Nas

:*NAS can also be a shorthand for Network-attached storage.*

**Nasir Jones** (born September 14, 1973), better known as **Nas**, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, musician, actor and entrepreneur. He is best known for his first album, *Illmatic*, which was released in 1994. It has been widely praised by fans and critics. Nas followed up with several commercially successful albums, such as *It Was Written*, *I Am...*, *Nastradamus*, *Stillmatic*, ''God's Son*, *Street's Disciple*, *Hip Hop Is Dead*, *Untitled*, *Life Is Good*,the *King's Disease* series and the *Magic* series.  Nas has been nominated for fourteen Grammy Awards; his thirteenth studio album *King's Disease'' won the Best Rap Album award during the 63rd Grammy Awards. Because of his storytelling skills and creativity, Nas is seen as one of the greatest rappers of all time.

## Personal life
Nas was born on September 14, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Olu Dara, is a musician who plays the trumpet. When Nas was young, his family moved to Queens, New York.

On June 15, 1994, Nas's ex-fiancée Carmen Bryan gave birth to their daughter, Destiny. Nas was married to Kelis from 2005 until they divorced in 2010. She is the mother of his son.
 
## Career
### 1990s
Nas started making music when he was a teenager. He recorded his first music with a producer called Large Professor, but did not yet publish it. Nas' first published song was "Live at the Barbeque" in 1991. He was a guest artist on this song, which was by the group Main Source. In 1992, Nas released his first single, a song called "Halftime". This song was first published as part of a movie's soundtrack.

Nas released his first album, called *Illmatic*, in 1994. The album got very good reviews. People especially liked Nas' songwriting skills on the album. Because it was so well liked, *Illmatic* is often called a classic. Today, many people still say that *Illmatic* is one of the best hip-hop albums ever. Nas released his second album in 1996. He called the album *It Was Written*. On this album, Nas tried to make songs that a bigger audience would like. He also changed the title to *I Am...*. This album came out in 1999. Nas also released another album, called *Nastradamus*, in 1999. *Nastradamus* was originally meant to have the leaked songs from *I Am...*, but Nas changed his mind and decided to record new songs for it. In 2007, Nas announced that he wanted to call his next album *Nigger*. Because the title was a racial slur, many people were unhappy with this announcement. Nas was criticized by famous progressives like Jesse Jackson, and also by the conservative news channel Fox News. Because of the controversy, Nas decided to release the album without any title at all.

### 2010s and 2020s
In 2010, Nas released an album with Damian Marley called *Distant Relatives*. It entered the *Billboard* 200 at number five. Three singles were released from the album. In 2012, Nas released his eleventh album *Life Is Good*. He wrote it after he divorced Kelis. The album received good reviews.

In 2014, a documentary called *Nas: Time Is Illmatic* was released. The movie celebrated the 20th anniversary of *Illmatic*. Nas also performed songs from *Illmatic* at the Kennedy Center. Nas then released an album called ''King's Disease II* in 2021. He also released the album called *Magic* in the same year. In 2022, he released *King's Disease III''.

## References
## Other websites 
*Nas  at Def Jam.