Nas

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (born September 14 1973), known as Nas and formerly as Nasty Nas, is an African-American rapper from Queens, New York. He's one of the most influential rappers of the 90's.

On Albums

• "How can you lose when you're doing you?"
  • 92Y Interview With Anthony DeCurtis (1992)

On Albums

Illmatic (1994)

• "I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death"
  • "N.Y. State of Mind"

• "Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined"
  • "N.Y. State of Mind"

• "The smooth criminal on beat breaks / Never put me in ya box if ya shit eats tapes"

"N.Y. State of Mind"

• "I switched my motto / instead of saying 'fuck tomorrow' that buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto"
  • "Life's a Bitch"

• "Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne"
  • "The World Is Yours"

• "I need a new nigga, for this black cloud to follow / cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow"
  • "The World Is Yours"

• "I set it off with my own rhyme / cause I'm as ill as a convict who kills for phone time"
  • "Halftime"

• "I reminisce on park jams, my man was shot for his sheep coat / chocolate blunts will make me see him drop in my weed smoke"
  • "Memory Lane (Sittin' in Da Park)"

• "Live amongst no roses, only the drama, for real / A nickel-plate is my fate, my medicine is the ganja"
  • "Memory Lane (Sittin' in Da Park)"

• "Fuck 'rap is real', watch the herbs stand still / never talkin' to snakes cause the words of man kill / true in the game, as long as blood is blue in my veins"
  • "Memory Lane (Sittin' in Da Park)"

• "Then I rose, wiping the blunts ash from my clothes / then froze only to blow the herb smoke through my nose / and told my little man that i'm a go cyprose / there's some jewels in the skull that he can sell if he chose / words of wisdom from nas try to rise up above"
  • "One Love"

• "When I was ten I was a hip-hop a shorty wop/known for rockin' microphones and twistin' of a forty top"
  • "One Time 4 Your Mind"

• "So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me/ Scannin' while you're plannin' ways to sabotage me/ I leave 'em froze like her-on in your nose/ Nas'll rock well, It ain't hard to tell"
  • "It Ain't Hard to Tell"

It Was Written (1996)

• "I've seen some cold nights and bloody days/ They grabbed me bullets spray, they used me wrong so I sing this song 'til this day."
  • "I Gave You Power"

• From child births to hearses, flow like the Nile covered surface/ Bit the fruit from the serpent.
  • "Nas Is Coming"

• Mad smoke makes me able to quote/ Soliciting ill editions of that murder I wrote.
  • "Nas Is Coming"

• " fake thug no love, get the slug/CB4 gusto ur luck low, i didn't know til i was drunk tho/you freak niggaz played out, get fucked and ate out/prostitute turned bitch got the gage out/ 96 ways i made out/montanna way, good f-e-l-l-a, verbal AK spray/
  • "The Message"

• " A thug changes, and love changes / and best friends become strangers, word up "
  • "The Message"

• " I never brag, how real I keep it, cause it's the best secret "
  • "Take It In The Blood"

Nastradamus (1999)

• " Yo, if this piano's the cake then my words are the candles / Light it up, make a wish, and them angels will grant you "
  • "Project Windows"

I Am... (1999)

• "Freedom or jail clips inserted, a baby's being born/ Same time a man is murdered, the beginning and end."
  • "Nas Is Like"

• "Street scriptures, for lost souls in the crossroads.."
  • "Nas Is Like"

• "I'm like the farmer, planting words, people are seeds/ My truth is the soil, help you grow like trees/ May the children come in all colors, change like leaves/ Behold before you, one of those prophetic MC's."
  • "Ghetto Prisoners"

• "U wet who I want wetted/I wet who u want wetted/any nigga can get it(a favour for a favour)

• Had 8 partners growin' up/ 8 turned to 7/ 7 turned to 6 n!*@%^$/ got 2 in heaven/ 6 of us, holdin it, now it's 5 rollin' thick/the 6th one's parole flipped, 5 n***az went to 4 quick/ when he went O.T, college life, converted into gangbangin/ 4 n***az still hangin/ years passin, slang changin/ 3 of us now, 4th n***a ain't around/ we all thought he was real, he did that snake shit, fake shit/ beat his ass down/ yo his mouth could've got us all wasted/ what a fuckin clown/ all I got left in the end is two of my best friends/ and we all goin' out 'till the death of these ends
  • "N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II"
• (speking) "You hear about, you see about it/ it's in your papers/ it's in your daily news/ (get money!) / New York chronicles, every day/ the crime rate, the murder rate/ the money rate, the paper chase, youknowwhatImean?/ New York State of mind, baby, check it out.
  • "N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II"

Stillmatic (2001)

• "Aiyyo, the brother's "Stillmatic"/I crawled up out of that grave, wipin the dirt, cleanin my shirt

They thought I'd make another "Illmatic"/But it's always forward I'm movin/Never backwards stupid here's another classic"

• • "Stillmatic (The Intro)"

• "It's suicidal, high smokin' so much la', I saw a dead bird flyin through a broken sky"
  • "You're Da Man"

The Lost Tapes (2002)

• "No idea is original, there's nothing new under the sun, it's never what you do, but how it's done"
  • "No Idea's Original"

• "The hardest thing is to forgive, but God does / Even if you murdered or robbed, yeah it's wrong, but God loves / Take one step toward him, he takes two toward you / Even when all else fail, God support you."
  • "Doo Rags"

• "The reason that I want to be alone / Tired of all the things that went wrong / That would have went right if I would have did it on my own"
  • "Drunk By Myself"

God's Son (2002)

• "I'm capable of anything, my imagination can give me wings"
  • "Thugz Mansion (N.Y.)"

• Don't say the car is topless, say the titties are out
  • "Made You Look"

• You a slave to a page in my rhyme book
  • "Made You Look"

• How can I trust you when I can't trust me
  • "Book of Rhymes"

• I get upset 'cause I just want to be treated the way you are/

Like a star not a worry in this world thus far/ But wait a minute we both need ya mother's attention/ I must be crazy jealous of my own baby infant*

• • "Book of Rhymes"

Street's Disciple (2004)

• "And they're aware of us though/ And we don't give a flyin' 747 fuck though/ Stayin' on my hus-tle"
  • "A Message To The Feds, Sincerely, We The People"

Hip Hop Is Dead (2006)

• "When I was nine, coldest winter i remember / we're slipping in december, two feet of snow / Yeah thats the east coast, that black ice - symbolize the rap life"
  • "Hope"

• "Some things are forever, some things are not / It's the things we remember that gave the world shock"
  • "Can't Forget About You"

• "Now all these new cats with they hats flipped backwards/fingers intertwined in sum gang sign madness/i got an exam lets if you pass it/Now who can quote a Daddy Kane line the fastest?/
  • "Carry on Tradition"

Untitled (2008)

• "Slave food turned to soul food, collards to neck bones"
  • "You can't stop us now"

• "if you squash me, learn to live with me"
  • "Project Roach"

• "People afraid of criticism but I always put myself in a sacrificial position,they been know I ain't just rappin for fame"
  • "N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave And The Master)"

• "As James Baldwin says, "You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world considers a nigger"
  • "You Can't Stop Us Now"

• "The hypocrisy is all I can see, White cop acquitted for murder, Black cop cop a plea, That type of shit make me stop and think"
  • "America"

• "We in chronic need of a second look of the law books, And the whole race dichotomy"
  • "America"

• "Who give you the latest dances, trends, and fashion, But when it comes to residuals, they look past us"
  • "America"

"Too many rappers, athletes and actors/ But not enough nigga's in NASA"

• • "America"

"Y'all don't treat women fair/ She read about herself in the bible/ Believing she the reason sin is here"

• • "America"

Distant Relatives (2010)

• "What really did I escape from, thought I saw Gods face on the design in my vintage Claiborne"
  • "In His Own Words"