Represent: 15 Nas Songs That Should Have Videos
Classic Esco bangers that deserve visuals.
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One More Time for Your Mind - Nas has been celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of his classic debut Illmatic all year and recently gave fans the opportunity to bring one of the album's scriptures, "Represent," to life in the visual form. The lucky winner was Brian Katz, who directed the video along with Mass Appeal's Jason Goldwatch. Taking the song to new heights, the video takes a wild spin as it follows the plot of the soundtrack to 1924 film The Thief of Bagdad, which DJ Premier sampled for the heralded track.As Nas continues to look back on his masterpiece, let's take a look at some of his other songs that deserve a visual backdrop. — Michael Harris (@IceBlueVA)(Photo: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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"Life's a B---h" - Nas and AZ traded rhymes brilliantly on Illmatic's third cut, and The Visualiza also cemented himself in history with arguably one of the best 16s of all time. Unfortunately, the gritty survival tale was never supplied with a visual canvas.(Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
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"Black President" - Nas pulled out the political guns in 2008 when he recorded "Black President" from his ninth album, Untitled. On the cut, Nas celebrated President Obama's victory but also brought attention to government corruption. The song's lyrics give a glimpse of what many in America were thinking, too bad we didn't get a video reflection as well. (Photo: C Flanigan/FilmMagic)
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"I Gave You Power" - Nas showed his storytelling prowess when he told the first-person narrative of a used and abused gun who went through different owners and beefs throughout its life in the streets. A public service announcement embedded in the form of a cartoon would have been a good look to promote gun safety and bring further awareness to Black-on-Black murder.(Photo: Josh Brasted/WireImage)
Photo By Photo: Josh Brasted/WireImage/ Josh Brasted/WireImage
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"We Will Survive" - Nas paid homage to The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac after their tragic deaths and let the world know that hip hop would survive as he carried the torch on this cut from his 1999 album, I Am.... A storyboard of God's Son speaking with rap's eternal kings would have made a classic clip.(Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
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"2nd Childhood" - Queensbridge's Finest held a mirror to the face of the 'hood on this 2001 release from Stillmatic. Nas pointed the finger at those refusing to elevate themselves, and a good visual just might be the missing ingredient when trying to wake folks up out of a slave mentality.(Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
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"Black Girl Lost" - Nas took the title from a Donald Goines novel and crafted his own story about Black girls trying to survive and make a way out the 'hood on this standout track from his 1996 breakout project It Was Written. An accompanying video featuring the harmonies of Jodeci's Jo Jo alone is worth this track's weight. "Diamonds all shining, looking all fine.../Mother of the Earth, she made you and I," he sang.(Photos from left: Ron Galella/WireImage, SGranitz/WireImage)
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"Count Your Blessings" - Nas and Damian Marley were all about uplifting Black people with their 2010 collaborative album Distant Relatives and shed light on being grateful for the small things in life with this song. You can almost envision ghetto youth around the world repeating Marley's infectious hook, "I've got love and assurance/I've got new heath insurance/I've got strength and endurance/So I count my blessings." (Photo: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson /Landov)
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"Heaven" - Nas closed out his sixth album, God's Son, in 2002 with this spiritual prose, asking would you put your life of sin away if you knew for a fact God was watching? Nas questioned a lot more about life on this track, as he was watching his mother die of cancer. It may have just been a little too real to share those visual memories with the world.(Photo: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)
Photo By Noel Vasquez/Getty Images
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"Black Republican" - Nas and Jay Z finally deaded their beef and dropped this song in 2006, off Nas's eighth album, Hip Hop Is Dead. With the charging hook, "Can't turn my back on the 'hood, too much love for them...," the Post and the Point were back in unison. Surely the game is missing a video to mark this momentous occasion.(Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage for 2K Sports)
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