Nas

**Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones** (born September 14, 1973), professionally known as **Nas**, is an American rapper. He is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, with his 1994 debut album, *Illmatic*, being considered one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.

Fellow American rapper Lupe Fiasco has named Nas to be one of his biggest musical influences, where the latter half of his stage name derives from the 1997 song "Firm Fiasco." He said of the New York rapper, "He taught me a lot. Gave me half my name and still..."

## Background

Fiasco has expressed admiration for Nas' second studio album, *It Was Written*, basing his own album *Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor* off it. He stated, "I fell in love with 'It Was Written' when I was seventeen, eighteen—a very impressionable time—so I was like I love that album. That's my favorite hip hop album, so it's like why not base your album on 'It Was Written'?" He added, when asked about his influences, "You know I really tried to go back and recreate [Nas'] *It Was Written* […] [I would play] *It Was Written* and then I would play my album, and it was like, 'Do we got [this] record, do we got that record?'" In an interview with *Vibe*, he praised the record and Mos Def's *Black on Both Sides*, where "this is what a rap album should sound like. It should have all these different kinds of things on it."

Fiasco's remix song "Outty 5000" uses the instrumental of Nas' "Get Down." On June 6, 2018, Fiasco dropped the track "I Got a New Mic," which freestyles over Nas' "Nas Is Like."

On April 19, 2019, in celebration of 25 years of *Illmatic*, he wrote:

> I didn't know illmatic existed when I got It Was Written. I found out about it later from a promotional poster on my sisters @seerjaco friends dorm room wall at college. When I finally heard it it expanded my lyrical horizons. I still know about 75% of it by heart. Etc etc...it is the epitome of a classic and one of hip hops most elegant offers to the cannon. As much as I admire the album as a whole i must confess that things got really real when that piano dropped in at the beginning of World Is Yours and Nas went into super saiyan mode. My ears perked up and it was over. That formula is present in Tetsuo & Waves and guides my writing process to this day.
>
>

On April 30, 2019, he and Nas met at the fundraiser, City Harvest: The 2019 Gala, in New York City. The following day on May 1, it was reported of the two being at Nas' Mass Appeal Studios. In an interview with Ebro Darden of Apple Music, Fiasco revealed about a potential collab. He said, "We talked about the Amy Winehouse record, right? […] And then it went into, 'Ok, so what are we doing? What do you want to do?' And I told him about the Amy Winehouse piece. I was like, 'This is what I'm engaged in right now, conceptually—maybe it tickles your fancy. […] It just tapered from like, 'Ok, let's see, whatever.'" He continued, "I have Nas' phone number, so I'm feeling myself maybe a month ago and I was like listening to some beats, going through the concepts. […] I was just like, 'You know what, let's do an EP. Life is short, COVID-19. Let's do an EP.' I've not heard back yet."

In 2019, when asked which person reminded Nas of himself, he replied that it was Fiasco.

On August 17, 2019, he and AZ performed at a tribute concert, Celebrating 25 Years of Illmatic.

On August 12, 2021, Fiasco named *Drill Music in Zion* to be his and Soundtrakk's "Illmatic."

## Gallery

**@lupefiasco**: "Caption this for me.
@nas (Student meets his Sensei)"
* April 30, 2019
* Instagram
**@skygellatly**: "It Was Written ... // a beautiful afternoon sharing a powerful conversation with my brother Wasalu and King Nasir ✨🧘🏻‍♂️✨"
* May 1, 2019
* Instagram

## References

1. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". *Twitter*. April 30, 2019.
2. ↑ Watkins, Greg (February 10, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco: Revenge of the Hip-Hop Nerd". *AllHipHop*.
3. ↑ Ketchum III, William (February 22, 2019). "Lupe Fiasco on New World Water, and Changing the World with His Bars Before Leaving Rap Behind". *Vibe*.
4. ↑ "New Track "I Got A New Mic!"". *HotNewHipHop*. June 6, 2018.
5. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@lupefiasco)". *Instagram*. April 19, 2019.
6. ↑ Centeno, Tony (May 2, 2019). "Lupe Fiasco and Nas Hit the Studio". *XXL*.
7. ↑ Mahadevan, Tara (July 26, 2020). "Lupe Fiasco Wants to Do an EP with Nas". *Complex*.
8. ↑ "Nas | Drink Champs (Full Episode): 24:43". *YouTube*. July 25, 2019.
9. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". *Twitter*. June 10, 2021.
10. ↑ Hampton, Brian (June 28, 2019). "Lupe Fiasco & AZ Announce Nas-Honoring Washington State Concert". *HipHopDX*.
11. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". *Twitter*. August 12, 2021.
12. ↑ Bustard, Andy (August 13, 2021). "Lupe Fiasco Is 'Not Exaggerating' as He Compares New Album to Nas' 'Illmatic'". *HipHopDX*.
13. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@lupefiasco)". *Instagram*. April 30, 2019.
14. ↑ "Sky Gellatly (@skygellatly)". *Instagram*. May 1, 2019.