Editing Nas (section)

===1991–1994: The beginnings and ''Illmatic''===
[[File:Nas - Interview - YO! MTV Raps - MTV Music.webm|thumb|right|Nas interviewed in 1993]]
In 1991, Nas performed on [[Main Source]]'s "[[Live at the Barbeque]]", also produced by Large Professor. In mid-1992, Nas was approached by [[MC Serch]] of [[3rd Bass]], who became his manager and secured Nas a record deal with [[Columbia Records]] during the same year. Nas made his solo debut under the name of "Nasty Nas" on the single "[[Halftime (song)|Halftime]]" from MC Serch's soundtrack for the film ''[[Zebrahead (film)|Zebrahead]]''.<ref name="allmusic" /> Called the new [[Rakim]],<ref name="Greatest MCs">{{cite web|title=The Greatest MCs of All Time – 5. Nas|url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2006/emcees/index7.jhtml|publisher=[[MTV News]]|year=2006|url-status=dead|access-date=July 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514175558/http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2006/emcees/index7.jhtml|archive-date=May 14, 2008}}</ref> his rhyming skills attracted a significant amount of attention within the hip-hop community.

In 1994, Nas's debut album, ''[[Illmatic]]'', was released. It featured production from [[Large Professor]], [[Pete Rock]], [[Q-Tip (musician)|Q-Tip]], [[L.E.S. (producer)|LES]] and [[DJ Premier]], as well as guest appearances from Nas's friend [[AZ (rapper)|AZ]] and his father Olu Dara. The album spawned several singles, including "The World Is Yours", "It Ain't Hard to Tell", and "One Love". Shaheem Reid of [[MTV News]] called ''Illmatic'' "the first classic [[Gramophone record|LP]]" of 1994.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/123/1994/news_feature_010504/ |title=The Year Hip-Hop Was Reborn: A Look Back at 1994 |last=Reid |first=Shaheem |date=January 5, 2004 |publisher=MTV News |access-date=March 6, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104153747/http://www.mtv.com/bands/123/1994/news_feature_010504/ |archive-date=January 4, 2009 }}</ref> In 1994, Nas also recorded the song "One on One" for the soundtrack to the film ''[[Street Fighter (1994 film)|Street Fighter]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r210651|pure_url=yes}}|title=Street Fighter > Overview|website=allmusic|access-date=March 6, 2009}}</ref> In his book ''To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic'', [[William Jelani Cobb]] writes of Nas's impact at the time:
{{blockquote|Nas, the poetic sage of the Queensbridge projects, was hailed as the second coming of [[Rakim]]—as if the first had reached his expiration date. [...] Nas never became 'the next Rakim,' nor did he really have to. ''Illmatic'' stood on its own terms. The sublime lyricism of the CD, combined with the fact that it was delivered into the crucible of the boiling [[East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry|East-West]] conflict, quickly solidified [his] reputation as the premier writer of his time.<ref name="Cobb">Cobb (2006, p. 142.)</ref>}}

''Illmatic'' was awarded best album of 1994 by ''[[The Source (magazine)|The Source]]''.<ref name="Weinstein">Weinstein, S. "Nas". In Hess, M. (ed.), ''Icons of Hip-Hop'', vol. 1, pp.&nbsp;341–363.</ref> Steve Huey of [[AllMusic]] described Nas's lyrics on ''Illmatic'' as "highly literate" and his raps "superbly fluid regardless of the size of his vocabulary", adding that Nas is "able to evoke the bleak reality of ghetto life without losing hope or forgetting the good times".<ref name="allmusic Illmatic">{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r203123|pure_url=yes}}|title=Illmatic: Overview|last=Huey|first=Steve|website=allmusic|access-date=January 17, 2010}}</ref> About.com ranked ''Illmatic'' as the greatest hip-hop album of all time,<ref name="about"/> and ''Prefix'' magazine praised it as "the best hip hop record ever made".<ref name="prefix"/>