The feud, along with Nas' subsequent releases Stillmatic (2001), God's Son (2002), and the double album Street's Disciple (2004) helped him restore his critical standing.

[9] Nas has released seventeen studio albums since 1994, ten of which are certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum in the U.S.[10] Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones[11] was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on September 14, 1973, to African American parents.

[19] 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.

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 sublime lyricism of the CD, combined with the fact that it was delivered into the crucible of the boiling East-West conflict, quickly solidified [his] reputation as the premier writer of his time.

[6] In 1995, Nas did guest performances on the albums Doe or Die by AZ, The Infamous by Mobb Deep, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx by Raekwon and 4,5,6 by Kool G Rap.

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.

[37] 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.

DiBella noticed that Nas also covered "politics, the state of hip-hop, Y2K, race, and religion with his own unique perspective" in the album besides autobiographical lyrics.

[41] After trading veiled criticisms on various songs, freestyles and mixtape appearances, the highly publicised dispute between Nas and Jay-Z became widely known to the public in 2001.

[42] Nas responded with "Ether", in which he compared Jay-Z to such characters as J.J. Evans from the sitcom Good Times and cigarette company mascot Joe Camel.

In response to "Ether", Jay-Z released the song "Supa Ugly", which Hot 97 radio host Angie Martinez premiered on December 11, 2001.

[45] New York City hip-hop radio station Hot 97 issued a poll asking listeners which rapper made the better diss song; Nas won with 58% while Jay-Z got 42% of the votes.

[31] In December 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".

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.

[57] 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.

It featured production from Polow da Don, stic.man of Dead Prez, Sons of Light and J. Myers,[66] "Hero", the album's lead single released on June 23, 2008, reached No.

[92] 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.

[101][102][103] 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.

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.

[144] "Supa Ugly" marked the last direct diss song between Jay-Z and Nas, however, the two continued to trade subliminals on their subsequent releases.

The feud was officially brought to an end in 2005, when Jay-Z and Nas performed on stage together in a surprise concert also featuring P. Diddy, Kanye West and Beanie Sigel.

[146] After Nas was removed from the 2002 Summer Jam lineup due to allegedly planning to perform the song Ether while a mock lynching of a Jay-Z effigy took place behind him, Cam'ron was announced as a last minute replacement and headlined the show instead.

Cam'ron and the rest of The Diplomats, specifically Jim Jones continued to attack Nas throughout 2003, on numerous mixtapes, albums and radio freestyles, however, the feud between the two slowly died down and they eventually reconciled in 2014.

[149] After Nas blamed Southern hip-hop as the cause of the perceived artistic decline of the genre on his 2006 single "Hip Hop Is Dead", from the album of the same name, his then-Def Jam labelmate Young Jeezy took offense by claiming that Nas had "no street credibility" and vowing his album The Inspiration would outsell Hip Hop is Dead, which were released one week apart from each other in December 2006.

[155] 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.

[158] 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.

"[162] On April 10, 2013, Nas invested an undisclosed six-figure sum into Mass Appeal magazine, where he went on to serve as the publication's associate publisher, joined by creative firm Decon and White Owl Capital Partners.

[198] Their divorce was visually reflected in Nas' 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).

[205] Early in 2012 reports emerged that the IRS had filed papers in Georgia to garnish a portion of Nas's earnings from material published under BMI and ASCAP, until his delinquent tax bill is settled.