Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, known professionally as Nas, is an American rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur, and investor. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas has released eight consecutive platinum and multi-platinum albums and has sold over 30 million records worldwide. He is also an entrepreneur through his own record label; he serves as associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine and the co-founder of Mass Appeal Records.
East Coast hip hop is a regional subgenre of Hip Hop music that originated in New York City during the 1970s. Hip hop is recognized to have originated and evolved first in the Bronx, New York; East Coast hip hop only became a distinct subgenre after artists from other regions of the United States emerged with different styles.
Anthony Cruz, better known by his stage name AZ, is an American rapper from East New York, Brooklyn, New York. He is known for being a longtime and frequent music partner of Nas and also a member of hip hop group The Firm alongside Nas, Foxy Brown, Cormega and Nature. In a countdown of the 10 Most Underappreciated Rappers—Most Underrated Rappers of All Time, the editors of About.com listed AZ as #1 on the list. He was also included on About.com's list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007), where he was described as "arguably the most underrated lyricist ever."
Soul Plane is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jessy Terrero, written by Bo Zenga and starring Tom Arnold, Kevin Hart, Method Man and Snoop Dogg. Supporting actors include Mo'Nique, Loni Love, K.D. Aubert, D.L. Hughley, Godfrey and Sofia Vergara.
Bravehearts are an East Coast hip hop group from New York, New York. The group's roster originally included Jungle, Wiz, and Horse. Horse left the group in 2002, and Jungle and Wiz carried on as a duo. Wiz was in turn replaced by Nashawn, Nas's cousin.
Nas & Ill Will Records Presents QB's Finest, commonly known as simply QB's Finest, is a compilation album released on November 21, 2000 and the second release from rapper Nas' new Ill Will Records imprint, distributed by Columbia Records. It featured Nas and a number of other rappers from the Queensbridge housing projects, including Mobb Deep, Nature, Nashawn, Littles, Bravehearts and Cormega, who had briefly reconciled a longtime feud with Nas.
Tarzan and the Super 7 is a Saturday morning cartoon series, produced by Filmation and originally airing from 1978–1980 on CBS.
Cool & Dre are a Grammy Award winning, American record production and songwriting duo from North Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Antonio Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon. The duo are best known for their work with Terror Squad founder Fat Joe, first collaborating on the albums Jealous Ones Still Envy and Loyalty in 2001 and 2002 respectively, and more recently their work with Jay-Z and Beyonce on the Everything Is Love album in 2018. The duo have also worked extensively with rappers Lil Wayne, The Game, Nas, Queen Latifah, Ja Rule, Rick Ross, Remy Ma, Kendrick Lamar and many others. Their hits include The Game and 50 Cent's 2005 hit "Hate It or Love It", Juvenile's "Rodeo", Ja Rule's "New York", Fat Joe's "All the Way Up" and Lil Wayne's "On Fire". To date, their work has sold over 75 million records worldwide. Cool & Dre started their record company Epidemic Music in 2004. The artists currently signed to Epidemic Music are Kent Jones, Eric Leon, and Tom G. In 2016, Epidemic Music released Kent Jones's debut single "Don't Mind" which peaked on the Hot 100 charts at #8 and sold over 2 million copies.
Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz was an American hip hop duo, composed of rappers Sean "Lord Tariq" Hamilton and Peter "Peter Gunz" Pankey, from The Bronx, New York. They are best known for their single "Deja Vu ", which peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Mobb Deep was an American hip hop duo from Queensbridge, Queens, New York. The group consisted of Havoc and Prodigy, and were a hardcore East Coast hip hop group. They were known for their dark, hardcore delivery as exemplified in "Shook Ones ." Mobb Deep became one of the most successful rap duos in hip hop, having sold over 3 million records. Three of their notable albums were The Infamous (1995), Hell On Earth (1996) and Murda Muzik (1999), and their top hits include "Shook Ones, Pt. II", "Survival of the Fittest" and "Hell on Earth".
Illmatic is the debut studio album by American rapper Nas. It was released on April 19, 1994, by Columbia Records. After signing with the label with the help of MC Serch, Nas recorded the album in 1992 and 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording Studios in New York City. Its production was handled by DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S. and Nas himself. Styled as a hardcore hip hop album, Illmatic features multi-syllabic internal rhymes and inner-city narratives based on Nas' experiences in Queensbridge, New York.
Bravehearted is the debut studio album by the American duo the Bravehearts. A group consisting of Nas' brother Jungle and fellow friend Wiz.
Next Time is a rock duo from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. The duo consists of twin brothers Martin and Stefan Filipovski. Stefan fronts the band as the lead singer, while Martin plays the guitar and sings back-up vocals. The group represented Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia but failed to reach the final.
The Trackmasters are an American hip hop production duo composed of music producers Poke and Tone, best known for their commercial hit records in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Frank "Nitty" Pimentel joined forces with the duo to complete the success of "Trackmasters". Throughout their career, they have worked with various hip-hop and R&B artists including Nas, R. Kelly, LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige, Will Smith, Jay-Z, Cam'ron, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, The Notorious B.I.G. and 50 Cent.
"Nasty" is a song by American rapper Nas. The song, released via iTunes on August 9, 2011, is the first single from his eleventh studio album Life Is Good. The song is produced by Nas's long-time producer and frequent collaborator Salaam Remi. The song was listed at #37 on Rolling Stone Magazine's "50 Best Singles of 2011", and was also named as the best hip-hop song of 2011 by Rap Genius. The song was later featured on the soundtrack to the 2012 film Project X. It was also featured in the video game "The Crew".
"Champion" is a song by American rapper and singer Nicki Minaj, taken from her second studio album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012). The song features additional vocals from hip hop artists Drake, Nas, Young Jeezy and (rapper)]. "Champion" was written by Minaj, Aubrey Graham, Jay Jenkins, Nasir Jones, and Jayceon Taylor, while the production and additional writing was handled by Pink Friday (2010) collaborators T-Minus and Nikhil Seetharam. Musically, "Champion" is a downtempo hardcore hip hop ballad that also incorporates elements of R&B, new-age, and space music. The lyrics speak of each artist's rise to fame, as well as the trials and tribulations that it carries; it references the death of Minaj's cousin, Nicholas Telemaque, who was murdered near his Brooklyn home on July 3, 2011.
"The Don" is a song by American rapper Nas. Released as the second single from his tenth studio album, Life Is Good (2012), it is produced by record producers Da Internz, Heavy D and Salaam Remi, who all helped write the song along with Nas, although Heavy D died before the song could be finished. Built around a sample of "Dance in New York" by reggae singer Super Cat, a former collaborator of Nas, "The Don" is backed by a boom bap, reggae-tinged production with additional drum and piano sounds. Lyrically, Nas reaffirms his status as a "street poet", addressing the hardships of poverty within disadvantaged societies and the realities of weapon and drug problems.
Black Sheep is an American hip hop duo from Queens, New York, United States, composed of Andres "Dres" Vargas Titus and William "Mista Lawnge" McLean. The duo was from New York but met as teenagers in Sanford, North Carolina, where both of their families relocated. The group was an affiliate of the Native Tongues, which included the Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul. After getting together in 1989, Black Sheep debuted in 1991 with the hit song "Flavor of the Month" and later released its first album, A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, which gained them praise and recognition in the hip-hop community for the album's unique rhythms and intelligent often humorous lyrics. After six years together, Black Sheep disbanded in 1995, citing creative differences.
