Credit: Mikamote

Nas and Dr Dre are two of the greatest minds hip-hop has ever seen. Nowadays, it makes perfect sense for the pair to join forces and create magic, but in the early 1990s, it wasn’t such an obvious move. Due to the feud between the West Coast and East Coast, Dre hadn’t collaborated with an artist on the opposite side of the US – until Nasir Jones.

The Queensbridge rapper put himself on the map in 1994 with Illmatic, which is considered one of the best albums of all time, in all genres. Home to iconic songs like ‘NY State of Mind’ and ‘The World Is Yours’, Illmatic was the perfect platform for a talented MC still in the early days of his career. With the likes of Q-Tip, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Large Professor on the boards, how could he lose?

Following the release of his debut, Nas performed in cities all across the US, including Los Angeles. One of his shows took place at Glam Slam West, a venue co-owned by Prince, which was one of the places to be in the early ’90s. It just so happened that Dre was in the building that night, and he found out about his attendance while performing on stage.

“I’m a big fan of Dr Dre,” he told Complex. “When Illmatic came out, he came to a show I did at a club that Prince owned called Glam Slam West in LA. It was one of the illest LA clubs back then. Someone would always get shot outside, but important people would be there, and it would always be live. I came on stage holding a cognac glass of Hennessy, with a cigar in my other hand – that was my style then. Someone told me Dre was there, and so I went to see him after my show and we kicked it.”

The pair ended up collaborating on ‘Nas Is Coming’, with Dre providing production for one of the standout tracks from It Was Written in 1996. In the intro of the song, the pair acknowledge the West Coast and East Coast rivalry. Nas says, “You know, all these n*ggas out here just/ Talkin’ this East Coast, West Coast bullshit/ N*ggas need to kill that shit/ And make some money, y’know?” Dre agrees, and the rest is history.

By teaming up on the record, they were ready to squash all differences between rappers in the US. “We wanted to show that a New York rapper could rap on a Dr Dre beat, and it’s all love,” he said. The pair also crossed paths on ‘East Coast/West Coast Killas’, a song from Dr Dre Presents: The Aftermath, that saw Nas rap alongside RBX, KRS-One, and B-Real.

From the moment Nas heard the ‘Nas Is Coming’ sample, he knew it would be something special. “I saw right there, Dre wasn’t about the drama – he was about making records,” he said. “He called me and said, ‘I got this record for you.’ He played the sample over the phone, and I went crazy. I recorded in Dre’s house, at this banging studio he had. It was real chill, just us, happy to work together.”