Nas

1. Nas Kevin McMorrow

2. Bio • Birth Name : Nasir bin OluDara Jones • Date : September 14, 1973 in Queens, New York, • At 12 his parents divorced, he dropped out of school, he continued to educate himself though, often reading books about other cultures • Secured deal with Columbia records in 1992

3. NY State of Mind Rappers I monkey flip them with the funky rhythm I be kickin' musician, inflictin' composition Of pain I'm like Scarface sniffin' cocaine Holdin' a M-16, see with the pen I'm extreme, now Bulletholes left in my peepholes I'm suited up in street clothes Hand me a nine and I'll defeat foes Y'all know my steelo with or without the airplay Whenever frustrated I'm a hijack Delta In the PJ's, my blend tape plays, bullets are strays Young bitches is grazed each block is like a maze Full of black rats trapped, plus the Island is packed From what I hear in all the stories when my peoples come back, black I'm livin' where the nights is jet black The fiends fight to get crack I just max, I dream I can sit back And lamp like Capone, with drug scripts sewn Or the legal luxury life, rings flooded with stones, homes • While African Americans comprise 13.5% of the U.S. Population, 43% of all murder victims in 2007 were African American, 93.1% of whom were killed were African Americans. (http://www.hhscenter.org/bonbstat.html) • In 1990, non-latino blacks who represent 12% of the u.s. Population, comprised 49.7% of the population of poor neighborhoods, in comparison to 23% for non-latino whites and 24.3% for latinos

4. It Ain’t Hard to Tell So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me Scannin while you're plannin ways to sabotage me I leave em froze like her-on in your nose Nas'll rock well, it ain't hard to tell • According to US government statistics in 1990, African-Americans constituted only 15-20% of the nation’s drug users, but in most urban areas constituted half to two-thirds of those arrested for drug offence • (http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/pdf/BF_Report_16.pdf)