The 40 Defining Moments of Nas' Career

Looking back at 40 moments that changed Nas' life.

Date: Late 1980s

There's no way of knowing this for sure. But we're fairly confident that if Nas had decided to stick with his original rap moniker, he would not be as big a rapper as he is today. Kid Wave's Illmatic? Kid Wave's beef with Jay Z? Kid Wave's marriage to and divorce from Kelis? Uh, yeah, Kid Wave just doesn't have the same ring to it that Nas does, now does it? Changing his rap name may have been the single best decision that Nas ever made.

Date: Late 1980s

Large Professor served as more than just a producer for Nas. In addition to producing a bunch of tracks for Nas' debut, Illmatic, including "Halftime," "One Time 4 Your Mind," and "It Ain't Hard to Tell," Large Pro was also a mentor to Nas and, more importantly, one of his first friends in the music industry. You could argue that without Large Pro, there might not be a Nas right now. And you might just be right.

Date: July 1991

This was where it all began for Nas. After putting in work in the studio for several years with his mentor/friend Large Professor, Nas got a chance to lay down a verse for Main Source's Breaking Atoms album. And he made the most of it. "Street's disciple, my raps are trifle," he rapped, "I shoot slugs from my brain just like a rifle." Just like that, Nas' rap career was born.

Date: Mid-1992

Shortly after Nas appeared on Main Source's "Live at the Barbecue" in July 1991, MC Serch of 3rd Bass reached out to him and asked him to jump on a song called "Back to the Grill" for his solo album, Return of the Product. While working with him, Serch found out that Nas didn't have a record deal, despite his "Live at the Barbecue" verse. So he made some calls and hooked Nas up with an A&R at Sony and got him signed through Columbia Records. He also agreed to serve as Nas' manager moving forward.

Date: October 1992

Without the success of "Halftime," Illmatic might not have existed. MC Serch, who later served as Nas' manager, reportedly heard "Halftime" during a studio session and had to have it for the Zebrahead soundtrack that he was executive producing. That led to a record deal with Columbia Records later and the birth of Illmatic. And, well, the rest is history.

Date: Late 1992

Before signing with Columbia, Nas was just another New York rapper trying to find his way in the rap world. Sure, he had an amazing verse on Main Source's "Live at the Barbecue" on his resume. But that was pretty much all he had. But thanks to his connection to MC Serch, he was finally able to secure a record deal in 1992 and start work on his debut, Illmatic.

Date: April 1994

When Nas recorded Illmatic, he didn't do it to try and add a classic album to the rap game. As he explained during an interview with NPR last year, he did it to tell his story and document what was going on in his life at the time. "It wasn't about being a rap star," he said about his early rapping days. "It was about anything other than. I want you to know who I am, what the streets taste like, feel like, smell like. What the cops talk like, walk like, think like. ..It was important to me that I told the story that way because I thought that it wouldn't be told if I didn't tell it. I thought this was a great point in time in the 1990s in [New York City] that needed to be documented and my life needed to be told." Nas' documentation just so happened to lead to a classic rap album-and a long rap career filled with defining moments.

Date: August 1995

Outside of the fact that Nas' guest verse on "Verbal Intercourse" was one of the best verses of his life, the verse also made him the first non-Wu Tang Clan rapper to ever be featured on a Wu-Tang release. And he more than proved that he belonged on the song by delivering a handful of gems on it. It was a great moment for New York hip-hop.

Date: Early 1996

Nas' Illmatic is one of the best rap albums of all time. Twenty years after its release, it still holds up. But it didn't sell all that well when it was first released, despite all of the accolades it received. So when Nas started working on his second album, It Was Written, he parted ways with his manager MC Serch and hired Stoute instead. That led to Nas making a stronger push to market himself to the masses-with Stoute's help-and ultimately forced Nas to start producing more radio-friendly songs on his albums.

Date: July 1996

Illmatic didn't sell as well as it should have for Nas. So when it came time to record his second album, he switched up his approach. He hired marketing guru Steve Stoute to be his new manager. He recorded songs like "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" and "Street Dreams" that featured catching hooks and million-dollar music videos. And he made it his mission to move some units. He succeeded by selling more than two million copies of It Was Written and debuting at the top of Billboard's albums chart.

Date: Mid-1996

Shortly before The Firm finished recording The Firm: The Album in 1996, Steve Stoute kicked Cormega out of the group and replaced him with Nature. That led Nas to engage in a pretty high-profile beef with 'Mega, once one of the promising young stars on Def Jam. And while it appears that they've finally patched things up, Nas and Cormega spent many years going back and forth on records like Nas' "Build & Destroy" and Cormega's "Never Personal."

Date: November 1996

After hearing Nas rap on "The Message," a song from his second album, It Was Written, 2Pac mistakenly thought Nas was throwing shots at him. So he responded on "Against All Odds," a track that appeared on his posthumous 1996 album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. When he rapped, "This little nigga named Nas think he live like me/Talkin' 'bout he left the hospital, took 5 like me." According to the Outlawz, the two did settle their differences before Shakur's untimely death. But because The 7 Day Theory included the song and 'Pac was not around to clarify the situation, rumors surrounding the beef have lived on.

Date: October 1997

There have been a lot of hip-hop "supergroups" that have attempted to create albums in the past. But most of them have failed to get their collaborative projects off the ground. So even though The Firm's album, released through Dr. Dre's Aftermath label, turned out to be pretty lackluster, at least they saw their vision through and created an album before disbanding a short time later. In the end, the four members of the group—Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature—were better off on their own.

Date: November 1998

Unlike many of his fellow rappers, Nas never really got into acting. And truth be told, Belly probably had a lot to do with that. It's turned into a cult classic in recent years, but Nas definitely didn't blow anyone's mind with his matter-of-fact acting style. It's probably a good thing that Nas didn't catch the acting bug, though. If he had, who knows what might have become of his rap career?

Date: April 1999

I Am... had one of the most misleading album titles in rap history. Because after listening to it, it was almost impossible to gauge exactly who Nas was. Was he the guy rhyming his butt off on "Nas Is Like" or was he the guy looking for radio spins on "You Won't See Me Tonight"? It was a confusing time for Nas. But despite that, this album did have enough bright moments on it to keep even the most critical of Nas fans happy.

Date: November 1999

Ask any Nas fan what their least favorite Nas album is and four out of five will say this one (I Am... has its fair share of haters, too). At this point in his career, Nas sounded like he was confused as to whether he wanted to cater to the radio or cater to his hardcore fans. And the result was a jumbled mess of halfhearted radio records and tracks that were thrown onto Nastradamus at the last minute because of bootlegging issues. The album did serve one big purpose, though. When Nas started spitting again-like, really spitting-two years later on Stillmatic, we all appreciated it that much more.

Date: November 2000

Nas has always been very vocal about the fact that he reps for Queensbridge. So back in 2000, he put his money where his mouth was and helped orchestrate an entire album filled with nothing but Queens-based rappers. From older MCs like Marley Marl and Roxanne Shante to newer ones like Mobb Deep and Nas' own brother Jungle, he called on everyone to contribute. It was a moment both for Nas and for the whole housing project where he grew up.

Date: December 2001

Nas has released five albums since dropping Stillmatic. So it's easy to lose sight of just how important that album was and still is to Nas' legacy. But the truth is that, prior to Stillmatic, a lot of people were wondering if Nas had lost his touch. His fourth album Nastradamus was perhaps the worst of his career, and no one was sure how much Nas had left in the tank. But Stillmatic seemed to reenergize Nas and gave his career a second wind.

Date: December 2001

Nas has gone through several different eras through the years—but his career can be divided into the pre-"Ether" era and post-"Ether" eras. The pre-"Ether" era includes Illmatic and It Was Written as well as the more commercial attempts, I Am... and Nastradamus, and lots of obvious attempts at radio play. The post-"Ether" era features the rapper that Nas turned into once he stepped up and responded to Jay Z's devastating diss song "Takeover" and decided to battle him once and for all. That's not to say that everything Nas has done since "Ether" has been great. But his epic battle with Jay Z helped re-establish his place in the rap game and it stands as one of the reasons he's still mentioned whenever the "G.O.A.T." discussion starts up.

Date: June 2002

Who thought that this was a good idea? It wasn't. And fortunately, Hot 97 put a stop to it before Nas could go through with it and embarrass both himself and the hip-hop community. Unfortunately, it created a rift between Nas and Hot 97 that took years to repair. But the good thing was that it kept Nas in the underdog role during his beef with Jay Z and kept him hungry. The next couple of years were some of the best of his career.

Date: September 2002

Can you believe that Nas didn't include some of the songs that were on this compilation on the albums that they were recorded for?! Produced by guys like The Alchemist, L.E.S., and even Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie and Kanye West, the songs were recorded during sessions for I Am... and Stillmatic. And they were great. Even though the album didn't sell particularly well (it didn't get much promotion at the time), The Lost Tapes proved that "the old Nas" was still alive and well.

Date: December 2002

Released shortly after the death of his mother, God's Son was more than an attempt to prove that he was the King of New York in the wake of his beef with Jay Z and his monumental fifth album, Stillmatic. On several cuts, including "The Cross," "Mastermind," and "Last Real Nigga Alive," he referenced the KoNY title. But on songs like "Thugs Mantion" and "Dance" and "Heaven" he was thinking about bigger issues like life and death. The album as a whole served as a reminder of Nas' greatness for all those who ever doubted him.

Date: November 2004

Nas has never really shied away from dealing with controversial issues in his music. Even on his more commercial attempts like I Am... and Nastradamus, Nas slipped conscious records into the mix. But on Street's Disciple, the first and only double album of his career, Nas had even more room to explore his opinions on political and socio-economic issues. The result was songs like "A Message to the Feds, Sincerely, We the People," "American Way," and "These Are Our Heroes."

Date: January 2005

After meeting at an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty thrown by Puff Daddy in New York City in 2002, Nas got married to Kelis less than three years later. The couple tied the knot during a small ceremony in front of friends and family and in July 2009 they had a son whom they named Knight.

Date: October 2005

We definitely did not see this coming. In the days leading up to the "I Declare War" concert, which took place at Power 105.1 FM's annual Powerhouse concert in Philadelphia, most people thought Jay Z was going to unload on everyone who had ever done him wrong during his headlining set. But instead of letting off a bunch of shots, Jay invited Nas to join him on stage during the show and then performed "Dead Presidents" with him. It was a fittingly dramatic end to one of the greatest battles in hip-hop.

Date: January 2006

Nas and Jay Z didn't just squash their beef in October 2005 and then go their separate ways. Instead, they decided to join forces. Jay was running the show at Def Jam at the time as the President and CEO. And he asked Nas to join him by signing to the legendary rap label. Nas acce[ted his offer and, during a joint MTV interview with Jay a short time later, explained his decision. "At this point of the game, this was inevitable," he said. "What direction is out there for us to follow? At the end of the day, it's bigger than both of us in this rap thing."

Date: December 2006

When Nas started putting together his eighth solo album, he wanted to make a big statement with the title. He decided to call it Hip Hop Is Dead, explained that he wasn't just talking about rap music with the title. "There is no political voice," he said at the time. "Music is dead...Our way of thinking is dead. Our commerce is dead. Everything in this society has been done... I think hip-hop could help rebuild America, once hip-hoppers own hip-hop... We are our own politicians, our own government. We have something to say." On the album, Nas showed that he had plenty to say.

Date: September 2007

Prior to Nas' performance at Virginia Tech, conservative news outlets blasted VT for inviting him to perform at the school just months after the Virginia Tech massacre had taken place. One pundit said that "having a rapper who trades in violence perform at Virginia Tech insults the victims [of the massacre], the university, and the entire commonwealth." Nas very well could have ignored the noise. But instead, he responded during his performance and later accused his critics of "marketing racism." Ouch.

Date: October 2007

During a show in New York City, Nas told the crowd that he had a big announcement to make. He then revealed the name of his ninth solo album. This wasn't just any announcement, though. Because rather than drop some cliche album title on the crowd, Nas told everyone that he would be calling his next album, N****r (except without the asterisks). And he fully intended to call it that, too, until the label powers-that-be forced him to change it to Untitled the following year.

Date: July 2008

When Nas first revealed that he was working on his ninth album, he said he wanted it to be called N****r. But despite initial support from his label, he was eventually forced to change the title. So he took a stand by revealing that if he couldn't have N****r for a title, he didn't want a title at all. "The people will always know what the real title of this album is," he said. The album turned out to be pretty solid, too, and—surprise!—featured plenty of controversial material.

Date: February 2008

A few months after revealing that he wanted to call his ninth album, N****r (but without the asterisks), Nas showed up on the red carpet at the Grammys wearing a black shirt with the N-word spelled out across the front of it. To drive the point home, he also had his then-wife Kelis wear a jacket with the same word written across the back of it. And they weren't shy at all about posing for pictures in their outfits either. If anyone had a hard time believing Nas was fully intending to use the offensive slur (which some rappers claim has been redefined by the hip-hop generation) for his album title, seeing this should have convinced them.

Date: July 2008

In 2008, shortly after the election of President Barack Obama, Nas felt the need to call out news outlsets that he felt were presenting racist views of America's first black president and first lady. He got 620,000 people to sign a petition against this one particular news network and attempted to deliver them directly to the network's headquarters in New York City. After being turned away at the door, he took his cause to The Colbert Report, where he showed off the petitions, and performed a song called "Sly Fox" for the crowd.

Date: May 2010

A lot of rappers talk about doing collaborative projects with other artists. But very few actually follow through with them. Nas followed through with this one, though—a fusion reggae, hip-hop, and African music that he first announced at the 2009 Grammy Awards. "We're tryin' to build schools in Africa with this one," he said of the album, called Distant Relatives, "and trying to build empowerment." It dropped a little more than a year later and was well received commercially and critically. Nas even said the experience of jamming with Damian Marley rekindled his creative fire.

Date: May 2010

Less than a year after the birth of their first and only child together, Nas and Kelis decided to call it quits. Kelis actually filed for divorce prior to the birth of their baby, but the divorce wasn't finalized until the following year. On the cover of his tenth album, Life Is Good, Nas is pictured holding the wedding dress that Kelis wore the day they were married. His album showed that Nas was still a caring father and even spoke of his love for his ex-wife, showing how grown men handle difficult situations.

Date: May 2011

Even though Nas has sold a ton of records during his career and received a whole heap of critical praise, he has surprisingly few major awards to show for it. He's been nominated for more than a dozen Grammy Awards but never actually won one. He's also been shut out at the MTV Video Music Awards. But in 2011, he did manage to snag a National Sports Emmy for a song he recorded for an ESPN soccer documentary called Survival 1. "After all these years of making music, I am honored to have this be the first award I ever won of this magnitude," he said after accepting his trophy. "An Emmy before a Grammy. Crazy s–––!" You can say that again.

Date: July 2012

Prior to releasing Life Is Good, Nas was going through a lot of things in his life. His marriage with Kelis was over and he was concerned about losing touch with his daughter Destiny. So he stepped back from everything that was going on and recorded his tenth album, which featured him pondering the good things in life while spitting over beats provided by the likes of J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Salaam Remi, and No I.D. It was some of his best work in years. Perhaps the most startling record on the whole album was "Daughters," in which Nas spoke with piercing honesty, addressing some of the real-life issues he faced as a father to a young girl who was growing up fast. It was a song that broke new ground lyrically, and demonstrated how a real man faces up to his issues instead of running from them.

Date: September 2012

In early 1996, Nas enlisted Lauryn Hill to appear on "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)," the first single from his second album, It Was Written. She was one of the hottest artists in music at the time and their duet became one of the biggest hits of his career. Sixteen years later, he teamed up with Lauryn Hill again for one of the most ambitious tours in recent memory. Though still a legend in the game, Lauryn was no longer the hot commodity she was in '96. Nevertheless Nas showed his loyalty and artistic integrity by reuniting with her. Now if only they would get back into the studio again...

Date: June 2013

Even though he's been rapping for more than 20 years now, Nas remains one of the most well-respected MCs in the game. Case in point: J. Cole's reaction to hearing that Nas hated his 2011 single, "Work Out." Cole was so upset about it that he recorded a song called "Let Nas Down" for his sophomore album, Born Sinner. Once he heard the song, Nas did the noble thing by reaching out to Cole to jump on a remix. The best way to stay relevant in the rap game is to work with young up-and-comers. Even after two decades, Nas hasn't lost sight of that. And it doesn't hurt that he can still compete with the best.

Date: July 2013

Nas has been kicking knowledge to the youth for decades now. But thanks to Harvard University, he'll really be able to make his mark in history. According to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, the Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellowship "will be awarded to those who showed academic excellence and creatively show that 'Education is power.'" Who knew that hip-hop would take Nas this far?