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Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones ( ; born September 14, 1973), known artistically as Nas ( ), is an American rapper and entrepreneur. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas began his musical career in 1989 under the moniker "Nasty Nas", and recorded demos under the wing of fellow East Coast rapper Large Professor. Nas made his recording debut on Professor's group, Main Source's 1991 song "Live at the Barbeque".
Nas signed with Columbia Records in 1992, and released his debut studio album, Illmatic on April 19, 1994. An inductee of the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry, it has been regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. His second album, It Was Written (1996), debuted atop the Billboard 200 and sold over a quarter-million units in its first week; the album, along with its lead single "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill), propelled Nas into mainstream success. Both released in 1999, Nas's third and fourth albums I Am and Nastradamus were criticized as inconsistent and too commercially oriented, with critics and audiences fearing a decline in the quality of his output.
From 2001 to 2005, Nas was involved in a highly publicized feud with fellow New York rapper Jay-Z, popularized by the former's diss track "Ether". The feud, along with Nas's subsequent releases Stillmatic (2001), God's Son (2002), and the double album Street's Disciple (2004) helped him restore his critical standing. Nas then reconciled with Jay-Z prior to signing with his then-spearheaded label, Def Jam Recordings in 2006; he adopted a more provocative, politicized direction with the albums Hip Hop Is Dead (2006) and his untitled ninth studio album (2008). In 2010, Nas released Distant Relatives, a collaborative album with Damian Marley that donated its royalties to active African charities. His tenth studio album, Life Is Good (2012), was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. After thirteen nominations, his thirteenth studio album, King's Disease (2020) won his first Grammy for Best Rap Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. His five subsequent albums— King's Disease II, Magic (2021), King's Disease III (2022), Magic 2, and Magic 3 (2023)—were each produced entirely by Hit-Boy and met with critical praise.
Nas has been second ranked by The Source on their "Top 50 Lyricists of All Time" list in 2012, fourth on MTV's Annual Hottest MCs in the Game list in 2013, and was named the "Greatest MC of All Time" by About.com in 2014. The following year, Nas was featured on the "10 Best Rappers of All Time" list by Billboard. Outside of recording, he serves as Publishing of Mass Appeal magazine, and co-founded its spin-off division Mass Appeal Records, a record label that has signed artists including Dave East, N.O.R.E., Run the Jewels, and Swizz Beatz, among others. Nas has released seventeen studio albums since 1994, ten of which are certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum in the U.S.
As a young child, Nas and his family relocated to the Queensbridge housing project of the Long Island City community area in the borough of Queens. His neighbor, Willie "Ill Will" Graham, influenced his interest in hip-hop by playing him records. His parents divorced in 1985, and he dropped out of school after the eighth grade. He educated himself about African culture through the Five-Percent Nation (a splinter group of the Nation of Islam) and the Nuwaubian Nation. In his early years, he played the trumpet and began writing his own rhymes.Jackson, Margaret. "Nas". Grove Music Online. (January 2014): 1. Oxford Music Online. Web. February 21, 2015.
In 1994, Nas's debut album, Illmatic, was released. It featured production from Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, LES and DJ Premier, as well as guest appearances from Nas's friend AZ and his father Olu Dara. The album spawned several singles, including "The World Is Yours", "It Ain't Hard to Tell", and "One Love". Shaheem Reid of MTV News called Illmatic "the first classic LP" of 1994. In 1994, Nas also recorded the song "One on One" for the soundtrack to the film Street Fighter. In his book To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic, William Jelani Cobb writes of Nas's impact at the time:
Illmatic was awarded best album of 1994 by The Source.Weinstein, S. "Nas". In Hess, M. (ed.), Icons of Hip-Hop, vol. 1, pp. 341–363. Steve Huey of AllMusic described Nas's lyrics on Illmatic as "highly literate" and his raps "superbly fluid regardless of the size of his vocabulary", adding that Nas is "able to evoke the bleak reality of ghetto life without losing hope or forgetting the good times". About.com ranked Illmatic as the greatest hip-hop album of all time, and Prefix magazine praised it as "the best hip hop record ever made".
It Was Written was released on July 2, 1996. Two singles, "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill of The Fugees) and "Street Dreams" (including a remix with R. Kelly), were instant hits.. AllMusic. Retrieved August 1, 2008. These songs were promoted by big-budget music videos directed by Hype Williams, making Nas a common name among mainstream hip-hop. Reviewing It Was Written, Leo Stanley of Allmusic believed the album's rhymes were not as complex as those of Illmatic, but still thought Nas had "deepened his talents, creating a complex series of rhymes that not only flow, but manage to tell coherent stories as well." It Was Written featured the debut of the Firm, a supergroup consisting of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown, and Cormega.
Signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label, the Firm began working on their debut album. Halfway through the production of the album, Cormega was fired from the group by Steve Stoute, who had unsuccessfully attempted to force Cormega to sign a deal with his management company. Cormega subsequently became one of Nas's most vocal opponents and released a number of underground hip-hop singles Nas, Stoute, and Nature, who replaced Cormega as the fourth member of the Firm. was finally released in 1997 to mixed reviews. The album failed to live up to its expected sales despite being certified platinum, and the members of the group disbanded to go their separate ways.
During this period, Nas was one of four rappers (the others being B-Real, KRS-One and RBX) in the hip-hop supergroup Group Therapy, who appeared on the song "East Coast/West Coast Killas" from Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath.
The second single on I Am... was "Hate Me Now", featuring Sean Combs, which was used as an example by Nas's critics accusing him of moving towards more commercial themes. The video featured Nas and Combs being crucifixion in a manner similar to Jesus Christ; after the video was completed, Combs requested his crucifixion scene be edited out of the video. However, the unedited copy of the "Hate Me Now" video made its way to MTV. Within minutes of the broadcast, Combs and his bodyguards allegedly made their way into Steve Stoute's office and assaulted him, at one point apparently hitting Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle. Stoute pressed charges, but he and Combs legal settlement that June. Columbia had scheduled to release the music piracy material from I Am... under the title Nastradamus during the later half of 1999, but, at the last minute, Nas decided to record an entire new album for the 1999 release of Nastradamus. Nastradamus was therefore rushed to meet a November release date. Though critical reviews were unfavorable, it did result in a minor hit, "You Owe Me". Fans and critics feared that Nas's career was declining, artistically and commercially, as both I Am... and Nastradamus were criticized as inconsistent and overtly-commercialized.Cowie, Del. Nas: Battle Ready. Exclaim!. Retrieved on January 20, 2007.
In 2000, Nas & Ill Will Records Presents QB's Finest, which is popularly known as simply QB's Finest, was released on Nas's Ill Will Records. QB's Finest is a compilation album that featured Nas and a number of other rappers from Queensbridge projects, including Mobb Deep, Nature, Capone-N-Noreaga, the Bravehearts, Tragedy Khadafi, Millennium Thug and Cormega, who had briefly reconciled with Nas. The album also featured guest appearances from Queensbridge hip-hop legends Roxanne Shanté, MC Shan, and Marley Marl. Shan and Marley Marl both appeared on the lead single "Da Bridge 2001", which was based on Shan & Marl's 1986 recording "The Bridge".
In response to "Ether", Jay-Z released the song "Supa Ugly", which WQHT radio host Angie Martinez premiered on December 11, 2001. In the song, Jay-Z explicitly boasts about having an affair with Nas's girlfriend, Carmen Bryan.Ashare, Matt. Nas On His Battle With Jay-Z And Its Effects. Yahoo! Music: January 26, 2002. New York City hip-hop radio station WQHT issued a poll asking listeners which rapper made the better diss song; Nas won with 58% while Jay-Z got 42% of the votes. In 2002, in the midst of the dispute between the two New York rappers, Eminem cited both Nas and Jay-Z as being two of the best MCs in the industry, in his song "'Till I Collapse". Both the dispute and Stillmatic signaled an artistic comeback for Nas after a string of inconsistent albums. The Lost Tapes, a compilation of previously unreleased or bootlegged songs from 1998 to 2001, was released by Columbia in September 2002. The collection attained respectable sales and received rave reviews from critics.
On December 13, 2002, Nas released the God's Son album including its lead single, "Made You Look" which used a pitched down sample of the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache". The album peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts despite widespread Internet bootlegging. Time Magazine named his album best hip-hop album of the year. Vibe gave it four stars and The Source gave it four mics. The second single, "I Can", which reworked elements from Beethoven's "Für Elise", became Nas's biggest hit to date in 2003, garnering substantial radio airplay on urban, rhythmic, and top 40 radio stations, as well as on the MTV and VH1 music video networks. God's Son also includes several songs dedicated to Nas's mother, who died of cancer in April 2002, including "Dance". In 2003, Nas was featured on the Korn song "Play Me", from Korn's Take a Look in the Mirror LP. Also in 2003, a live performance in New York City, featuring Ludacris, Jadakiss, and Darryl McDaniels (of Run-D.M.C. fame), was released on DVD as Made You Look: God's Son Live.
God's Son was critical in the power struggle between Nas and Jay-Z in the hip-hop industry at the time. In an article at the time, Joseph Jones of PopMatters stated, "Whether you like it or not, "Ether" did this. With God's Son, Nas has the opportunity to cement his status as the King of NY, at least for another 3-4-year term, or he could prove that he is not the savior that hip-hop fans should be pinning their hopes on."Jones, Joseph. Review: God's Son. PopMatters. Retrieved October 28, 2009. After the album's release, he began helping the Bravehearts, an act including his younger brother Jungle and friend Wiz (Wizard), put together their debut album, Bravehearted. The album featured guest appearances from Nas, Nashawn (Millennium Thug), Lil Jon, and Jully Black.
Nas released his seventh album Street's Disciple, a sprawling double album, on November 30, 2004. It addressed subject matter both political and personal, including his impending marriage to recording artist Kelis. The double-sided single "Thief's Theme"/"You Know My Style" was released months before the album's release, followed by the single "Bridging the Gap" upon the album's release. Although Street's Disciple went platinum record, it served as a drop-off from Nas's previous commercial successes.
In 2005, New York-based rapper 50 Cent dissed Nas on his song "Piggy Bank", which brought his reputation into question in hip-hop circles. In October, Nas made a surprise appearance at Jay-Z's "I Declare War" concert, where they reconciled their beef. At the show, Jay-Z announced to the crowd, "It's bigger than 'I Declare War'. Let's go, Esco!" and Nas then joined him onstage,Sanneh, Kelefah. A Show of Solidarity, With a Few Surprises. The New York Times: October 29, 2005. and the two performed Jay-Z's "Dead presidents" (1996) together, a song that featured a prominent sample of Nas's 1994 track, "The World Is Yours" (1994).
Tentatively called Hip Hop Is Dead...The N,Reid, Shaheem. Nas Says Hip-Hop Is Dead — New Album Due In September, MTV.com. May 19, 2006. Hip Hop Is Dead was a commentary on the state of hip-hop and featured "Black Republican", a hyped collaboration with Jay-Z. The album debuted on Def Jam and Nas new imprint at that label, The Jones Experience, at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts, selling 355,000 copies—Nas's third number one album, along with It Was Written and I Am.... It also inspired reactions about the state of hip-hop, particularly controversy with Southern hip-hop artists who felt the album's title was a criticism aimed at them. Nas's 2004 song, "Thief's Theme", was featured in the 2006 film, The Departed. Nas's former label, Columbia Records, released the compilation Greatest Hits in November.Petipas, Jolene. Nas Preps "Greatest Hits," Records New Material, hiphop-elements.com. August 13, 2007.
On October 12, 2007, Nas announced that his next album would be called Nigger. Both progressivism commentators, such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and the conservative-aligned news channel Fox News were outraged; Jackson called on entertainers to stop using the epithet after comedian Michael Richards used it onstage in late 2006. Controversy escalated as the album's impending release date drew nearer, going as far as to spark rumors that Def Jam was planning to drop Nas unless he changed the title.Shake (January 23, 2008). Def Jam to Drop Nas?!? . Retrieved January 28, 2008. Additionally, then-Fort Greene, Brooklyn assemblyman (later United States Representative) Hakeem Jeffries requested that New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli withdraw $84,000,000 from the state pension fund that had been invested into Universal and its parent company, Vivendi, if the album's title was not changed. On the opposite side of the spectrum, many of the most famous names in the entertainment industry supported Nas for using the racial epithet as the title of his full-length LP.Shaheem Reid (November 1, 2007). Nas' Album Title Gets Support From Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Bishop Lamont, LL Cool J, GZA, Reverend Run, David Banner MTV News. Retrieved November 1, 2007. Nas's management worried the album would not be sold by chain stores such as Wal-Mart, thus limiting its distribution.
On May 19, 2008, Nas decided to forgo an album title. Responding to Jesse Jackson's remarks and use of the word "nigger", Nas called him "the biggest player hater", stating "His time is up. All you old niggas' time is up. We heard your voice, we saw your marching, we heard your sermons. We don't want to hear that shit no more. It's a new day. It's a new voice. I'm here now. We don't need Jesse; I'm here. I got this. We the voice now. It's no more Jesse. Sorry. Goodbye. You ain't helping nobody in the 'hood and that's the bottom line."Reid, Shaheem. Nas Takes Jesse Jackson To Task For Barack Obama Comments: 'His Time Is Up'. MTV. Retrieved July 10, 2008. He also said of the album's title: "It's important to me that this album gets to the fans. It's been a long time coming. I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it."
The album was ultimately released on July 15, 2008, untitled. It featured production from Polow da Don, stic.man of Dead Prez, Sons of Light and J. Myers, "Hero", the album's lead single released on June 23, 2008, reached No. 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 87 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.. allmusic. Retrieved September 8, 2008. In July, Nas attained a shoe deal with Fila. In an interview with MTV News in July, Nas speculated that he might release two albums: one produced by DJ Premier and another by Dr. Dre—simultaneously the same day. Nas worked on Dr. Dre's studio album Detox. Nas was also awarded 'Emcee of the Year' in the HipHopDX 2008 Awards for his latest solo effort, the quality of his appearances on other albums and was described as having "become an artist who thrives off of reinvention and going against the system."
After announcing a possible release in 2010, a follow-up compilation to The Lost Tapes (2002) was delayed indefinitely due to issues between him and Def Jam. His eleventh studio album, Life Is Good (2012) was produced primarily by Salaam Remi and No I.D, and released on July 13, 2012. Nas called the album a "magic moment" in his rap career.[10]
In 2011, Nas announced that he would release collaboration albums with Mobb Deep, Common, and a third with DJ Premier. Common said of the project in a 2011 interview, "At some point, we will do that. We'd talked about it and we had a good idea to call it Nas.Com. That was actually going to be a mixtape at one point. But we decided that we should make it an album." Life is Good would be nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.
On April 16, 2014, on the twentieth anniversary of Illmatic, the documentary was premiered which recounted circumstances leading up to Nas's debut album. It was reported on September 10, that Nas has finished his last album with Def Jam. On October 30, Nas released a song which might have been the first single on his new album, titled "The Season", produced by J Dilla. Nas has also collaborated with the Australian hip-hop group, Bliss n Eso, in 2014. They released the track "I Am Somebody" in May 2014. Nas was featured on the song "We Are" from Justin Bieber's fourth studio album, Purpose, released in November 2015.
Nas was announced as one of the executive producers of the Netflix original series, The Get Down, prior to its release in August 2016. He narrated the series and rapped as adult Ezekiel of 1996.
On October 16, 2016, he received the Jimmy Iovine Icon Award at 2016 REVOLT Music Conference for having a lasting impact and unique influence on music, numerous years in the rap business, his partnership with Hennessy, and Mass Appeal imprint by Puff Daddy. In November 2016, Nas collaborated with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dave East and Aloe Blacc on a song called "Wrote My Way Out", which appears on The Hamilton Mixtape. On April 12, 2017, Nas released the song Angel Dust as soundtrack for TV series The Getdown. It contains a sample of the Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson song Angel Dust.
In June 2017, Nas appeared in the award-winning 2017 documentary The American Epic Sessions directed by Bernard MacMahon, where he recorded live direct-to-disc on the restored first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s. He performed "On the Road Again", a 1928 song by the Memphis Jug Band, which The Hollywood Reporter describing his performance as "fantastic" and the Financial Times praising his "superb cover of the Memphis Jug Band's "On the Road Again", exposing the hip-hop blueprint within the 1928 stomper." "On the Road Again", and a performance of "One Mic", were released on on June 9, 2017.
In April 2018, Kanye West announced on Twitter that Nas's twelfth studio album will be released on June 15, also serving as executive producer for the album. The album was announced the day before release, titled Nasir.
Following the release of Nasir, Nas confirmed he would return to completing a previous album, including production from Swizz Beatz and RZA. This project was released as The Lost Tapes 2 on July 19, 2019, which included production from Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz, The Alchemist, and RZA. This album was a sequel to Nas's 2002 release, The Lost Tapes.
Nas's third installment in the King's Disease series, King's Disease III, was released the following year. Like its two predecessors, King's Disease III was mainly produced by Hit-Boy; however, it was notably Nas's first studio album to forgo any guest appearances from outside artists. Upon release, King's Disease III would become one of the most critically acclaimed albums of Nas's career, becoming his highest-scoring new studio album on review aggregator Metacritic and receiving critical praise for the cohesion of Hit-Boy's production with Nas's storytelling and lyricism. Praising King's Disease III, British music publication NME stated that Nas, "three decades in, is still a force to be reckoned with", while Marcus Shorter of Consequence would write that the album was Nas's and Hit-Boy's "most focused and confident collaboration" and that Nas was "at peace with his legacy, life, and the fact that old age is inevitable".
On September 12, 2023, Nas announced the 3rd installment to the Magic album series, Magic 3, which would be released two days later, on his fiftieth birthday. The album would be the sixth and final collaboration between Nas and Hit-Boy on an album.
On April 19, 2024, it was announced for the 30th anniversary of Illmatic, that Nas and DJ Premier would be releasing their collaboration album in late 2024.
Nas executive produced the 2024 concept album by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis, Warriors.
In April 2025, Nas visited India again to perform at the Mass Appeal Presents: The World Reunion—A Charity Concert, hosted by Mass Appeal India, at The Nesco Center, in Mumbai. He was accompanied by various Indian-origin rappers, such as, Divine, Raftaar, Ikka Singh, KR$NA, King, and Steel Banglez.
OC of D.I.T.C. comments in the book How to Rap: "Nas did the song backwards 'Rewind'... that was a brilliant idea". Also in How to Rap, 2Mex of The Visionaries describes Nas's flow as "effervescent", Rah Digga says Nas's lyrics have "intricacy", Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde explains that Nas does not always have to make words rhyme as he is "charismatic", and Nas is also described as having a "densely packed" flow, with compound rhymes that "run over from one beat into the next or even into another bar".
On March 15, 2012, Nas became the first rapper to have a personal verified account on Genius, where he explains his own lyrics and occasionally comments on lyrics from other rappers he admires.
About.com ranked him 1st on their list of the "50 Greatest MCs of All Time" in 2014, and a year later, Nas was featured on the "10 Best Rappers of All Time" list by Billboard. The Source ranked him No. 2 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time. In 2013, Nas was ranked fourth on MTV's "Hottest MCs in the Game" list. His debut, Illmatic, is widely considered among the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.
In July 2013, Harvard University established the Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellowship as part of the Hip-Hop Archives and W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, to fund scholars and artists who show potential and creativity in the arts in connection to hip-hop. On November 12, 2019, Nas was honored by Haute Living, along with Watches of Switzerland and Hennessy, in a celebratory affair that included a violin rendition of iconic Nas songs performed by Edward W. Hardy.
On September 6, 2007, during his set at "A Concert for Virginia Tech", Nas twice referred to Bill O'Reilly as "a chump", prompting loud cheers by members of the crowd. About two weeks later, Nas was interviewed by Shaheem Reid of MTV News, where he criticised O'Reilly, calling him uncivilized and willing to go to extremes for publicity.Reid, Shaheem; Rodriguez, Jayson; Dukes, Rahman; Kash, Tim. Mixtape Monday: Nas Sounds Off On Bill O'Reilly (Again!); Havoc Finally Drops The Kush. MTV: September 17, 2007 Responding to O'Reilly, Nas, in an interview with MTV News, said:
On July 23, 2008, Nas appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss his opinion of O'Reilly and Fox News, which he accused of Media bias against the African-American community and re-challenged O'Reilly to a debate. During the appearance, Nas sat on boxes of more than 625,000 signatures gathered by online advocacy organisation Color of Change in support of a petition accusing Fox of Race baiting and fear-mongering.
In September 2013, he invested in a technology startup company, a job search appmaker called Proven. In 2014, Nas invested as part of a $2.8M round in viral video startup ViralGains another addition to Queens-bridge venture partners portfolio.
In May 2014, Nas partnered with job placement startup Koru to fund a scholarship for 10 college graduates to go through Koru's training program. Nas will also be joining the startup as a guest coach.Jack Smith IV. Rapper Nas Teams Up With Koru To Sponsor Even More Tech Scholarships. Betabeat. May 28, 2014. Nas is a co-owner of a Cloud-based service LANDR, an automated, drag-and-drop digital audio postproduction tool which automates "mastering", the final stage in audio production. In June 2015, Nas joined forces with New York City soul food restaurant Sweet Chick. He plans to expand the restaurant brand nationally. The Los Angeles location opened in April 2017. He owns his own clothing line called HSTRY.
In June 2018, Nas was paid $40 million after Amazon acquired the doorbell company Ring Inc. as well as PillPack – the latter of which he invested in via his investment firm, Queensbridge Venture Partners.
He has continued to invest heavily in technology startups including Dropbox, Lyft, and Robinhood.
Nas recently won a bid with Resorts World over a competing project by alleged rival Jay-Z, to build a casino project in Queens, New York.
Nas grew up in a Christian Baptists family, and while not directly affiliated with any religious denomination, believes there to be a higher power.
Nas is a fan of his hometown baseball team the New York Mets and English soccer team Everton F.C.
On June 15, 1994, Nas's ex-fiancée, Carmen Bryan, gave birth to their daughter, Destiny.
In January 2005, Nas married R&B singer Kelis in Atlanta after a two-year relationship. On April 30, 2009, a spokesperson confirmed that Kelis filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Kelis gave birth to Nas's first son on July 21, 2009. Nas announced the birth of his son, Knight, at a gig in Queens, New York, against Kelis's wishes. The birth was also announced by Nas via an online video. The couple's divorce was finalized on May 21, 2010. Their divorce was visually reflected in Nas's song, "Bye Baby", and in the music video with him holding his ex-wife's green wedding dress in a black leather chair, which would also be the backdrop of the album cover for Life Is Good (2012). In 2018, Kelis accused Nas of being physically and mentally abusive during their marriage. Nas replied to the accusations on social media, accusing Kelis of attempting to slander him in the time of a custody battle and accusing Kelis of abusing his daughter, Destiny.
Nas briefly dated Mary J. Blige and Nicki Minaj.
In an October 2014 episode of PBS's Finding Your Roots, Nas learned about five generations of his ancestry. His great-great-great-grandmother, Pocahontas Little, was an enslaved woman who was sold for $830. When host Henry Louis Gates showed Nas her bill of sale and told him more about the man who bought her, Nas remarked that he is considering buying the land where the slave owner lived. Nas was also shown the marriage certificate of his great-great-great-grandmother, Pocahontas, and great-great-great-grandfather, Calvin.
In January 2012, Nas was involved in a dispute with a concert promoter in Angola, having accepted $300,000 for a concert in Luanda, Angola's capital for New Year's Eve and then not showing up. American promoter Patrick Allocco and his son, who arranged for Nas's concert, were detained at gunpoint and taken to an Angolan jail by the local promoter who fronted the $300,000 for the concert. Only after the U.S. Embassy intervened were the promoter and his son allowed to leave jail—but were placed under house arrest at their hotel. By the end of the month Nas had returned all $300,000, and, after 49 days of travel ban, Allocco and his son were both released. Concert Promoter Patrick Allocco & His Son Finally Free After Being Held In Angola For 49 Days Following No Show By Nas For Concert . ThisIs50.com (February 18, 2012). Retrieved December 19, 2012.
Collaborative albums
| 1998 | Belly | Sincere | |
| 1999 | In Too Deep | Drug Dealer | |
| 2001 | Ticker | Det. Art "Fuzzy" Rice | |
| Sacred is the Flesh | Isa Paige | ||
| 2002 | John Q. | Himself | |
| 2003 | Uptown Girls | Himself | |
| 2013 | Black Nativity | Prophet Isaiah | |
| 2014 | Waltz | Henchman | Short |
| 2016 | Himself | ||
| 2018 | Monster | Raymond "Sunset" Green |
| 1996 | It's Showtime at the Apollo | Himself | Episode: "Episode 10.3" |
| 2002 | Diary | Himself | Episode: "The Diary of Nas" |
| 2004 | Himself | Episode: "Back in the Day" | |
| 2005 | Driven | Himself | Episode: "Nas" |
| The Life & Rhymes of... | Himself | Episode: "Nas" | |
| 2010 | 30 for 30 | Himself | Episode: "One Night in Vegas" |
| Hawaii Five-0 | Gordon Smith | Episode: "Race" | |
| 2012 | Behind the Music | Himself | Episode: "Nas" |
| 2014 | The Tanning of America | Himself | Recurring Guest |
| Finding Your Roots | Himself | Episode: "Episode 2.6" & "2.10" | |
| 2016 | Generation X | Himself | Recurring Guest |
| 2016–17 | The Get Down | Narrator | Main Narrator |
| 2017 | American Epic | Himself | Episode: "The Big Bang" |
| The Defiant Ones | Himself | Recurring Guest | |
| 2018 | Rapture | Himself | Episode: "Nas & Dave East: The Bridge" |
| 2019 | Himself | Episode: "101" | |
| Free Meek | Himself | Episode: "The Trap" | |
| 2020 | You Ain't Got These | Himself | Episode: "Intro" & "Jordan" |
| The Last Dance | Himself | Episode: "Episode V" | |
| 2022 | Soul of a Nation | Himself | Episode: "Sound of Freedom – A Juneteenth Celebration" |
| Origins of Hip Hop | Himself/Narrator | Main Narrator | |
| Supreme Team | Himself | Main Guest | |
| Murder Inc Records Docu | Himself | Recurring Guest | |
| 2023 | Himself | Episode: "Episode 1.4" |
| 1995 | "Survival of the Fittest" | Mobb Deep |
| "Live Niguz" | Onyx | |
| 1999 | "Notorious B.I.G." | The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Sean Combs & Lil' Kim |
| 2000 | "It's So Hard" | Big Pun featuring Donell Jones |
| 2001 | "Bad Boy for Life" | Sean Combs featuring Black Rob & Mark Curry |
| 2006 | "Smack That" | Akon featuring Eminem |
| 2012 | "Right by My Side" | Nicki Minaj featuring Chris Brown |
| 2003 | Beef |
| Scarface: Origins of a Hip Hop Classic | |
| 2011 | How Hip Hop Changed the World |
| Re:Generation | |
| 2012 | The Art of Rap: Something from Nothing |
| Uprising: Hip Hop and the LA Riots | |
| 2014 | |
| Hidden Colors 3: The Rules of Racism | |
| 2015 | |
| 2016 | Hamilton's America |
| I Am Bolt | |
| Coked Up! | |
| 2017 | Quest |
| Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story | |
| Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G. | |
| 2018 | Word Is Bond |
| 2021 | Mary J. Blige's My Life |
| You're Watching Video Music Box | |
| 2022 | Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues |
| Coin |
| 2019 | Gully Boy |
! |- | 2023 | Ugly | Best Editor | | style="text-align:center;"| |}
|- | rowspan="1" | 1997 | "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" | Best Rap Solo Performance | |- | rowspan="1" | 2000 | I Am... | Best Rap Album | |- | rowspan="2" |2003 | "One Mic" | Best Music Video | |- | "Aziatic" (with AZ) | rowspan="2" |Best Rap Performance by a Duo or a Group | |- | rowspan="2" | 2008 | "Better Than I've Ever Been" (with Kanye West & KRS-One) | |- | rowspan="1" | Hip Hop Is Dead | rowspan="2" |Best Rap Album | |- | rowspan="2" | 2009 | rowspan="1" | Nas | |- | "N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave and the Master)" | Best Rap Solo Performance | |- | rowspan="1" | 2010 | "Too Many Rappers" (with Beastie Boys) | Best Rap Performance by a Duo or a Group | |- |rowspan="4"|2013 |rowspan="2"|"Daughters" |Best Rap Performance | |- |Best Rap Song | |- |"Cherry Wine" (featuring Amy Winehouse) |Best Rap/Sung Collaboration | |- | Life Is Good |rowspan="3"| Best Rap Album | |- | 2021 | King's Disease | |- |rowspan="2"|2022 | King's Disease II | |- | "Bath Salts" (with DMX & Jay-Z) |Best Rap Song | |- | 2024 | King's Disease III | Best Rap Album | |-
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