Nas

Nasir Jones was born in Brooklyn on September 14, 1973, the son of jazz musician Olu Dara, and grew up in the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens, where an upstairs neighbor, Willie "Ill Will" Graham, played him records; he dropped out of school after eighth grade. At 16 he met producer Large Professor and recorded unreleased demos in the studios where Rakim and Kool G Rap were working, and his first verse, on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque" in July 1991, got him called the new Rakim, though Cold Chillin' and Def Jam both passed. Ill Will was murdered in May 1992. That summer MC Serch of 3rd Bass became his manager and landed a Columbia deal, and "Halftime," credited to Nasty Nas, appeared on the Zebrahead soundtrack that October.

Illmatic, released April 19, 1994, with production from DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip and L.E.S. and a guest turn by his father, debuted at number 12 on 59,000 copies, and none of its five singles charted meaningfully; it took until January 1996 to go gold and December 2001 to go platinum. The Source named it the best album of 1994, Billboard wrote in 2015 that it was "widely seen as the best hip-hop album ever," and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2021. It Was Written (July 1996) went the other way on purpose, produced mostly by the Trackmasters with Hype Williams videos for "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)," featuring Lauryn Hill, and "Street Dreams"; it debuted at number one and sold more than a quarter-million copies in a week. The supergroup the Firm followed in 1997, debuting at number one to mixed reviews.

He co-wrote and starred in Hype Williams's Belly in 1998, then stumbled: I Am… (1999) leaked as MP3s and had to be rebuilt, "Hate Me Now" put him and Puff Daddy on crucifixes, and the rushed Nastradamus that November was panned. The comeback ran through Jay-Z, a 90s friend who had sampled "The World Is Yours" on "Dead Presidents" after Nas skipped a studio session. Jay-Z's "Takeover" aired at Summer Jam 2001; Nas answered with "Ether" on Stillmatic that December, Jay-Z fired back with "Supa Ugly," and Jay-Z's own mother made him apologize on Hot 97, whose listeners gave Nas the win 58 to 42. God's Son (2002) carried "Made You Look" and "I Can," his biggest hit to that point, and in October 2005 Jay-Z called him onstage with "Let's go, Esco!" to end it; Nas signed to Jay-Z's Def Jam the next year. His first Grammy came for King's Disease (2020), after thirteen nominations.