The production contains a smooth bass line and frail drums. It samples “Friends” by Whodini.

Via Complex:

Poke: The first track we played for Nas was “If I Ruled The World”. He was definitely resistant. The thing about Nas is that he’s pure hip-hop. We were trying to cross him over, trying to give him a broader appeal in the marketplace. He got flack for that because everybody was saying that we were trying to water him down. So when we played him the record, he was like, ‘I don’t know’. The strategy became let’s give him harder records first, so that we can ease him into the radio records.

Steve Stoute: “I mixed that record 30 times, personally. I wanted to make sure all of Lauryn’s ad-libs were right. Nervousness to make sure that it was going to be right.

Nas is so amazing at rapping he needs more letter to use, he has already done/mastered the rest. Metaphorically he so good that the michrophone gets damaged from his uber flow and lyrics.

Note the consonance on “M”: Mics – Magical – Mystic.

#Word Play!

A common idiom is to be the man you have to beat the man. He continues the theme of a fight that his hands flow as good as the Atlantic. So other rappers are like Titanic that sank on the Atlantic – 6´9 knocks you out with his lyrics. Therefore this line proves that 6´9 is the man, confirmed by the idiom.

As he says on “Halftime”:

But I was too scared to grab the mics in the parks and
Kick my little raps cause I thought nigga wouldn’t understand
And now in every jam I’m the fuckin' man

People didn´t really know Nas was a rapper before “Live At The Barbecue” because he never rapped infront of people outside of his cricle – until that record.

Conceptually the production fits perfectly since it samples “Diamond Mine Bombed” by James Newton Howard, a movie score made for the film Blood Diamond – which tackles the same subject Nas rapps about in this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUlft_0XW_E#t=189

Childs soldiers is a consequence of the diamonds trade. Therefore directly/indirectly you are supporting military use of children by buying conflict diamonds.

Diamonds are worth so much they do anything to get it and earn money. They use kids beause they are easier to brainwash. They are brought into war by warfare killer (a.k.a rebels) after their villages/towns are raided and shot up, their families killed. Being used for patrol purposes, attacking villages, and guarding workers in the diamond fields.

Apartheid was an official policy (now ended) of racial segregation and white supremacy enforced by the South African government. It was used to limit the governing power and place of residence of non-white people. The official abolishing of apartheid occurred in 1991 and is therefore now history. Nas is likining this to how we can boycott conflict diamonds, but instead peope want to show off and brag.

Ties to the hook, which ends with:

They wanna shine on ‘em
Shine on 'em
Shine on 'em

The original population was native-american, african-americans wasn´t born here. It was through triangular trade/slave trade. Just as then and now diamonds doesn´t come from north america, they are imported from africa.

#It´s like a cycle!

This is Nas making a statement likining how cruel the slave trade and the process to the diamonds trade. In fact you can make a parrallel with the first part of the verse with the slave trade. Slaves were also taken (dug) from africa (motherland) to being both legally and illegaly smuggled to america, while slaves wanted back to their home.