"Nastradamus" is the first single from Nas' fourth album of the same name. It was produced by L.E.S. The song contains the lyrics "You wanna ball 'til you fall, I can help you with that" which were viewed as a jab at Roc-A-Fella artist Memphis Bleek, sparking the beef which would eventually involve Jay-Z. The music video, directed by Jeff Byrd, was originally released in 3-D with Tower Records providing "Nastradamus" 3-D glasses as a tie in (this was the first ever Music Video to use the 3-D technology, wrongly credited to the 2008 Missy Elliott video "Ching-A-Ling"). Nas debuted the video with Carson Daly on MTV's TRL in November 1999. The beat uses the sample "The Monorail Express" by the J.B.'s, the same one EPMD used on their song "Let the Funk Flow" from their 1988 album Strictly Business.

"Nastradamus"
Single by Nas
from the album Nastradamus
ReleasedOctober 26, 1999
GenreEast Coast hip hop
Length4:44
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • Nasir Jones
  • Leshan Lewis
  • James Brown
Producer(s)L.E.S.
Nas singles chronology
"It's Mine"
(1999)
"Nastradamus"
(1999)
"Hot Boyz"
(1999)

Track listing

edit

A-side

edit
  1. "Nastradamus" (Album version) (4:13)
  2. "Nastradamus" (Clean version) (4:13)
  3. "Nastradamus" (Instrumental) (4:13)

B-side

edit
  1. "Shoot 'Em Up" (Album version) (2:56)
  2. "Shoot 'Em Up" (Clean version) (2:56)
  3. "Shoot 'Em Up" (Instrumental) (2:51)

Charts

edit

Weekly charts

edit
Chart (1999-2000) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[1] 92
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[2] 27
US Hot Rap Songs (Billboard)[3] 4
UK Singles (OCC)[4] 24

References

edit