Nas is on many people’s lists for their favorite albums of all time, so it’s pretty dope to see what HE deems the top 25. Check out who made Nas’ list as told to Complex below.

Marisa Mendez


25. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (1959)
Label: Columbia Records
Nas: “Miles and Coltrane made the ultimate jazz albums; there’s a lot of others too. Miles also got commercial success from a jazz album and if you play it, it sounds like it was supposed to be made. That album was supposed to be made. This world wouldn’t be the same without that album.”

24. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme (1965)
Label: Impulse!
Nas: “It’s probably my favorite record of his but I love so many other records by him. It just exists on a planet by itself. It’s just a different thing. It’s mature, it’s grown, it’s timeless, it’s sexy, it’s classy, it’s unorthodox. I’ll stop there.”

23. Bob James, One (1974)
Label: CTI Records
Nas: “That’s certainly up there as one of my all-time favorites. It takes you someplace new every time you listen to it, that’s the craziest part about it. If a record can take me somewhere, like really take me somewhere effortlessly, that record there is no joke.”

22. Stevie Wonder, Songs In The Key of Life (1976)
Label: Tamla
Nas: “Stevie literally heals the soul.”

21. Marvin Gaye, Here, My Dear (1978)
Label: Tamla
Nas: “When I first heard it, no one I knew ever heard it. It’s funny that so many people love Marvin Gaye but never knew about this album that was so personal. It’s crazy how my new record has a little bit of that. Motown only put out limited copies and it was a risky record. I think the music industry wanted a more hitting album but that record he did was his expression. I’m sure he caught a lot of slack from it.
“I feel like I’m in the same place that he was at when he made that album [because he was getting divorced and I’m getting divorced]. I feel like Life Is Good is my Here, My Dear. They’re similar in a lot of ways. I relate to him as a human being, as a star.
“It made me like him a lot more because he was an artist enough to just say what he had to say. I like when he’s talking about Anna Gordy, who he was married to. I know what that’s like. I know what he’s singing. I’ve lived it myself. I really relate to that record.”

20. Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982)
Label: Epic
Nas: “Thriller was me being introduced to great music with the total package, which means the artist is cool but he also looks like how he’s supposed to look. His history from the Jackson 5, all the soul added to the whole thing, and the record of course was groundbreaking and took over the world.”

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