[1] The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas dropped out of school during ninth grade and began his music career in 1991 with a guest performance on the song "Live at the Barbeque" by Main Source.

In 1992, Nas featured on the MC Serch posse cut, “Back to the Grill”, alongside Chubb Rock and Red Hot Lover Tone, and later contributed the track, "Halftime" to the soundtrack to the film Zebrahead.

With a more mainstream-oriented sound, Nas's second album It Was Written was released in 1996 and included the Lauryn Hill collaboration "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" and "Street Dreams", the latter of which reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the Hot Rap Singles chart.

While Nastradamus signaled a decrease in critical reception and sold only half as many units, it still featured two charting singles ("You Owe Me" and the title track), and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA.

[2] Nas released Stillmatic in 2001, with two singles that once again made the top ten spots of the Billboard rap chart, "Got Ur Self A..." and "One Mic".

[4] Nas's 2004 double album Street's Disciple, however, failed to produce any major charting singles.

[2] In 2018, Nas released Nasir, an album produced by Kanye West as part of his so-called "Wyoming sessions".

In 2010, Nas and reggae singer Damian Marley released the collaborative studio album Distant Relatives.

Among the singles in which Nas did guest performances, notable ones including "Hot Boyz" by Missy Elliott (whose remix also featured Lil' Mo, Eve, and Q-Tip), "Did You Ever Think" by R. Kelly, "Thugz Mansion" by 2Pac, "Thank God I Found You (Make It Last Remix)" by Mariah Carey and "I'm Gonna Be Alright" by Jennifer Lopez.

Nas has also appeared on singles and tracks by his ex-wife Kelis, Sean "Diddy" Combs, The Game, Ludacris, and Mobb Deep, among others.

"Real Live Shit (Remix)"(featuring Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna, Killa Sin and Lord Tariq) 5.