In a completely random confluence of digital downloads and up to the minute news briefs, this day – for me at least – has been overtaken by Nas. I suppose, though, that any day I toss on Illmatic, much the same could be said. But on this day, a scant few hours after Nas welcomed his son into the world, a judge has ordered the rapper to shell out $44k a month to Kelis – his estranged wife. And while most folks aren’t readily able to conceive of such an arrangement – or even holding $44k at one time – the court decision and the allegations that Kelis has levied against her husband can’t serve to diminish any of the raptastics splayed out over Nas’ almost twenty year career.

Quitting school after the 8^th grade doesn’t seem to have affected the intellectual abilities of the Queensbridge rapper. It, of course, probably didn’t hurt too much that Nas’ father was a well respected jazz musician – Olu Dara. And while Dara probably didn’t sit around with his son to supplement his schooling, Nas certainly gained an insight into music that most of his generation can’t stake a claim to.

Illmatic may have come out in ’94, but Nas had been putting in work for a while prior to the release. Even in ’91, which marked the rappers proper debut appearance on the Main Source track “The Bridge,” Nas had compiled enough material to release a demo that he shopped around most likely helping to cement the early and pervasive respect that he received. And even if this old tyme tape hasn’t necessarily been heralded as a proper precursor to Illmatic – it could be. There are more than enough shimmering moments that hint at what was to come just a few years later for the New Yorker.

Comprised of ten tracks that portend various settings and fidelities, Nasty Nas could be figured to be almost as well assembled as some of the east coast’s early ‘90s output. It might not be anywhere near 36 Chambers, but some of the raps are. The analogies in “Life is a Dice Game” come to mind pretty readily – as does the production, which sounds like it could be passed off as a new DOOM beat. The sung hook might be a bit much, but the rest of the track easily makes up for it – and if nothing else, Nas refers to himself as a “smooth criminal.”

It’s highly unlikely that there are too many physical copies of Nasty Nas sitting around anywhere – and I would assume that if there are a few, their in tape form. But even if that’s not the case, what’s represented here, whether or not up to par with latter efforts, still comes across as something that a veteran should have compiled, not a nubie. “Back to the Grill” might sound like Cypress Hill and Kool G. Rap probably sounds a bit more powerful than the nascent Nas, but this disc is probably gonna be more pleasurable to heads than Asleep in the Bread Aisle.