Nas dropped ‘One Mic‘ back in April 2002 through Columbia records. The record was in fact issued as the third single from his fifth studio album Stillmatic, a personal favorite of mine. Containing a sample from Phil Collins‘ “In The Air Tonight“, “One Mic” tells the story of Nas needing only the music, and not any of the pointless accessories that become obtainable through success and money.
The record peaked at number 43 on the Billboard’s Hot 100, making it Nas’s third top-fifty hit on the chart. However, for me, this track could and should have achieved much more.
” One Mic just gives me the ability, no matter how much ignorant people are mad that I’m exposing or talking about our country, no matter what the language is, I’m talking in a language that the people can hear, I’m not sugar-coating it. So if it scares people and people feel guilty, people feel like they’ve got to make up excuses to why the world’s this way, no matter what they say, like they’ve got their mic, I’ve got mine, and that’s what that song’s about.” — Nas
Enjoy todays flashback.