Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, born September 14, 1973 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York and more known commonly as Nas (formerly Nasty Nas and Escobar), is a prominent American MC. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, he was raised in the infamous Queensbridge housing projects in Queensbridge, Queens New York City. According to the Nasty Songfacts, as a teenager rapper, Nasir first went by the nickname Kid Wave before adopting his more commonly known alias of Nasty Nas. By the time he released his landmark solo debut album Illmatic in 1994, Jones was known as Nas.