Nas - The World Is Yours

What this video is

Released May 31, 1994, as the fourth single from Nas's debut album Illmatic on Columbia Records, 'The World Is Yours' arrived at the apex of the Golden Age of East Coast hip-hop. Illmatic itself is widely regarded as one of the greatest debut albums in rap history, and this video visually encapsulates the Queensbridge, NYC milieu from which Nas emerged. The song's title and imagery draw directly from the 1983 film…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of Golden Age hip-hop visual culture, this video established a template for the street-realist hip-hop music video: location-shot New York City environments, desaturated cinematic photography, rapid editing tied to boom-bap rhythms, and a fusion of performance and narrative…

The director

NYU Film School graduate (1989) from Seattle, WA. Began career directing grassroots music videos for Pacific Northwest alternative acts including Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden, then founded Cowboy Films. Directed iconic videos for Pearl Jam, Alice in…