Nas Traces His Musical Heritage Back to Mississippi

The rough Queensbridge projects in Queens, NY served as the setting for several of Nas‘ vivid tales off of his iconic Illmatic album. Two decade after its release, the seminal hip-hop album serves as the focus for a feature length documentary, titled Nas: Time is Illmatic. A new trailer for the documentary, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, delves into Nas’ musical roots in Natchez, Mississippi — the birthplace of his father, Olu Dara Jones. The clip shows old fashioned home videos of Nas and his family in Mississippi, before panning over the Queensbridge housing projects Nas grew up in. “What I am today is an extension of what they were then,” he says, before the visual fades to a black-and-white family photo. Time is Illmatic will be released on DVD December 15. Check out the trailer via NOWNESS above.