Nas Releases Debut Single “Halftime” 32 Years Ago
October 13, 1992 Nas drops “Halftime”, which was later released on the full Illmatic album, which is to this day considered one of the best hip-hop albums every released. But before that….
In 1991, Main Source’s “Live At The BBQ” introduced the Hip-Hop world to Queensbridge MC Nasty Nas. Opening the legendary posse cut, Nas made an immediate impact with lines like “Stampede the stage I leave the microphone split/play Mr. Tuffy while I’m on some Pretty Tone shit/verbal assassin my architect pleases/when I was twelve I went to hell for snuffin Jesus/Nasty Nas is a rebel to America/police murderer I’m causin’ hysteria.”
Less than a year later, Nas returned, this time as a solo artist on Columbia Records, with Main Source’s Large Professor producing. “Half Time,” from the Zebrahead soundtrack, blended boom-bap drums with samples from The Average White Band, The Cast of Hair, and Gary Byrd, skillfully crafted by Large Pro.
Nas delivered sharp punchlines and wordplay, spitting: “I used to hustle, now all I do is relax and strive/when I was young, I was a fan of the Jackson 5/I drop jewels, wear jewels to never run it/with more kicks than a baby in a mother’s stomach.”
This track satisfied listeners hungry for more after “…BBQ” and served as a bridge to Nas’ next release, “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” produced by Large Professor in 1994. By then, Nas had dropped “Nasty” from his name, and many believed “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” was his debut, underscoring how “Half Time” was initially an underground sleeper hit.
Later included on Illmatic—often regarded as Nas’ best album—”Half Time” was a key milestone in Nas’ rise to greatness, with the rapper soon heralded as the second coming of Rakim.
Check out the original Source Magazine review that gave Illmatic 5 mics, one of the very few hip-hop albums to score all 5 [mics].
