Nas is the stage name of Nasir Jones, an American rapper. He is a product of East Coast hip-hop and is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Who is Nasir Jones? Early Life, Education, and Family
American Rapper, Nasir Jones was born in Brooklyn on September 14, 1973. His father Olu Dara is from Mississippi, while his mother Fannie Ann is from North Carolina.
His dad is a jazz and blues musician. Jones’s mother works for the United States Postal Service. Nas’ brother, Jabari Nas, better known as Jungle, is a rapper as well.
Jabari is a member of the hip-hop group Bravehearts. Nas first picked up the trumpet when he was four years old.
When Nas was 9 years old, he first heard the then-unknown rap music. His parents separated in 1985. After the eighth grade, Nas stopped attending.
Career
In 1991, Nas had an appearance on “Live at the Barbeque” with Main Source. In the middle of 1992, Nas’s manager at the time, MC Serch, fought arduously to secure him a record deal with Columbia Records.
Nas made his solo debut on the song “Halftime” from the soundtrack for the film Zebrahead, which was written by MC Serch. Nas received a lot of attention from the hip-hop community due to his exceptional rhyming skills.
Nas’s debut album, Illmatic, was released in 1994. There are several singles by Illmatic, including “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” “One Love,” and “The World Is Yours.”
Illmatic was ranked as the best album of 1994 by The Source. In 1996, Nas’ second album, It Was Written, was made available.
Following their contract with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment label, The Firm began work on their debut album.
Cormega was fired from the band midway through the recording of the album. Nature is now the fourth associate of the Firm. Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature’s album The Firm The Album were released in 1997 to mixed reviews.
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The Firm disbanded after the album, despite receiving a platinum certification. Nas went on to release nine additional albums, including I Am… in 1999, Nastradamus in 1999, Stillmatic in 2001, God’s Son in 2002, Street’s Disciple in 2004, Hip Hop Is Dead in 2006, Untitled in 2008, Life is Good in 2012, and Nasir in 2018.
Six MTV Music Video Awards and 13 Grammy Awards have both nominated him. He has had three BET Award nominations and one BET Award win.
Hip Hop Is Dead, Untitled, and politicized efforts
Def Jam Recordings, whose president at the time was Jay-Z, gave Nas the opportunity to negotiate a contract as a result of their reunion.
Jay-Z signed Nas on January 23, 2006; as part of the agreement, Nas was to get about $3,000,000 for each of his first two albums with Def Jam, in addition to a recording budget.
The album was eventually released on July 15, 2008, without a title. “Hero,” the first track from the album, was made available on June 23, 2008. Its creation was assisted by Sons of Light, Polow da Don, stick. man of Dead Prez, and J. Myers.
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It reached its top positions on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart at No. 87 and No. 97 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Nas and Fila decided to collaborate on shoes in July.
Nas announced that he would simultaneously release two albums on the same day, one produced by DJ Premier and the other by Dr. Dre, in a July interview with MTV News. On Dr. Dre‘s studio album Detox, Nas contributed.
Venture Capitalist
Over the years, Nas has maintained a keen interest in and comprehension of cutting-edge technology. He is a founder member of the venture capital firm QueensBridge Venture Partners.
QueensBridge has made a lot of investments throughout the years, some of which have experienced significant value growth. The company typically makes investments of $100,000 to $500,000. The fund receives about 100 proposals per month from start-up businesses seeking finance.
Some of Queensbridge’s most lucrative investments include Dropbox, Lyft, SeatGeek, General Assembly, Robinhood, Casper, Pill Pack, Pluto TV, Coinbase, and Genius.
When Ring was acquired by Amazon in 2018 for $1.1 billion, Queensbridge held a tiny stake in the business. Queensbridge received $40 million from Amazon as compensation for his investment in Ring and Pill Pack.
Queensbridge participated in Coinbase’s 2013 Series B round, which raised $25 million at a $143 million valuation. When Coinbase went public in April 2021, QueensBridge’s investment was worth between $35 million and $100 million.
Distant Relatives and Life Is Good
Damian Marley was working on an album that will be released in the latter part of 2009. “I was a big admirer of his father and of course all the children, all the kids, and Damian, I kind of looked at Damian as a rap guy,” Nas said of the partnership in an interview.
“I was a big fan of his father and of course all the children, all the offspring, and Damian, I kind of looked at Damian as a rap guy. His stuff is not really singing, or if he does, it comes off more hard, like on some street shit.
I always liked how reggae and hip-hop have always been intertwined and always kind of pushed each other, I always liked the connection. I’d worked with people before from the reggae world but when I worked with Damian, the whole workout was perfect”
In 2011, Nas said that he would collaborate on records with Mobb Deep, Common, and DJ Premier.
Moreover, In a 2011 interview, Common talked about the undertaking
“At some point, we will do that. We’d talked about it and we had a good idea to call it Nas.Com. That was actually going to be a mixtape at one point. But we decided that we should make it an album.”
The Life is Good album would be nominated for the Best Rap Album Grammy Award in 2013.
What is Nas’ net worth?
With a net worth of $70 million, Nas is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, businessman, and investor.
He has increased his fame (and riches) in recent years as an early-stage company investor. Nas has made a lot of early investments that have been profitable, mostly in technology firms.
Dropbox, Coinbase, Ring, Lyft, Genius, and Pluto TV are a few of Nas’ early investments in technology.
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Controversy With Jay-Z
Nas and Jay-Z met frequently in the 1990s while still being friendly with one another. Jay-Z asked Nas to appear on the song “Bring it On” from his 1996 album Reasonable Doubt, however, Nas never showed up to the recording session and was not on the album. In retaliation,
Jay-Z requested that producer Ski Beatz sample a phrase from Nas’ song The World is Yours. The sample was significantly included in the song that would become Dead Presidents II.
Nas responded with the song “Ether” off his album Stillmatic after Jay-Z eventually added the song to his 2001 album The Blueprint.
Nearly all critics and fans concluded that Nas had triumphed in their rivalry after the song essentially saved his career and heralded his return to stardom. Jay-Z responded with a freestyle using the “Supa Ugly” instrumental from Nas’s “Got Ur Self a Gun.”
Jay-Z reveals in graphic detail how he had an affair with her while mentioning Nas’s daughter and fiancée in the song.
Studio Album
- Illmatic (1994)
- It Was Written (1996)
- I Am… (1999)
- Nastradamus (1999)
- Stillmatic (2001)
- God’s Son (2002)
- Street’s Disciple (2004)
- Hip Hop Is Dead (2006)
- Untitled (2008)
- Life Is Good (2012)
- Nasir (2018)
- King’s Disease (2020)
- King’s Disease II (2021)
- Magic (2021)
- King’s Disease III (2022)
Business ventures
On April 10, 2013, Nas invested an unknown six-figure sum in Mass Appeal Magazine along with the design studio Decon and White Owl Capital Partners. Nas later worked as the magazine’s associate publisher. In June 2013, he opened his own shoe store.
In September 2013, he invested in Proven, a company that creates software for job searches. Nas helped raise $2.8 million in 2014 for Queens-bridge Venture Partners’ acquisition of the viral video company ViralGains.
Nas has been aiding Hennessy with their “Wild Rabbit” campaign as a partner and employee.
In May 2014, Nas partnered with the employment agency Koru to pay for 10 recent college graduates’ tuition for Koru’s training program.
Nas will also serve as a guest mentor for the startup. Nas is a co-owner of LANDR, a cloud-based platform that uses drag-and-drop technology to automate “mastering,” the last stage of music production.
Moreover, In June 2015, Nas and the New York City soul food establishment Sweet Chick cooperated. He has intentions to grow the restaurant chain on a national scale. Launched in April 2017, the Los Angeles website. He is the owner of the apparel business HSTRY.
Personal Life and Relationships
Nas’s ex-fiancée Carmen Bryan gave birth to their daughter b on June 15, 1994. She then admitted to Nas that she had dated Jay-Z, who was then his archenemy and rival musician.
She also accused Jay-Z of hiding references to their relationship in his rhymes, which furthered the two men’s enmity.
Mary J. Blige and Nicki Minaj were briefly involved with Nas. In Atlanta, Georgia, in 2005, Nas married R&B singer Kelis following a two-year relationship.
Using the grounds of irreconcilable differences, Kelis filed for divorce on April 30, 2009, according to a spokesman for the singer. Kelis gave birth to Nas’s first kid on July 21, 2009.
But a disagreement ruined the event, leading Nas to announce the birth of his son, Knight, at a performance in Queens, New York, against Kelis’s desires.
Nas posted a video online as well to announce the birth. Sadly, the couple’s divorce was finalized on May 21, 2010. In 2018, Kelis alleged Nas had physically and psychologically assaulted her while they were still married.
In response to the allegations, Nas accused Kelis of torturing his daughter Destiny and of attempting to discredit him during a custody struggle on social media.
Body Measurements:
Nas is approximately 80 kg and 1.73 m tall. In addition, he wears shoes that are a US size 13 and has black hair and dark brown eyes.
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Social Media
Instagram: 6.6M followers
Twitter: 2.4M followers
YoutTube: 1.58M subscribers
FAQS
Has Nas achieved platinum status?
Illmatic, which also featured Nas’s first solo song, “Halftime,” was certified double platinum in the US, produced a number of songs, including “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” and “The World Is Yours,” and received high praise from critics.
How old was Nas when he wrote Illmatic?
At age 17, Nas began creating the music for “Illmatic” and recording it. Unbelievably, Nas was only 17 when he began recording ‘Illmatic,’ which is perhaps still his crowning rap achievement. When he was 21 years old, it was finally released.
How much is Nas currently worth?
The rapper, whose true name is Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, is said to have an estimated net worth of $70 million as of November 2022, according to Wealthy Gorilla.
Quick Facts:
- Real Name: Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones
- Age: 47 Years
- Date of Birth: 14 September 1973
- Place of Birth: Crown Heights, New York, United States
- Nationality: American
- Marital Status: Divorced
- Profession / Occupation: American rapper, songwriter, investor, and entrepreneur
- Height: 1.73 m
- Weight: 80 kg
- Body Type: Slim
- Chest Size: 41 inches
- Biceps: 14 inches
- Waist: 35 inches
- Eyes Color: Dark Brown
- Hair Color: Black
- Spouse / Wife Name: Kelis (m. 2005- 2010)
- Father Name: Olu Dara
- Mother Name: Fannie Ann Jones
- Children: Destiny Jones, Knight Jones
- Siblings: Jabari Fret (Brother)
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