
Nas
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (September 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Nas, is an American rapper and businessman. Rooted in East Coast hip hop, he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Jones's musical career began in 1989 as he adopted the moniker of "Nasty Nas" and recorded demos for Large Professor. He was a featured artist on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque" (1991), also produced by Large Professor. Nas's debut album Illmatic (1994) received universal acclaim upon release, and is considered to be one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time; in 2021, the album was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry. His second album It Was Written (1996) debuted atop the Billboard 200 and charted for four consecutive weeks; the album, along with its single "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill), catapulted Nas into international success. Both released in 1999, Nas's albums I Am and Nastradamus were criticized as inconsistent and too commercially oriented, and critics and fans feared that his output was declining in quality. From 2001 to 2005, Nas was involved in a highly publicized feud with Jay-Z, popularized by the diss track "Ether". It was this feud, along with Nas's albums Stillmatic (2001), God's Son (2002), and the double album Street's Disciple (2004), that helped restore his critical standing. After squashing the feud, Nas signed to Jay-Z's Def Jam Recordings in 2006 and went in a more provocative, politicized direction with the albums Hip Hop Is Dead (2006) and his untitled 9th studio album (2008). In 2010, Nas released Distant Relatives, a collaboration album with Damian Marley, donating all royalties to charities active in Africa. His 10th studio album, Life Is Good (2012), was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. After receiving thirteen nominations, his 12th studio album, King's Disease (2020), won him his first Grammy for Best Rap Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards; he then followed it by releasing his 13th studio album, King's Disease II (2021), as the album's sequel. In the same year, his 14th studio album, Magic, was released on Christmas Eve. In 2012, The Source ranked him second on their list of the "Top 50 Lyricists of All Time". In 2013, Nas was ranked 4th on MTV's "Hottest MCs in the Game" list. About.com ranked him first on their list of the "50 Greatest MCs of All Time" in 2014, and a year later, Nas was featured on the "10 Best Rappers of All Time" list by Billboard. 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. Nas has released fourteen studio albums since 1994, ten of which are certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum in the U.S. Description above from the Wikipedia article Nas, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
66 acting credits · 1 directing credit
Acting · 66

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014

The Daily Show
1996

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015

Hawaii Five-0
2010

Real Time with Bill Maher
2003

The Colbert Report
2005

Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003

MTV Video Music Awards
1984

Finding Your Roots
2012

All That
1994

The Wendy Williams Show
2008

The Shop
2018

The Chris Rock Show
1997

The Last Dance
2020

Billy on the Street
2011

Yo! MTV Raps
1988

The Arsenio Hall Show
2013

John Q
2002

Sean Combs: The Reckoning
2025

Diary
2000

The Defiant Ones
2017

Uptown Girls
2003

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
2016

Billy Joel: And So It Goes
2025

In Too Deep
1999

Monster
2021

American Epic
2017

Belly
1998

Ticker
2001

Black Nativity
2013
DJ Juice: The King is Back Mixtape Blend DVD Vol. 70
2009

You're Watching Video Music Box
2021
Short Circuitz
2007

David Blaine: The Magic Way
2020

Rapture
2018

The Grammys
1959

Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
2022

Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives
2015

TMZ Presents | The Downfall of Diddy 2: The Indictment
2024
DJ Cinema Presents: Masterpiece Theater Blend Dvd
2009

Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3
2021

Beef
2003

And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop
2004
The Game: The Documentary 2
2015

Alicia Keys - Here in Times Square
2016
DJ SWB Volume 6 | This Is How We Do
2009

Nas: Time Is Illmatic
2014

Rhyme & Reason
1997

Hype Williams: The Videos Vol. 1
2002

Amazon Music Live: Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and De La Soul's 'N.Y. State of Mind Tour'
2023

Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G.
2017
The Notorious B.I.G BET Official presents
2005

One Night in Vegas
2010

Wu-Tang Clan & Nas: NY State of Mind Tour at Climate Pledge Arena
2024

The American Epic Sessions
2016

Fresh Dressed
2015

Black America since MLK: And still I rise
2016

Word is Bond
2017

Victory
2025
Jay Z: Live at the Royal Albert Hall
2006

Murda Muzik
2004

Fugees: Live at New Pop Festival 1996
1996

The MC: Why We Do It
2005

B.I.B.L.E. - The Documentary
2022
Nas: Made You Look - God's Son Live
2003

Nas: Live from the Kennedy Center
2018