The World Is Yours (Nas song)

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For the song by Faith No More, see The World Is Yours (Faith No More song).
"The World Is Yours"
Nas - The World Is Yours.jpg
Single by Nas featuring Pete Rock
from the album Illmatic
ReleasedMay 31, 1994 (1994-05-31)
Recorded1992
Genre
Length4:51
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
  • Nasir Jones
  • Peter Phillips
Producer(s)Pete Rock
Nas singles chronology
"It Ain't Hard to Tell"
(1994) 		"The World Is Yours"
(1994) 		"One Love"
(1994)

"The World Is Yours" is a 1994 song by American rapper Nas. It was the fourth single from his debut album Illmatic, released a month after the album. It is considered by music critics as one of the greatest hip-hop songs ever recorded; About.com ranked it seventh greatest rap song of all time.[2] It reached number 13 on the Hot Rap Singles chart in 1994. It contains a sample of Ahmad Jamal's 1970 song, "I Love Music".

The song (including the title) and its accompanying video pay homage to the film Scarface. The song also references drug dealer/crime boss Howard "Pappy" Mason. The song also mentions the serial killer of the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, which went, and still are, unsolved.

A remix of the song was produced by Q-Tip featuring similar but new lyrics; both it and the original were released by Columbia Records as singles, and promoted with music videos.

Sprite has put the title of this song on its cans and bottles in summer 2015 in part of their "Obey Your Verse" summer campaign which had rap lyrics on their cans.

Samples[]

Songs from which samples are used in "The World Is Yours" include:

  • "It's Yours" by T La Rock, but this is not accurate. Jazzy-Jay, who helped Rick Rubin produce "It's Yours" stated during a Red Bull Music Academy interview, that Rick Rubin did not allow the sample to be used and what is heard in "The World Is Yours" is a recreation of the words "It's Yours".
  • The piano sampled in the background comes from the song "I Love Music" by Ahmad Jamal.

Songs that have sampled "The World Is Yours" include:

Jay-Z's sample on his song "Dead Presidents", using one of Nas's lines ("I'm out for dead presidents to represent me") as the chorus, indirectly led to the Jay-Z vs. Nas feud, after Nas refused to re-record his vocals for the Jay-Z song, or to appear in the accompanying video.

Soundtrack appearances[]

The song was featured in the video games Tony Hawk's Underground and NBA 2K13. It can also be heard in a scene in the 2002 film Antwone Fisher, and appears on the soundtrack for the 2008 film The Wackness. The song is also played in the 2015 film Dope.

Other cultural references[]

"The World Is Yours" was mentioned by Nas in his later songs "Got Ur Self A..." and "Firm Biz".

Single track listing[]

A-Side[]

  1. "The World Is Yours" (4:51)
  2. "The World Is Yours" (Instrumental) (4:51)

B-Side[]

  1. "The World Is Yours" (Tip Mix) (4:29)
  2. "The World Is Yours" (Tip Mix Instrumental) (4:30)

Charts[]

References[]

  1. ^ MVRemix: Illmatic. MVRemix Media. Retrieved on 2009-02-14.
  2. ^ Top 100 Rap Songs (1-10) at About.com Archived April 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles - The World Is Yours - NAS". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Archived from the original on September 18, 2015. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
  4. ^ "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - The World Is Yours - NAS". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved 2009-01-24.[dead link]
  5. ^ "Hot Rap Singles - The World Is Yours - NAS". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
  6. ^ "American single certifications – Nas – The World Is Yours". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved February 12, 2019.

External links[]

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