Who is Nas?
Nasir Jones, also known as Nas, emerged during the early 1990s hip-hop era, with songs reflecting the New York City environment he grew up in. He was born on September 14, 1973 in Queens New York and grew up in the Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing project in the United States ("Nas"). He is the son of jazz musician Olu Dara and grew up in a household full of musical instruments and influence. Nas struggled academically and "dropped out of school in the eighth grade" (Birchmeier). His father encouraged him to drop out and focus on his artistic capabilities. As he grew older, his neighborhood became impacted by the mid-1980s crack epidemic and growing violence. Nas's best friend, Willy "Ill Will" Graham was murdered in a shootout and it completely changed Nas as a person (“Nas: Time is Illmatic” 00:35:50). This experience pushed Nas to take his rap career seriously as his way out of the "streets". Nas became known as a lyrical master, debuting with "Illmatic", often regarded as one of the most influential albums in hiphop. Throughout his career, he has sold over 25 million records worldwide with the double-platinum "It was written" and "Stillmatic", and his cultural impact eventually led him to earn a fellowship at Harvard University (Birchmeier).
Queensbridge Housing Projects, Queens NY
Queensbridge Environment
Queensbridge was originally created to house the middle class, but things changed when Black families from the south started moving into cities; This triggered “white flight” meaning white people moved out of those areas and with them went a lot of funding for schools, infrastructure, and basic community support (“Nas: Time is Illmatic” 00:08:55). These neighborhoods that were once thriving started to struggle.
Then came the 1980s crack epidemic which “the use of crack spread widely, especially in inner-city New York,” (Dunlap et al. 5). Growing up during the 1980s crack epidemic, Nas remembers a community that was positively engaging and full of culture but it changed when he started to how it all felt apart because of drugs and violence (“Nas: Time is Illmatic” 00:13:35). As cocaine grew more popular in the city, drug markets started to pop up everywhere. Wealthier customers brought cash into poor neighborhoods which created illegal jobs for local residents as dealers or distributors (Dunlap et al. 6). Nas even notes that “Any and everybody made money off crack. It was survival to the fullest,”(“Nas: Time is Illmatic” 00:13:40). It was a way for people to make money but it was also damaging to the community.
The growing markets were directly “associated with increased levels of violence in the inner city,” (Dunlap et al. 6). Violence got worse because guns became everywhere. According to Bartley and Williams, “Gun homicide rates for young black men doubled in a very short period” (3) due to “the combination of an increase in quantity and a fall in price” (11) of guns. As a result many neighborhoods impacted by the crack epidemic were described as “combat zones” that stimulated crime and violence (Wayback Archives 00:02:48). Growing up in that environment, Nas saw firsthand how guns and drugs were tearing apart communities and it influenced him to write “Rule” and “I Gave You Power”.
Connection to Nas's songs
Losing his best friend Ill Will to gun violence had a huge impact on Nas, and it influenced his song “I Gave You Power”. Nas does something really unique which is writing the lyrics from the perspective of a gun. It guides you through an entire story of what a gun might witness. From the perspective of the gun, Nas states, “Making me kill, but what I feel, it never mattered,” (“I Gave You Power”). It is not the gun that chooses to kill, it is the person using it that has the power to kill. The gun claims, “I gave you power, I made you buck-wild” and how it was “used in robberies, giving n****s heart to follow me,” (“I Gave You Power”). The gun gives people both the ability to kill and the courage to commit crimes under the impression that they have control. Nas also describes the devastating consequences of gun violence with the lines, “I might've took your first child / Scarred your life or crippled your style,” and “Placing peoples in graves, funerals made 'cause I was sprayed,” emphasizing the destructive impact of guns on individuals and communities.
In “Rule” , Nas's delivers a broader message of peace. Nas writes, “The bombs and tanks makes mankind extinct / But since the beginning of time, it's been men with arms fighting” (“Rule”). He is frustrated with how weapons are used to hurt each other over conflicts humans create. The song samples “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears, using the idea of “World (Peace)” throughout the remind listeners that peace cannot exist when there is violence.
An Interpretation of His Influences
Nas’s writing showcases his tough life experiences but critics misinterpret it as him promoting crime and the “gangster” lifestyle. He explains that his lyrics are about imitating life’s struggles and experiences and imitating the feeling through music (“Nas Interview” 00:09:58). A big part of why both Nas’s songs revolve around power is likely because he grew up feeling in a way powerless in his environment. He was surrounded by violence and lived in an underfunded area, which reflected a life and circumstances he really did not have control over. A lot of that comes from bigger systems like political leaders, authority figures, and institutions that try to maintain control through external forces like war, financial oppression, or even police using force on innocent people. That kind of external power is shown in “Rule”. On the other hand, “I Gave You Power” focuses more on individual, internal control of power with using a gun. Growing up around all of this he probably felt out of control and the one thing that gave him power was his music. He used his lyrics to show people what he experienced and to capture what New York really felt like. Nas states, “I was trying to make you experience my life … I gave you what the streets felt like, what it sounded like, tasted like, smelled like” (“Nas: Time is Illmatic” 00:02:54).
Works Cited:
Bartley, Wm. Alan, and Geoffrey Fain Williams. "The Role of Gun Supply in 1980s and 1990s Youth Violence." Contemporary Economic Policy, vol. 40, no. 2, 20 October 2021, pp. 323-348. Wiley Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.12556
Birchmeier, Jason. "Nas Biography." AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/nas-mn0000373634/biography.
"1988 Documentary: Crackland : Jamaica Queens N.Y.C." YouTube, uploaded by WayBack Archives, 3 February 2024, https://youtu.be/nuwDY2WMG9k?si=R-StcpQjKCMKCoPX
"Nas." Biography, A&E Television Networks, 1 July 2020,
https://www.biography.com/musicians/nas
Nas. "I Gave You Power." It Was Written, Columbia Records, 2 July 1996. Genius, https://genius.com/Nas-i-gave-you-power-lyrics
“Nas interview from BET Rap City in 1999.” Youtube, uploaded by Bringing Down The Band, 31 January 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H28JiqBW_AY
Nas. "Rule." Featuring Amerie. Stillmatic, Columbia Records and Ill Will Records, 6 October 2001. Genius, https://genius.com/Nas-rule-lyrics
"Nas: Time is Illmatic." THIRTEEN Specials, PBS, 1 July 2024,
https://www.pbs.org/video/nas-time-is-illmatic-sr8hah/
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