Guess Who's Back! VIBE Ranks All Of Nas' First Singles
The Single: "Nastradamus"
The Album: 1999's Nastradamus
The Reaction: Worst Nas song ever? Eh, probably not. But the fact that it can even be debated shows just how poorly this was received by most diehard Nas fans when it was first released. Too bad Nastradamus didn't see this flop coming.
Nas Single 10
Nas Single 9
The Single: "As We Enter"
The Album: 2010's Distant Relatives
The Reaction: It didn't blaze up the charts like some of Nas' other first singles, but "As We Enter" did prepare us for what to expect from his collaborative album, Distant Relatives, alongside Damian Marley.
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Nas Single 8
The Single: "Hero"
The Album: 2008's Untitled
The Reaction: As opposed to most of the other songs featured here, "Hero" was a bit more blatant in its' attempt to cater to the mainstream thanks to the Polow Da Don production and the Keri Hilson feature. But, really, if this is one of your worst first singles, you're in a pretty good place.
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Nas Single 7
The Single: "Hip Hop Is Dead"
The Album: 2006's Hip Hop Is Dead
The Reaction: On paper, Nas over will.i.am production sounded like a pretty bad idea at the time considering Nas' track record when it comes to commercial attempts. But the result was surprisingly good, despite the bleak message that Nas delivered in his verses.
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Nas Single 6
The Single: "Thief's Theme"
The Album: 2004's Street's Disciple
The Reaction: It literally pains us to have to put this song so low on this list! Though Street's Disciple turned out to be a bit of a dud (and one of the most unnecessary double albums in hip-hop history), "Thief's Theme" featured Nas sampling some of the vocals from his 1994 song, "The World Is Yours," and ripping Salaam Remi's aggressive beat to shreds.
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Nas Single 5
The Single: "Got Ur Self A..."
The Album: 2001's Stillmatic
The Reaction: The success of this single from Stillmatic quickly got eclipsed by the success of Nas' scathing Jay-Z diss track, "Ether." But it was still a great reintroduction to Nas nonetheless. And the song's sample—"Woke Up This Morning," by Alabama 3, which served as the theme song for The Sopranos at the time—only added to its potency.
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Nas Single 4
The Single: "Nas Is Like"
The Album: 1999's I Am...
The Reaction: Nas and DJ Premier—what more can we say?
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Nas Single 3
The Single: "Halftime"
The Album: 1994's Illmatic
The Reaction: Granted, there wasn't a groundswell of support for Nas when he first dropped. Like any new artist, it took time for him to get the attention of the masses, so "Halftime" didn't make the kind of widespread impact that any of the other songs listed here did. But in hindsight, the first single from Illmatic definitely deserves to be listed at the top of any list of Nas songs thanks to its' uptempo Large Professor production and vicious lyrics like, "You couldn't catch me in the streets without a ton of reefer/That's like Malcolm X, catchin' the Jungle Fever." Ill, indeed.
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Nas Single 2
The Single: "Made You Look"
The Album: 2002's God's Son
The Reaction: Although he more than proved that he could hang with the likes of Jay-Z on his fifth album, Stillmatic, folks were still a little skeptical about the direction of Nas' career back in' 02. But once this dropped, there was no question that Nas had moved beyond producing blatant commercial attempts like he did on his third and fourth albums, I Am... and Nastradamus. Plus, that "Made You Look" remix featuring Ludacris and Jadakiss? Ouch!
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Nas Single 1
The Single: "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)"
The Album: 1996's It Was Written
The Reaction: Back in '96, Nas had to be thinking, "How the hell am I going to be able to top anything that was featured on Illmatic?" Well, thanks to a little help from The Fugees' Lauryn Hill, a big-budget video directed by Hype Williams, and a hook that interpolated a song by The Delfonics, Nas scored the first big mainstream song of his career with the first single from his sophomore album. And 15 years later, we're still sort of surprised at how easily he was able to do it.
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