Nas

His debut album, Illmatic (1994), remains a beacon for those seeking to understand 90s rap. Recorded with borrowed equipment in just three days, the album captures the raw essence of Queensbridge, his hometown. Decades later, the U.S. Library of Congress added it to its national registry for its cultural impact. But not everything was early success: his follow-up works, I Am and Nastradamus (1999), faced criticism for drifting from that initial sound, as if the market had asked him to soften his edges.

In 2006, after signing with Def Jam, Nas turned toward more political territory with Hip Hop Is Dead. The title wasn’t accidental: it spoke of a genre he believed had lost its way. Two years later, his untitled album —simply called Untitled— delved deeper into that idea, using silence between words as another element of composition. Then came Distant Relatives (2010), a project with Damian Marley where reggae roots blended with Nas’s flow, and proceeds went to causes in Africa. A gesture that, beyond sales, made it clear his music could also bridge continents.

Recognition arrived in 2020 when King’s Disease earned him his first Grammy for Best Rap Album. But the most interesting part wasn’t the award, but what followed: a string of albums —King’s Disease II, Magic, King’s Disease III— all produced by Hit-Boy, where he proved that at 40, he could still find new ways to surprise without betraying his essence. And in 2025, he closed the cycle with a collaborative album with DJ Premier, showing that time hadn’t stolen a gram of the instinct that made him great.