Your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper: of course, it’s N-a-s.
There’s no better proof that Nas is a Godfather of the rap craft than that the J.Cole wrote a whole song about feeling sick to his stomach that he, he was informed that “let Nas down” (I recommend listening to it now, real quick, then come back). Everyone respects Nas in rap, he’s unquestionably in my top 3 rappers of all time—in fact, he’s in my top 5 musicians of all time next to Dean Martin, Marvin Gaye, and King David from the Bible; man, could he play that harp. But I’ve heard of no one who doesn’t rock with Nas. Well, besides Jay-Z, I think they had a little rap beef back in the day. Although, if you’re my dad, you might consider a beef from 2002 pretty recent. Anyways, if Nas feuded with the Hov, is that not another testament to his greatness?
Alrighttttt, now that we’ve established Nas’s legacy, let’s talk about his obsession with the movie, Scarface.
A surface-level connection of Nas to Scarface is that Nas’s number-one song, probably a consensus pick, is “The World is Yours”. That line—”The World is Yours”—comes from Tony Montana, the protagonist of Scarface, and in fact, Tony is Scarface. Tony sees a blimp, it’s a sacred moment: the blimp reads on it the words, “The World is Yours”. At this scene, it feels as though Al Pacino (Tony) embodies the concept of self-made. That scene is really good, go search up “Scarface blimp scene“.
Okay, are you ready for another Scarface reference?
In N.Y. State of Mind, within the first 30 minutes of the song, the lyrics read:
“I be kickin’, musician inflicting’ composition of pain, I’m like Scarface sniffin’ cocaine
Holdin’ an M16, see, with the pen I’m extreme”
Do I really have to explain that one? He and Tony Montana (Scarface) share a certain habit pertaining to a drug commonly associated with snowflakes.
Alright, I think this is the last one…I felt there was more. Nevertheless, finding multiple references to one movie in just one rapper’s discography is pretty gnarly.
So Nas wrote those aforementioned lyrics about Scarface in 1994, but this next Scarface reference of his came in 2021 when he dropped his album, King’s Disease II. I’m thankful I was 18 when this album came out, thus I remember actually appreciating it when it dropped; the Summer before starting college…awwhhhh the good ol’ days. On one of the tracks off that album—“Store Run”—Nas states, and you have to read this slowly:
“What I blew that on? I cannot seem to remember…
…The world is yours…
…Scarface, Tony Montana shit”
Have you ever heard one of your favorite artists pay significant homage to one of your favorite movies? Three times?
Yeah, that’s cool. I would love to meet Nas, I don’t really care for old Al Pacino.