Thirty years ago today, Nas released his debut album, Illmatic, commonly regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop LPs of all time. Three of the tracks on the landmark collection were produced by DJ Premier, and today, Nas and Preemo return with “Define My Name,” a brand-new single heralding a collaborative album due out later this year.
As Genius user @krispepa points out in a lyric annotation, “Define My Name” samples a line—“As far as rap go, it’s only natural I explain/My plateau and also what defines my name”—from Nas’s 1999 song “Nas Is Like,” also produced by DJ Premier. The sampled lyric can be heard in the chorus, which also seems to contain a snippet of Biz Markie’s 1988 gem “Nobody Beats the Biz.” It sounds like Biz is saying “Nas,” but it’s really the third syllable of “recognize.” (Again, shoutout @krispepa.)
“What defines my name”
“What defines my name” (Nas)
“N-A-S”
“What defines my name” (Nas)
“N-A-S”
“What defines my name”
In the opening lines of the first verse, Nas explains the meaning of his full first name—Nasir is based on an Arabic word meaning “helper” or “protector”—and compares himself to legendary poet, singer, author, and activist Gil Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron is perhaps best known for “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” but as Genius user @Pearl points out, he was responsible for numerous classics, including 1974’s “The Bottle,” all about the perils of alcoholism. That’s what Nas is referencing here.
Name existed forever, means “victory helper”
Whole name means “protector”
Shorten it by two letters, without the I-R at the end
The reincarnated Gil Scott livin’ in the bottle again
Nas later reflects on how the streets of New York City have changed in his lifetime. He’s technically been around since the 1970s—he was born in ’73—but his name dates back to the ancient world, and that’s a source of pride.
From a time when weed was stronger, today’s streets are calmer
They used to kill for shades, sneaks and bombers
Uh, my name existed forever
Before Christians came in America, even better
Longevity isn’t an easy thing to achieve in hip-hop, and in the second verse, Nas admits that he never expected to be this good for this long.
At twenty, I said I’d better quit by thirty
Then by thirty, I thought by forty rapping is corny
How wrong was I?
Never would have thought at fifty, new songs by Nas would be hard and live
Of course, Nas didn’t emerge from a vacuum. Late in the second verse, he shouts out some of the rap greats that influenced him in the early days.
It was Rakim, Kool G and Kris
Few names like Cool James, ’Face, Cube and Rick
That was musically sick, successful and unnatural
I throw they songs in a cyanide capsule
The truth is poison to any fraud
He ends the verse with some darker images of a bygone NYC, one that could’ve dragged him under before he had a chance to shine.
How could you hate me? I survived the ’80s
The D’s, the trauma, embalming fluid in laced weed
Inhale fumes from a stove we’ll cook up
The show’s booked up, I chose to take the world over, look up
You can read all the lyrics to “Define My Name” on Genius now.
