Nas' King's Disease II Album Anniversary
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Nas' Life Is Good Album Anniversary
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Nas' It Was Written Album Anniversary
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Nas' If I Ruled The World (Imagine That) Single Anniversary
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Nas' Illmatic Album Anniversary
Columbia Records meanwhile signed Nas to a major-label contract, and many of New York's finest producers offered their support. DJ Premier, Large Professor, and Pete Rock entered the studio with the young rapper and began work on Illmatic. When Columbia finally released the album in April 1994, it faced high expectations; Illmatic regardless proved just as astounding as it had been billed. It sold very well, spawned multiple hits, and earned unanimous acclaim, followed soon after by classic status.
Read more about Nas here.
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Nas's I Am... Album Anniversary
Am... is Nas’s third studio album, released on April 6, 1999. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling over 470,000 copies in its first week of sales. I Am… would later be certified double platinum in the United States, making it Nas' second best-selling release behind It Was Written. This album was originally to have been a double album titled I Am...The Autobiography, however most of the original sessions were bootlegged forcing Nas to discard many songs and adjust the release to one disc. I Am...became one of the first major label releases to be widely leaked using MP3 technology. Read more about Nas and his career here.
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Nas’ Hip Hop is Dead Album Anniversary
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Nas' Stillmatic Album Anniversary
Stillmatic opened with the song "Ether," a very direct response to Jay-Z, followed by the aggressive lead single "Get Ur Self A...." These two songs in particular rallied the streets while the moving video for "One Mic" received heavy support from MTV.
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Nas' God's Son Album Anniversary
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Nas' Street's Disciple Album Anniversary
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Nas' Nastradamus Album Anniversary
Originally scheduled by Columbia as a follow-up album comprised of the pirated material from the I Am sessions, Nastradamus (1999) -- released in time for the holiday shopping season, roughly six months after its predecessor -- was instead comprised almost entirely of new material, recorded quickly to meet the late-November release date. The album failed to garner the abundance of critical praise that had become customary for Nas. Moreover, unlike its two predecessors, Nastradamus failed to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, peaking at number seven instead, and failed to go double platinum. Though relatively disappointing on these counts, Nastradamus still went platinum and spawned two charting singles, "Nastradamus" and "You Owe Me," so the album wasn't a failure, just disappointing.
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The Firm's Album Anniversary
The Album is the only studio album by American hip hop group The Firm. It was released on October 21, 1997 by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The project was created by rapper Nas, his manager Steve Stoute and producers Dr. Dre and Trackmasters, who came up with the idea of forming a hip hop supergroup. In the United States, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
Read more about Nas, Foxy Brown and AZ.
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Nas' Debut Single Halftime Anniversary
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Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Album Anniversary
Critics and fans alike unanimously agreed, Cuban Linx was an instant classic. An opulent sonic journey defined by Raekwon’s cinematic narratives and narcotized hooks. The production delivered by Wu Tang’s Abbot, The RZA, was simply supreme – his best comprehensive work to date. And never had a co-star been so illustrious: Cuban Linx also managed to showcase the talents of then under represented Wu-Tang band mate, Ghostface Killah. This was also the beginning of the “Rae and Ghost” collaborations which have yielded some of hip hop’s most beloved songs.
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PART 5 - Rap, Race & Riots (How the Rodney King Verdict Changed Hip Hop)
The anger and frustrations of the community were put on display for the world to see, stores were burned and looted. While it was nowhere near the magnitude of LA, it was a reminder to America that you can only push a community so hard for so long until eventually they push back. All news media directed their efforts towards the happenings of Baltimore, and as fate would have it, all of these events occurred within days of the 23 year anniversary of the Los Angeles uprising. Maybe it’s a sign of things to come, or maybe its just a coincidence.
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The GREATEST Rapper Of All Time Has Not Reached His Prime.
Throughout my years as a hip hop junkie the NEVER ending debate of who was/is the BEST MC has been the topic of discussion. Wheather it was me and Lil Rob (RIP) arguing who’s better between Mobb Deep or 2Pac, the Grandmaster Caz vs. Melle Mel debates of the early 80s, the Rakim or Kane of the late 80s, or who can forget LL and Kool Moe Dee. Some of these fan rivalries resulted in verbal sparring, but more times than not the battle has been soley faught by the followers of a rapper and not the actual artist themselves.
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Illmatic Turns 21
It's the norm now, but at the time of Illmatic, most rap albums production was handled in house, Illmatic changed that. This was the first album that brought the BEST producers on the east coast and put them on one album. DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, and Q-Tip formed a dream team and there's still room for an unknown producer, L.E.S. to shine bright. He would go on to become a frequest collaborator with NaS throughout the 90s and early 2000s.
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Dr. Maya Angelou asks Tupac "Do You Know How Important You Are?"
While everyone seems to be focused on the fact that Dr. Angelou made Tupac cry (how shocking - he was a human being!) it is her consistency of courage that should momentarily leave us in awe and serve as lifelong inspiration.
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Is It Time for HIP-HOP to GROW UP?!
Clearly, hip hop is no longer a music genre or culture by teens, for teens. We have all grown up, and the 35-45 year old parent driving to pick up their child from school is less frequently bumping Boyz to Men but Biggie. It's time to return to our roots, and give these at risk youth something to connect to as Cudi so eloquently put it. Not just behind the scenes, but also in your day job - your lyrics and your message.
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Top 10 Hip Hop Songs About Hip Hop - #10, 9, 8...
Welcome to our first installment of the Top 10 Hip Hop Songs about Hip Hop!
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