This week saw Queensbridge rapper Nas honoured with a Hip-Hop fellowship at Harvard University. To mark the occasion, Nas is this week’s artist for The Koalition’s Throwback Thursday feature.
The first of five tracks is from Main Source. Nas appeared as a guest on “Live at the Barbeque” from the New York group’s 1991 album “Breaking Atoms“. This was the first time the Hip-Hop world had heard from Nas (he was known as ‘Nasty Nas’ at this time).
The second of our five tracks is from Nas’ sophomore album “It Was Written” with the track titled “Nas Is Coming“. This track featured an appearance from Dr. Dre, who also produced the track. During the track, they both declare the east and west coasts are together despite all the supposed beefing between artists from both sides of the country.
Track three is from his classic 1994 debut album “Illmatic“. “The World Is Yours” features a singing appearance from Pete Rock, who also produced the track. “The World Is Yours” is one of 10 tracks from an album which the vast majority of the Hip-Hop community regard as the greatest album of all-time.
The fourth track is from the 2002 album “God’s Son“, titled “Get Down“. This was the opening track of the album and was produced by both Salaam Remi and Nas himself. Samples include James Brown‘s “Funky Drummer” and “The Boss” tracks.
The final track from our selected five is “N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II“. The track featured on the “I Am…” album from 1999 and was produced by DJ Premier who also produced the original “N.Y. State of Mind” on Nas’ debut “Illmatic” album.
Nas’ work is available on Amazon, including his great 2012 album “Life Is Good“.
