Nasir Jones grew up in the rough projects of Queens New York. His parents divorced when he was 12 and soon after he dropped out of school in grade 8. But he had a thirst for knowledge and began reading about different cultures and religions. His high literacy level and poetry caught the attention of those on the hip hop scene enough so that he gave up on school in grade 9. He was involved in gag culture but a bigger passion burned for his passion in music. He came up in the east coast scene amongst rap legends notorious BIG and Jay z, but when biggie was killed in 97, it lead to a battle for the throne between him and Jay Z, becoming one of the greatest feuds in rap history – it's been widely disputed but the word whispered was that “Nas One”