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Hip-Hop Star Nas Revisits His Enslaved Ancestors’ Past
For more than two decades, American hip-hop star Nasir “Nas” Jones has captivated audiences with his chilling street tales and dazzling wordplay. The New York rap artist was featured on Public Broadcasting System (PBS) show “Finding Your Roots” on Tuesday, revisiting his enslaved ancestors’ past.
SEE ALSO: Underground Railroad Abolitionist Levi Coffin Born On This Day in 1798
Over the summer, it was announced that Nas would be part of the second season of the popular PBS program hosted by Harvard professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. The program helps celebrities and public figures reconnect with their past via DNA analysis that creates a genetic road map.
For Nas, Dr. Gates went back five generations in to his family’s history, which began in the Deep South during slavery times. At one point, Gates shows Nas a document of a bill of sale for his third great-grandmother, Pocahontas Little, who was a slave.
In the clip, the rapper can be seen poring over the document, and the look on his face is one of sadness, anger, and deep reflection.
“They paid $830 for my great great great grandma?” exclaims Nas. “I got more than that in my pocket right now.”
Nas has never been the most-animated person in interviews, but it is clearly apparent that seeing this bill of sale shook him to his core. Usually steel-faced, Nas almost appears to be near a breakdown before the conversation shifts.
Watch Nas on PBS’ “Finding Your Roots” in the clip below. In this hour-long show, other guests include stellar actress Angela Bassett and senior presidential adviser to President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett.
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Nas
Birth Name: Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones
Place of Birth: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States
Date of Birth: September 14, 1973
Ethnicity: African-American
Nas is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is well known as an influential hip hop artist who, in his debut album Illmatic in 1994, was billed as the second coming of Rakim. Nas is highly rated in underground and mainstream circles, and is known for his lyrical ability and distinctive flow.
Nas is the son of Ann and Olu Dara (born Charles Jones III), who is a cornetist, guitarist, and singer. His father converted to Islam and changed his name to Olu Dara, which in Yoruba means “God is Good”.
Internet assertions that Nas’s father has recent Yoruba or Nigerian ancestry are not correct. Both of Nas’s parents are from African-American families that have lived in the United States for centuries. A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2014) stated that some of Nas’s ancestors were originally from Nigeria, Benin and Togo, Mali, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Congo, and Senegal.
Nas’s paternal grandparents were Charles Rufus Jones II (the son of Charles Jones) and Ella Mae Jones.
Nas’s maternal grandparents were Mack Little II (the son of Walter Little and Fannie Little) and Nannie Little (the daughter of Atlas Little and Ada Chambers).
http://www.pbs.org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxMUNoLmcHQ
