Nas: The Message? One Love.

I can remember the exact moment I heard Nas’s music for the first time-- my friend picked me up (funny that I don’t even remember which friend, although I can narrow it down to 2) my Junior year in high school, I sat down in her car and she hit play on Track 2, then out of her speakers I heard the sound which would hook me for life (I just feel like hearing Nas’s “The Message” permanently solidified my love of hip hop, even though I had already fallen in love with Tupac and his music a few years previously).

So I’m sure you can imagine how thrilled I was to be given two tickets to see Nas in one of the most beautiful venues on Earth- Red Rocks Amphitheatre (plus the acoustics are second-to-none.) He played with a solid line up too- got to see Black Star and I’m sure you can imagine, they were GREAT, but Nas's performance last night blew every single performance I’d ever seen away. If you have never seen him in concert, I would just urge you to make it a point. When one of the G.O.A.T.s speaks, I think it’s really good to pay attention, and Nas’s message last night was overwhelmingly one of LOVE and UNITY. Of course, his music is deep, uplifting, and political. As he said during “One Mic” last night, his “weapon of choice is [his] voice.”

I have to give Nas my full respect, thought I could share with you what an outstanding person he is, and how he pours his heart into everything. Firstly, he kept talking about how beautiful Red Rocks is, how he loves travelling the world but always loves coming home (yes, he called Denver home, thought that was great.) He was having so much fun last night, his set was on FIRE, kept saying how he loved Denver, loved all of us.. He even said “Denver, let’s do this every month. We can meet right here”. His encore went on and on, (he even said “I have a huge catalogue, I can do this all night”) past the time allotted until the DJ had to all but drag him off stage, finally saying “Yo, we gotta go, go, GO!,” which finally seemed to slow him down, or pull him back down to earth.

One thing I thought was so beautiful and powerful is he changed one of his lines from “Throw up my fist for black power” to “Throw up my fist for people power” last night, and the unifying message of that gesture really touched me.

His twitter account proves that he uses his voice to put good messages out there. I love it.

I think they’re scared of us. When I say that I’m saying “they” as in the evil #s that divide all of us. All good Mf’s are The People. While all the evil doers are THEY. So to u evil bastards all over the world. You want divide The People.

twitter.com...
Nothing but love for Nas. I’m so blessed to have had that experience last night with Nasir Jones, the crowd, the music, in one of the beautiful spots on earth (it’s an outdoor venue and when the blood moon rose it was strickingly beautiful).

Please feel free to share his music here (or if you have any stories about Nas, or your experience with his music/art).

a reply to: zosimov

Nas "One Mic" is one of my favorites!

I have so much respect for his art and have so many teenage memories that are connected to his songs.

Thanks for sharing this with us!

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: zosimov

Nas "One Mic" is one of my favorites!

I have so much respect for his art and have so many teenage memories that are connected to his songs.

Same here, exactly

, Fam! Have a great day!

Nas is great!

a reply to: zosimov

Nas is a legend. The first time I heard Nas I was in high school skipping school, and one of my friends let me borrow It was written. I was blown away, and that album became the soundtrack for the rest of the year.

Have you heard the new Nas album Nasir?

a reply to: underwerks

Yes, his new album is SO good. He played this last night, my fave

a reply to: zosimov

Yes!!! S+F

I was a bit too young at the time when Nas came on the scene (I was born in '88,) but in my later years fell in love with his music and found myself listening to "old hip-hop" because of him.

'One Mic' (produced by Alchemist) is my favourite because it paints a visual landscape. Even the instrumental of that song is cinematic...or shall I say "illmatic"? Speaking of that; it amazes me till this very day that Nas was only eighteen years old when he recorded that album. The content/lyrics throughout that album demonstrates wisdom beyond his years.

Thanks for this refreshing post.

*Listen on a high quality sound-system*:

a reply to: Involutionist

Wow, not sure I'd ever heard the instrumental before (and good call on the system). Incredible.

You're absolutely right about Illmatic-- a masterpiece right there on his first album and he was so young.

Have you seen Time is Illmatic? The only other time I've seen Nas was at a screening- he came with his brother, and he performed Illmatic that night. Check it out if you haven't seen it- great film!
www.imdb.com...

a reply to: zosimov

This is a really great story. I too grew up on Nas, but before reading what you wrote, automatically expected him to have a massive chip on his shoulder. This made me appreciate him a great deal more. Thanks for sharing this.

a reply to: Words

Awesome, it's just so good to see how many people are out there spreading a good message, and also how receptive so many are to it.

Thanks for checking out the thread.

The first time I heard Nas was when he dropped his verse on Live at the BBQ with Main Source. Everyone was like WTF, who is this kid who... "When I was 12 went to jail for snuffing Jesus."

Nas is definitely one of the best to ever do it. Top 5 verse before he even had an album... only to follow that up with releasing arguably the best hip hop album ever.

You don't know hip hop unless you've listened to this verse...

a reply to: Edumakated

Yes! I only heard this many years later, but it was such a cool find.

Thanks for posting this. First song in Nas's set last night.

a reply to: zosimov

Absolutely agree with your take on Naas. I have nothing but respect. A rap king...a divine person.

Naas and Damian Marley are incredible together. I hope the two keep working.

Beautiful , powerful music.

a reply to: tadaman

Great song. Thanks for posting!

Because love changes, a thug changes and best friends become strangers ❤