One Love (Nas song)

"One Love" is a song by American rapper Nas, released October 25, 1994 on Columbia Records. It was issued as the fifth and final radio single in promotion of his debut studio album Illmatic (1994). The song was produced by Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, who also contributed vocals for the chorus line. According to Nas, the title of the song originates from Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician Bob Marley's song of the same name.

"One Love" is composed as a series of letters written by Nas to his incarcerated friends, describing events that have occurred prior to and after the receivers' imprisonment. "One Love" contains samples of the Heath Brothers' "Smilin' Billy Suite Part II" (1975) and Parliament's "Come in out the Rain" (1970). In the song's first verse, Nas references fellow Queensbridge emcee Cormega, whose rapping career had been put on hold due to his incarceration during the early 1990s. In 2008, VH1 named "One Love" the forty-eighth greatest hip hop song.

Background and recording
While producing A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders album, Q-Tip had his production setup in the house basement of Phife Dawg's grandmother. After Q-Tip met with Nas in the basement, Nas heard the main sample and decided to use it for "One Love". Q-Tip created the beat there, using the pause tape method of production. At the recording session, after Nas's verses were recorded, Q-Tip "finessed" the song's drum programming.

Composition
"One Love" samples the mbira (thumb piano), double bass and piano from the Heath Brothers' "Smilin' Billy Suite Part II" (1975) and contains a drum break from Parliament's "Come in out the Rain" (1970), which add to the song's mystical and hypnotic soundscape.

Lyrically, "One Love" is composed of a series of letters written by Nas to incarcerated friends, recounting mutual acquaintances and events that have occurred since the receiver's imprisonment, including unfaithful girlfriends, emotionally tortured mothers and underdog loyalty. According to one writer, the phrase "one love" represents street loyalty in the song. Nas later explained that the title of the song originated from Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley's song of the same name, which, according to writer Mickey Hess, "echoed the ubiquitous street salutation 'one' (similar to 'peace') used around Nas's neighborhood." In a 1994 article on the distinct styles of East Coast and West Coast hip hop, music journalist Touré referred to "One Love" as an example of the thematic differences between the two regional scenes, stating:

Among those referenced in the song was fellow Queensbridge-based rapper Cormega ("And night time is more trife than ever/What up with Cormega, did you see him, are y'all together?"). Cormega's rapping career had been put on hold due to his incarceration during the early 1990s, before his release in 1995. After delivering "shout-outs to locked down comrades", Nas chastizes a youth who seems destined for prison in the final verse, "Shorty's laugh was cold blooded as he spoke so foul/Only twelve tryin to tell me that he liked my style ... Words of wisdom from Nas, try to rise up above/Keep a eye out for Jake, shorty-wop, one love". Music writer Susan Weinstein wrote that "the literary technique Nas most strongly excels in is the one that would seem to be most pedestrian: rhyme", and cited "One Love" as the first display of Nas's "formal inventiveness".

Retrospect
From artist:

Track listing

A-side
 "One Love" (Album Version) (5:23)  
 "One Love" (Radio Edit) (5:23) 
 "One Love" (Album Instrumental) (5:23) 
 "One Love" (Acappella) (5:21)

B-side
 "One Love" (LG Main Mix) (5:33)  
Produced by The LG Experience   
 "One Love" (LG Radio Edit) (4:29)    
 "One Love" (LG Instrumental) (2:06) 
 "One Love" (One L Main Mix) (5:43) 
Produced by Godfather Don and Victor Padilla
 "One Love" (One L Radio Edit) (4:48) 
 "One Love" (One L Instrumental) (1:55)

Charts

Notes

References

External links
 One Love Single at Discogs
 One Love Lyrics at Genius

1994 singles
Nas songs
Songs written by Nas
Hardcore hip hop songs
Song recordings produced by Q-Tip (musician)
Songs written by Q-Tip (musician)
Jazz rap songs