Queensbridge rapper Nas.
If you're a major Nas fan, you've had two opportunities to see the celebrated rapper perform in New Zealand: once as Kanye West's opening act in 2008, and again alongside Damian Marley with their joint rap-reggae side-project Distant Relatives in 2011.
But ask anyone with even a passing knowledge of
hip-hop what kind of show they really want to see from the Queensbridge rapper, and they'll give you just one response: his debut album Illmatic in full.
Kiwi hip-hop fans got to tick that off their bucket list in emphatic fashion as Nas kicked off the second of two sold out nights at Auckland's Powerstation, winding back the clock to celebrate his debut album, a record many consider to be hip-hop's bible.
Released in 1994 and consisting of just nine songs, Illmatic was an instant classic and has cast long shadows ever since, across both hip-hop and Nas' career: last year's film fest doco Time is Illmatic proved it's as much revered by fans as it is by his peers, an album so good he's never been able to top it.
But Nas' wayward mid to late career output wasn't on the minds of his fired up fans as he emerged on stage in a hat, gold chain and sunglasses, beaming from ear to ear during Illmatic's mission statement NY State of Mind, with many in the crowd rapping those iconic lines - "I never sleep / Because sleep is the cousin of death" - with him word-for-word.
