New York rapper Nas is widely considered one of the best lyricists in hip hop, with his 1994 debut studio album ‘Illmatic’ still thought of as one of the best hip hop albums of all time. Its 2001 sequel, Stillmatic (with its legendary diss track ‘Ether’), is also still highly acclaimed.
Released in the middle of a heated feud with Jay-Z, following Jay-Z diss track ‘The Takeover’ aimed at Nas appearing on his album The Blueprint, fans were excited to hear what Nas (real name Nasir Jones) was going to say in response to Jay-Z on his own album.
With this being the case, it is no surprise that fans were taken aback when Nas’ daughter, Destiny, was credited as an ‘Executive Producer’ of the rapper’s 2001 album Stillmatic. Especially considering the girl was only aged seven when the album was released. However, the rapper has come forward detailing why he listed her as an executive producer of the legendary album.
The rapper explained it was so she could always receive royalty cheques from the album and wouldn’t have to struggle with money as he did. The album (released December 18th, 2001) sold over 342,600 copies in its first week of release and peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 chart. The album is certified platinum.
In a 2017 Instagram post, Destiny marked the 16th anniversary of the album’s release, captioned, “Happy 16th Birthday Stillmatic! The first album I ever executive produced! And at only seven years old, lol.”
Setting the trend, other artists have now done this. More than a decade later, DJ Khaled followed in Nas’ footsteps by making his own son, Asahd, the executive producer of 2017’s Grateful and 2019’s Father of Asahd. For Nas, Stillmatic has generated over $18 million since then, and Destiny receives royalties for every sale.
You can see below Destiny wishing the album a happy 16th birthday in a post.
