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NAS Birth name Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones Also known as Nasty Nas Born September 14, 1973 (1973-09-14) (age 38) Long Island City, Queens, New York Origin Queensbridge, Queens, New York Genres Hip hop Occupations Rapper Instruments Sampler, keyboard Years active 1991--present Labels Columbia, Def Jam, Ill Will, The Jones Experience Associated acts Olu Dara, The Firm, AZ, Bravehearts, Kelis, Mobb Deep, Damian Marley, Large Professor, Wu-Tang Clan Early life Nas was born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones in Long Island City, Queens, New York. His father, Olu Dara, is a jazz and blues musician from Mississippi. His mother, Fannie Ann Jones, was a Postal Service worker. He has one sibling, a brother named Jabari Fret who assumes the alias Jungle. His neighbor, Willy "Ill Will" Graham, influenced Nas's interest in hip hop by playing him records. Nas's parents divorced in 1985, and he dropped out of school in the ninth grade. He educated himself about African culture through the Five Percent ! Nation, the Nuwaubians, the Bible and the Qur'an. Career beginnings (1989-1992) As a teenager, Nas enlisted his best friend and upstairs neighbor Willy "Ill Will" Graham as his DJ. Nas first went by the nickname Kid Wave before adopting his more commonly known alias of Nasty Nas. In the late 1980s, he met up with the producer "Large Professor" and went to the studio where Rakim and Kool G Rap were recording their albums. When they were not in the studio, Nas would go into the booth and record his own ...

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