Thief's Theme: 10 Songs Where Nas Stole the Show
Nas has mastered the art of lyrical grand larceny.
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Thief's Theme: 10 Songs Where Nas Stole the Show - Nas just leaked his new heater "It's a Tower Heist," featuring Rick Ross, the lead single off the official soundtrack for Tower Heist. The blatantly promotional song title might throw you off, but this song goes: epic beat, Ross's theatrics and Nas, as usual, performing lyrical grand larceny. But stealing the show is old news for Nas: He's practically built a career out of murdering MC's on their own ish. Click on for 10 Songs where Nas stole the show. —Alex Gale(Photo: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Landov)
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"Live at the Barbeque," Main Source feat. Nas, Akinyele and Joe Fatal - A textbook example of lyrical thievery, Nas's classic verse from this 1991 classic is arguably the best debut verse in hip hop history. Once Nas spit, "When I was 12, I went to hell for snuffing Jesus," the other MCs' verses became an afterthought.(Photos from left: Jason Kempin/Getty Images, Ray Tamarra/Getty Images)
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"Back to the Grill Again," MC Serch feat. Nas, Red Hot Lover Tone and Chubb Rock - This one was like taking candy from a baby. This 1992 posse cut would be mostly forgettable if it weren't for Nas's verse, his second on-wax appearance. Esco once again stole the show with his sacrilegious couplets: "I'm waving automatic guns at nuns."(Photos from left: Brad Barket/PictureGroup, Scott Gries/Getty Images)
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"Eye for an Eye (Your Beef Is Mines)," Mobb Deep feat. Nas and Raekwon - Nas had to split the pirate's booty with a co-defendant on this classic Queensbridge/Shaolin connection. Rae's sing-songy flow kills it, but Nas matches him with his measured threats to move "on your weak production." In the end, it's hard to deny that that Prodigy and Havok got mobbed on.(Photos from left: Theo Wargo/Getty Images, Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
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"Verbal Intercourse," Raekwon feat. Nas and Ghostface Killah - Rae and Nas's no-decision on Mobb's "Eye for an Eye" required a rematch, but this time Esco was left holding all the marbles. It was damn near impossible to enter the 36th chamber and outshine Wu at their prime, but Nas did just that with his tale of women smuggling weed into Rikers Island with "their mind on the pretty things in life."(Photo: Courtesy Loud/RCA Records)
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"We Major," Kanye West feat. Nas & Really Doe - This highlight from Kanye's seminal sophomore album seems tailor-made for Esco. Nas enters unassumingly, rhyming, "I heard the beat and didn't know what to write." But needless to say, he worked it out, matching the lush, stadium-sized beat bar for bar. (Photos from left: Isaac Brekken/Getty Images, Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)
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"Why You Hate the Game," Game feat. Nas and Marsha Ambrosius - Nas committed straight grand larceny on this soulful closer from Game's debut album. "Pro-black, I won't pick cotton out an aspirin bottle," he rhymed, turning Game into a footnote on his own song. (Photos from left: Peter Kramer/Getty Images, Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
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"Success," Jay-Z feat. Nas - Lil Homie just barely edged Big Homie on this grimy highlight from Jay's American Gangster. Hov, Nasir's then boss at Def Jam, was owning the organ-driven No I.D. banger until Esco spit, "Google-Earth Nas, I got houses in other continents." Cold.(Photo: Jerritt Clark/WireImage)
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"In Between Us," Scarface feat. Nas - One of Nas's most slept-on verses from one of the most slept-on albums ever, Scarface's near flawless The Fix. Esco got subterranean deep, recalling his first fistfight as a kid and warning listeners, "It's not your enemy who gets you, it's always your own people."(Photo: Courtesy Def Jam Records)
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"Its Mine," Mobb Deep feat. Nas - Nas was a repeat offender on this Scarface-inspired heater, once again taking all the marbles from his QB brethren. "Halle Berry blew a kiss at the Barbara Streisand concert," Nasty rhymed. The world is his. (Photo: Courtesy Loud Records)