The Factory – Nas Is Responsible for Some of the Better Music Videos of Our Time

It dawned on me yesterday that just about every Nas video is entertaining, not to mention thought-provoking and, to some extent, often controversial (in a good way — not the attention-starved variety).

What better way to prove this than to drop a Nas Video Megapost… So, without any further shananigans, I give you: Nas.

One Mic: No intro necessary.

See it here.

Just A Moment ft. Quan: This is an underrated video from Nas, that a lot of people probably shrugged off as just another video showing the struggles of inner-city life. But some of the shots in this are incredibly riveting. Check out the headphones dropping at 2:47 or the hand covered in the melted wax of a memorial candle at 2:53 — especially how the background is out-of-focus, but then as it becomes clear you see the mural of the late legends of hip-hop, all as the hand becomes blurry. Some very cool stuff.

Hip Hop Is Dead ft. Will.I.Am.: I really don’t need to say anything about this one. It’s dope.

See it here.

Classic ft. Kanye West, Rakim, KRS-One, and DJ Premier: As the song says, this shit is “timeless.” This video really embodies the classic hip-hop feel: it’s got the “four elements” and pays homage to all the things that make hip-hop great. And the song is also ridiculous in case you haven’t hear this yet, “this is the difference between emceeing and rap: rappers spit rhymes that are mostly illegal/ emcees spit rhymes to uplift they people”

Nas is Like ft. DJ Premier: Watch the progression that his surroundings make as the video goes on.

See it here.

Made You Look: Another classic, involves all the quintessential elements of a Nas video. “HEY NAS”!

If I Ruled the World ft. Lauryn Hill: Another good video from the man Nas.

Hero ft. Keri Hilson: A lot of old school cats may not like this one, but it’s pretty tight to look at this, especially in comparison to what his real old stuff looks like, which you can check out for yourself on the next video.