Nas, born in Brooklyn in 1973 and raised in the Queensbridge Houses, is one of the most important rappers in hip hop history. Illmatic (1994) is the album East Coast hip hop still measures itself against, and the Hit-Boy-produced King's Disease run proved the pen never dulled — it won him his first Grammy. Dig into Nas vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, performing as Nas, was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 14, 1973 and raised in the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens. His father is jazz musician Olu Dara. He launched his recording career as a teenager with extensive freestyle and demo material before signing with Columbia Records in 1992. His 1994 debut Illmatic - featuring production from DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, Large Professor, and L.E.S. - is widely cited as one of the most important albums in hip hop history. He has continued releasing material across multiple decades, with creative reinventions across his catalog. His feud with Jay-Z in the early 2000s (culminating with his 2001 album Stillmatic and the response track Ether) was a defining cultural moment. He launched Mass Appeal Records in 2014 (with Peter Bittenbender). His four-album collaborative trilogy with producer Hit-Boy - King's Disease (2020), King's Disease II (2021), King's Disease III (2022), and Magic (2021) - Magic 2 (2023) - Magic 3 (2023) - has represented a creative late-career revival. King's Disease won his first Grammy Award (Best Rap Album, 2021). His foundational influence on East Coast hip hop and broader hip hop history is widely cited.
Nas's sound combines hip hop, East Coast hip hop, conscious hip hop, gangsta rap, hardcore hip hop, jazz rap, and political hip hop with his distinctive flow, virtuosic technical lyrical approach, and lyrical content addressing Black American experience, urban life, family, history, and broader philosophical themes drawing on literary and political reference points.
Columbia, Def Jam, and Mass Appeal pressings of the Nas catalog are foundational items in hip hop collecting. Multiple anniversary editions of Illmatic (particularly the 10th and 20th anniversary editions), audiophile reissues, and the comprehensive Sony/Legacy reissue programs have been released.
Listeners new to Nas typically start with Illmatic (1994) or Stillmatic (2001).
