Last week I made a confession in the comment section. It confused some people but it had to be said. The thing I blurted out was that the first time I ever heard Nasty Nas was when “Made You Look” was released. The song came out 10 whole years ago when I was at the tender age of 13. So if you would please forgive me for not being aware of his work pre-God’s Son at the time, that would be great.
But now I’m familiar with all his work from the timeless Illmatic to the debatable classic Life Is Good so cut a young fella some slack.
The strange thing is I remember first hearing the song so clearly. Let me paint the picture for you. On a Friday it was the last day of school for the year. Since we dwell in the Southern Hemisphere it was hot as hell in December. So me and some buddies were hanging out at lunch talking about our favorite rappers when this older guy Aaron (Who was and probably still is a total dick) came up to us and started acting in his dickish ways. After a while he started going on about this Nas guy. Looking back on it I should have probably just kept my mouth shut and did some independent research once I got home from school. But nope my big mouth wanted to ask right away “Who’s Nas?” This opened a floodgate of disbelief. “You don’t know who Nas is?! How you do you like Hip-Hop and not know who Nas is?! What the fuck is wrong with you?! You’re a fucking idiot…blah blah blah blah.” Like I said, dick.
After 8 and half minutes of this he soon gave up his conquest of being a total wanker in this particular part of the school and carried on. Despite this guy I wanted to know more about this Nas character as Aaron hadn’t really told me anything about his music and just really went crazy for a brief period of time.
The weird thing is that the next day was a Saturday meaning that Australia’s longest lasting music video show Rage was on and what happened to pop on the screen other then Nas’ “Made You Look” video! I couldn’t believe my luck. Music videos weren’t as accessible as are they now so for me to accidentally find this video less then 24 hours after hearing about Nas was kind of amazing.
To focus more on the song what has to be acknowledged here is the crossover appeal. Nas made the perfect song with Salaami Remi. It balances just right between a song for the streets and a song for the masses. I mean when is the last time you saw a video in any kind on a countdown that was filmed in several projects of NY?
For those who have seen Mr. Jones live you’ll know that when this song drops there are no more rules for the next 3 and a half minutes. Everybody just loses their shit and rocks out. It’s a beautiful moment.
Plus the song/album proved a point too. Right after dropping the classic Stillmatic, which was heavy on the Jay-Z disses, Nas knew that to prove himself on the next album all he had to do was spit.
Even though I would have discovered this MC with or without Aaron I should still thank him…nah fuck it. Thank YOU Nas.
Bonus: The remix! Who had the better verse? Jada, Luda, or Nas?
Bonus: Another one because you’ve been so good to me. R.I.P. Amy Winehouse.