Nas Biography

Fast Facts

• Serves as the namesake of the Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellowship awarded annually at Harvard University
• A longtime supporter of P'Tones Records, a non-profit aimed at promoting music-related after-school programs for kids
• Dropped out of formal schooling after the eighth grade
• Born into a musical family, his father was a jazz and blues musician from Mississippi
• Began recording his first demos with friends as a teenager in the late '80s and eventually signed his first record deal with Columbia in 1993
• Quote: "Reading is everything and although you already know some things, you need to read to get those things out of you․"
• Quote: "Success is when your dreams come true․"
• Quote: "Working with great people makes you great․ You learn a lot and it gives you experience and confidence to move on with your own career․"
• Best known for his long-standing feud with fellow rapper Jay-Z, however, the two reconciled in 2005 and Nas was subsequently signed to Jay-Z's Def Jam Recordings
• Invested a six-figure sum into Mass Appeal Magazine in 2013, thus being named the publication's associate publisher
• Gained mainstream success in the mid-90s as a member of the New York-based rap collective, The Firm, who were signed to Dr․ Dre's Aftermath Entertainment