NAS

Born Nasir Jones, son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas dropped out of school in 8th Grade, and immersed himself in street culture. But despite his lack of schooling, he developed a high degree of literacy that would later characterize his lyrics, along with a street swagger that would similarly typify his future rhymes.

His well-crafted rhetoric and street-glamorous imagery blossomed in 1991 when he hooked up with Main Source and laid down a fiery verse on "Live at the Barbeque" that earned him instant respect among the East Coast rap scene. Not long afterward, MC Serch of 3rd Bass approached Nas about contributing a track to the Zebrahead soundtrack, and Nas' "Halftime" contribution impressed Serch so much that he made it the soundtrack's lead track.

Columbia Records signed Nas to a major-label contract in 1993, and many of New York's finest producers offered their support. DJ Premier, Large Professor, and Pete Rock entered the studio with the young rapper and began work on "Illmatic". When the album was released in 1994, it faced high expectations, but nonetheless managed to live up to the hype, achieving huge critical praise, as well as spawning multiple hits. In short the amazing debut blew away the hip hop community with its booming beats, and battle-scarred rhymes, instantly ensuring the 20 year old his spot in hip-hop history. Widely considered one of the best hip-hop albums of all time, it established Nas as one of hip-hop's most profound lyricists, and introduced his signature poetic style to the world.

It was two years before Nas released his follow-up, "It Was Written", and the ambitious rapper came back with a significantly different approach. Moving away from straight forward hip hop, the album made numerous concessions to the pop market, and pursued a more mainstream direction. Nas achieved the crossover success he sought, but with the wider appeal also came decreased artistic credibility among critics and hip-hop purists. His subsequent albums, "I Am" and "Nastradamus" (both 1999) even further extended this crossover, and fostered accusations of him giving in to corporate wishes and compromising the style his fans loved.

Nas responded strikingly to criticism about his more commercial sound in December 2001 with his fifth studio album, "Stillmatic". The album earned immediate acclaim from fans and critics alike and sold impressively, while Columbia furthered the comeback fervour with two archival releases, one of remixes (From Illmatic to Stillmatic [2002]), the other of outtakes (The Lost Tapes [2002]). Then at the end of the year Columbia released a new studio album, "God's Son", and Nas once again basked in widespread acclaim as the album's sales went through the roof. Going back to his former role as a keen street observer, ready to dispense wisdom to up-and-coming youngsters, "God's Son" saw Nas ditch most of the industry beefs of previous albums, and return back to basics. He followed this up in 2004 with "Street's Disciple", a double album offering 23 tracks, but although the album went platinum, its commercial profile was relatively low compared to his previous releases.

Nas married R&B singer Kelis in 2005, and the highly publicized feud between him and Jay Z - which had led to lyrical disses and on stage swipes passing between the two rappers for many years - finally ended, with Nas appearing alongside Jay Z on stage at Jay's 'I Declare War' concert, proving to the world that their beef really was over. Then in January 2006, Nas signed a label deal with Jay-Z's Def Jam, further emphasizing the Jay-Z/Nas truce

Now back with his new album, 'Hip Hop Is Dead', featuring collaborations with The Game, Snoop Dogg, and Kanye West, as well as production by the likes of Scott Storch, Will.I.Am, Dr Dre and Kanye West, Nas is returning to claim his stake on the Hip Hop world once again. So join us as we welcome his return and make him our MTV European Artist Of The Week.

HH