Nas

Overview

The pint sized NYC rapper Nas has existed at the fore of the East Coast rap scene since his debut Illmattic in 1994. Whilst he has never exploded like your Kanyes or Jay-Zs, he has turned out consistently great albums.

2006's Hip Hop is Dead, his first album with Jay-Z's label Def Jam was seen as Nas' best work since his early albums, with a debut at number 1 and great reviews. The album saw the always outspoken and opinionated Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (he sticks with just the first syllable for his MC name) yearning for hip hop's glory days, with a cynical view on its trajectory.

He lamented for simpler times on the title track "Went from turntables to MP3s/From
Beat Street to commercials for Mickey D's''. Last year he released an album with the intended title Nigger, but because of the controversy surrounding the use of the racial epithet â€" with many American social commentators voicing their disapproval (including Jesse Jackson) â€" the album was finally released untitled and went on to do well on the charts and just lost the Best Hip Hop Album Grammy to Lil' Wayne.

One of the West Coast's finest rappers Chali 2Na, best known for his deep baritone work as a member of Jurassic 5, is main support for the show, with jams that are much more party than controversy.

Also on the super-bill is a battle set from Dj Qbert and MC Supernatural. Supernatural is an astounding freestyle MC, who attempted to set a new world record by freestyling for over 9 hours, but just fell short of a UK rapper's 10 hours.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=84uWGVAcKR4