatic (1994) received universal acclaim from both critics and the Hip-Hop community and is frequently ranked as the greatest Hip Hop album of all time. His musical career began in 1991, as a featured artist on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque". He is also an entrepreneur through his own record label he serves as associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine and is the owner of a Fila sneaker store. The son of Olu Dara, Nas has released eight consecutive platinum and multi-platinum albums and has sold over 25 million records worldwide. Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones (/nɑːˈsɪər/ born September 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Nas /ˈnɑːz/, is an American hip hop recording artist, record producer, actor and entrepreneur.