Name
Nas
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1973-09-14 (53 years old)
Place of Birth
Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Biography
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (September 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Nas, is an American rapper and businessman. Rooted in East Coast hip hop, he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time.
The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Jones's musical career began in 1989 as he adopted the moniker of "Nasty Nas" and recorded demos for Large Professor. He was a featured artist on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque" (1991), also produced by Large Professor. Nas's debut album Illmatic (1994) received universal acclaim upon release, and is considered to be one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time; in 2021, the album was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry. His second album It Was Written (1996) debuted atop the Billboard 200 and charted for four consecutive weeks; the album, along with its single "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill), catapulted Nas into international success. Both released in 1999, Nas's albums I Am and Nastradamus were criticized as inconsistent and too commercially oriented, and critics and fans feared that his output was declining in quality.
From 2001 to 2005, Nas was involved in a highly publicized feud with Jay-Z, popularized by the diss track "Ether". It was this feud, along with Nas's albums Stillmatic (2001), God's Son (2002), and the double album Street's Disciple (2004), that helped restore his critical standing. After squashing the feud, Nas signed to Jay-Z's Def Jam Recordings in 2006 and went in a more provocative, politicized direction with the albums Hip Hop Is Dead (2006) and his untitled 9th studio album (2008). In 2010, Nas released Distant Relatives, a collaboration album with Damian Marley, donating all royalties to charities active in Africa. His 10th studio album, Life Is Good (2012), was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. After receiving thirteen nominations, his 12th studio album, King's Disease (2020), won him his first Grammy for Best Rap Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards; he then followed it by releasing his 13th studio album, King's Disease II (2021), as the album's sequel. In the same year, his 14th studio album, Magic, was released on Christmas Eve.
In 2012, The Source ranked him second on their list of the "Top 50 Lyricists of All Time". In 2013, Nas was ranked 4th on MTV's "Hottest MCs in the Game" list. About.com 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. He is also an entrepreneur through his own record label; he serves as associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine and the co-founder of Mass Appeal Records. Nas has released fourteen studio albums since 1994, ten of which are certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum in the U.S.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Nas, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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- 2021 Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3 as Self - Performer
- 1998 Belly as Sincere
- 2003 Uptown Girls as Celebrity
- 2002 Hype Williams: The Videos Vol. 1
- 2021 You're Watching Video Music Box as Self
- 2022 B.I.B.L.E. - The Documentary as Self
- 2005 The Notorious B.I.G BET Official presents
- 2013 Black Nativity as Street Prophet (Isaiah)
- 2003 Nas: Made You Look - God's Son Live as Himself
- 2005 The MC: Why We Do It as Self
- 1997 Rhyme & Reason as Self
- 2014 Nas: Time Is Illmatic as Self
- 2022 Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues as Self
- 2015 Fresh Dressed as Self
- 2015 Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives
- 2024 Wu-Tang Clan & Nas: NY State of Mind Tour at Climate Pledge Arena as Self
- 2006 Jay Z: Live at the Royal Albert Hall as Self
- 2016 Black America since MLK: And still I rise
- 2023 Amazon Music Live: Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and De La Soul's 'N.Y. State of Mind Tour' as Himself
- 2016 Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping as Nas
- 2004 Murda Muzik
- 2016 The American Epic Sessions as Self
- 2017 Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G. as Self
- 2017 Word is Bond as Self
- 2018 Nas: Live from the Kennedy Center as Himself
- 2010 One Night in Vegas as Self
- 2004 And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop as Self
- 2021 Monster as Raymond 'Sunset' Green
- 2009 DJ Juice: The King is Back Mixtape Blend DVD Vol. 70 as Self (archive footage)
- 2009 DJ Cinema Presents: Masterpiece Theater Blend Dvd as Self (archive footage)
- 2009 DJ SWB Volume 6 | This Is How We Do as Self
- 2003 Beef as Self
- 2020 David Blaine: The Magic Way as Self
- 2001 Ticker as Det. Art 'Fuzzy' Rice
- 2016 Alicia Keys - Here in Times Square as Self - Singer
- 1999 In Too Deep as Drug Dealer on Street Corner
- 2002 John Q as Nas
- 2024 TMZ Presents | The Downfall of Diddy 2: The Indictment as Self (archive footage)
- 2015 The Game: The Documentary 2 as Self
- 1996 Fugees: Live at New Pop Festival 1996
- 2025 Victory as Nas
- Soon Nas: Life Is Good as Self
- 2003 Jimmy Kimmel Live! ( 3 episodes ) as Self
- 2007 Short Circuitz ( 1 episode )
- 1994 All That ( 1 episode )
- 2012 Finding Your Roots ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2005 The Colbert Report ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2000 Diary ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2018 The Shop ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2008 The Wendy Williams Show ( 1 episode )
- 2011 Billy on the Street ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1997 The Chris Rock Show ( 1 episode )
- 1984 MTV Video Music Awards ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1988 Yo! MTV Raps ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2018 Rapture ( 1 episode ) as Himself
- 2014 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2013 The Arsenio Hall Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1996 The Daily Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2003 Real Time with Bill Maher ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2015 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2017 The Defiant Ones ( 3 episodes ) as Self
- 2020 The Last Dance ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2010 Hawaii Five-0 ( 1 episode ) as Gordon Smith
- 2017 American Epic ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1959 The Grammys ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2025 Billy Joel: And So It Goes ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2025 Sean Combs: The Reckoning ( 1 episode ) as Self (archive footage)
- 2003 Jimmy Kimmel Live! ( 3 episodes ) as Self - Musical Guest
- 2014 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ( 1 episode ) as Self - Musical Guest
- 2004 And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop ( 5 episodes ) as Self
