Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones Research Paper

Born in Queens, New York. Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones or “Nas” is one of Hip-Hops greatest MC’s of all-time. Being the son of Olu Dara Jones (a famous Jazz musician) Nas’ interest in music was nothing new. Nas grew up in the projects of Queensbridge where he wrote stories about what it was like growing up in New York. As a kid Nas loved to write about a lot of things even thought he dropped out of school in the 8th grade. After years on the streets of New York Nas found a new hobby in writing, which was writing lyrics. In the year 1991 Nas hit the rap scene with “Live at the barbeque” which was a song that brought his lyrical talents and street knowledge together. Later on in 1992 Nas was asked to write a song for the soundtrack of the film

Later on in 1996 Nas followed up “Illmatic” with a new album called “It Was Written” that make a huge impact on all the charts debuting at number 1 on both the pop and R&B charts. “It Was Written” went double platinum with help of the classic singles “Street Dreams” “Head Over Heels” and “If I Ruled The World”. In 1999 Nas career took a big step forward with two releases, the first one was “I Am” which hit number1 on both charts, the album is pumped by classic singles such as “Hate Me Now” and “Nas Is Like”. Later on that year Nas released “Nastradamus” which made it to number 7 on the the pop chart and number 2 on the R&B chart. As Nas’ success kept building for him he also got himself caught up in a conflict or “Beef” with the rapper Jay-Z for the title of “King of New York” following the death of The Notorious B.I.G which went down as one of the most classic feuds of all-time. Nas came out with “Stillmatic” and the album addressed Jay-Z with lyrical responses/attacks or “Disses” on Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint”. The feud was eventually resolved and Nas was embroiled in others with the likes of 50 Cent and G-Unit none of which escalated to the point of death where most East/West coast feuds ended. (Bio Resource

“Illmatic” sold over 1,654,000, “It Was Written” sold over 2,595,000, “I Am” sold over 2,178,000, “Nastradamus” sold over 1,262,000, “Stillmatic” sold over 2,179,000, “God’s Son” sold over 1,362,000, “Lost Tapes” sold over 361,000, “Streets Disciple” sold over 724,000, “Hip-Hop Is Dead” sold over 785,000, “Untitled” sold over 480,000, “Life Is Good” sold over 380,000. Most of the albums went platinum or double platinum. Nas was no doubt one of the best there ever is or was. (Economics)

Nas has a few records that went either platinum or double platinum. He has always been ranked on MTV’s greatest MC’s of all-time at number 4 and has been awarded by BET for the “Best Impact Track”, Best Hip-Hop CD of the year (2007,2008) best lyricist (2012-2008) and ETC. Nas also has 7 Grammy’s for multiple different things like music videos, singles, and song