Line-up

Venue

The Junkyard

2323 W. Mulberry Pl., 80204, Denver, CO, US

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Additional details

Doors open: 18:30

Concert in your area for Hip-Hop and Electronic.

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Nas biography

Nasir Jones took himself from the Queensbridge projects to become a worldwide star by creating some of the most influential Hip Hop records of all time.

The son of a Jazz musician, Nas was born with a musical thirst, one that was channeled into hip hop under the influence of neighbor and friend ‘Ill Will’. Even after dropping out of high school, Nas continued to educate himself, utilizing his intellectual life view in his rhymes as he began to garner attention from the likes of producer Large Professor. At just 18, Nas recorded a stand-out verse on Main Source’s ‘Live at The Barbeque’ propelling him to new heights and even securing him a record deal from Columbia under the management of 3rd Bass’ ‘MC Serch’.

With the hype building, Nas was hailed as the best MC since ‘Rakim’ and delivered a certified classic album with his debut, Illmatic. Nas’ complex and insightful rhymes met with world class production and made for a hip hop album unlike anything before it. The album received five mics from ‘The Source’ and is now considered one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.

The album however, did not translate into commercial success and with mounting pressure from his label, Nas began to slide towards a more mainstream sound for the next run of albums which included ‘I Am…’ and ‘Nastradamus’.

It took a now legendary beef with fellow New York rapper Jay Z to set him back on the right track. Nas countered Jay’s ‘The Takeover’ with the lethal diss song ‘Ether’ which fuelled the release of the ‘Stillmatic’ album and re-secured Nas’ place as one of Hip Hop’s premier talents. He has maintained this success through follow up albums and huge festival appearances and in 2014 a documentary was released documenting the importance of ‘Illmatic’ and Nas on Hip Hop’s history.

Jadakiss biography

Jadakiss (born May 27, 1975) is the stage and recording name of American hip-hop rapper Jason Phillips, hailing from Yonkers, New York, U.S.

In 1991, whilst still 16, Jadakiss had made a name for himself as a freestyle rapper, and competed in the Floridian freestyle battle the “Jack the Rapper Competition”. It wasn’t long before the rapper was making connections and soon became affiliated with the Ruff Ryders management company. Alongside friends Sheek Louch and Styles P. Jadakiss formed the rap group The Warlocks and signed with Sean Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment. At the suggestion of the label the group changed their name to The LOX, and made their debut recording on The Main Source’s LP “Fuck What You Think” on the track “Set it Off”. During this time Jadakiss developed a close relationship with The Notorious B.I.G., and The LOX’s first hit came as the B-side to Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You” entitled “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa” in 1997.

A year later The LOX released their debut full-length “Money, Power & Respect”, which earned the group positive reviews and platinum certification. Despite the album’s success The LOX parted ways with Bad Boy Entertainment, deciding to sign with Ruff Ryders Entertainment instead. Jadakiss’ solo debut album “Kiss Tha Game Goodbye” was released in August 2001 featuring guest contributions from The Alchemist, DMX, Eve, Snoop Dogg and Swizz Beatz. Despite these high-profile artists however the album was a commercial flop, and Jadakiss has since admitted the album was completed out of a contract obligation to Bad Boy Entertainment.

The rapper’s 2004 sophomore album “Kiss of Death” however received much more favourable reviews, aided by the lead single “Why?” featuring Anthony Hamilton. In 2007 Jadakiss signed with Roc-A-Fella Records in a move that Jay-Z had been orchestrating for a few years. The rapper’s debut release on the label was 2009's “The Last Kiss” led by the single “By My Side” featuring Ne-Yo. Subsequent singles included “Can’t Stop Me”, “Death Wish” featuring Lil Wayne, and “Who’s Real”. In 2012 Jadakiss released the mixtape “Consignment” and in 2013 the single “Big Boy Dialogue” featuring vocals from The-Dream.

Live reviews

NAS's performance simply-put, is a flash-back throughout the years and albums. If I Ruled The World (Imagine That), my most memorable song from his set. It was a chilled summer evening, at Summer Set Music Festival back in 2012. Crowd was buzzing with lighters in the air, speakers blasting and NAS putting all he had into that mic. Wearing a blue and white shirt and jeans, with a tiny bit of bling and his shades, he electrified the stage. Coming out and getting the crowd pumped by saying, "Put Your Hands Up" and, "I love the smoke ya'll putting up in the air" often. Beats spewed out of the speakers with no vocals, NAS actually rapped all his song! No lip-syncing, no background vocalists, just him and the crowd. Now of course the die-hard NAS fans knew every word and rapped along with NAS, as for me, I rapped what I remembered, but it didn't matter how much of a fan you were or were not when you saw his performance. Because when he finished you came out a die-hard fan and a satisfied concert-goer. Since NAS doesn't really put out much new stuff, its easy to catch up on his music. So you can enjoy his performance to the fullest, every time.

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ray-sarraf

Back in 2002, himself in the midst of a career comeback that many hadn’t considered possible, Eminem paid tribute to the up-and-coming Jadakiss - real name Jason Phillips - on the basis that he was one of the finest talents in the game. This was something, at the time, that wouldn’t have been agreed upon by the critics; Jada’s first record in his own right, Kiss tha Game Goodbye, had been largely dismissed as undercooked and repetitive by the press, despite an impressive array of guest stars and producers. However, in 2004, Jada made good on both his own promise and Eminem’s endorsement by releasing his sophomore LP, Kiss of Death, which piqued the public conscience with the politically-aware ‘Why’ - one of the year’s biggest hits. The album would eventually go platinum. After 2009’s The Last Kiss confirmed Jadakiss as a hip hop heavyweight, he toured extensively, delivering high-octane sets across the U.S. to packed clubs, that both saw him run through his hits and freestyle extensively, with members of the audience frequently encouraged to engage with him on the latter front. He hasn’t made it over the UK for a while, but with album number four set for later this year, there’s every chance we’ll see Jadakiss sooner than later.

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