Robbed hit of the week 6/5/23 - Nas' "One Mic"...
"One Mic" - Nas
from the album Stillmatic (2001)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #43
This week's "robbed hit" comes from rapper Nas (Nasir Jones), who after reaching the Hot 100 top-40 in 1994 with "Street Dreams", had been more of a critic/fan fave than a radio presence by the turn of the century. However, in 2000, Nas was featured on his label collective QB's Finest's single "Oochie Wally", which reached the top-40. The following year, Nas returned with his fifth solo studio album Stillmatic (a reference to his breakthrough album Illmatic). Proclaimed as a come back to more thoughtful topics an away from the gangsta banging that marred his previous two releases, Stillmatic's lead single, "Got Ur Self A (Gun)", which hit the R&B Singles top-40 at #37, while stopping at #87 on the Hot 100. It still brought enough brags about ammo, however. At the same time, the album track "Ether", a crass and homophobic "diss track" to fellow New York rapper Jay-Z, got enough radio attention to make it to #50 on the R&B Singles list.
For the second proper single from Stillmatic Nas put out "One Mic", written by the rapper with producer Chucky Thompson. The lyrics still lay on the gunplay pretty thickly, but more thoughtfully, finally displaying the promise Nas made for the album. The production ebbs and swells with Nas' flow, as an orchestra builds as he describes his anger over the state of inequality today. The music video even more illustrates it, as it's split into two scenes, one in the American city, one in presumably an African one, where in the first case they're running from the police for the freedom, the other they're fighting the police for theirs. It's an effective piece that elevates the track, especially in the chorus, where atypically Nas tones down and gets more pensive, allowing the verses to rage on. In return, the song was the biggest success from the album...
While "One Mic" spent 25 weeks on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, peaking at #14, it stopped a few notches short of the top-40 on the Hot 100 in May of 2002. (At the same time, his collaboration with Jennifer Lopez, "I'm Gonna Be Alright", was climbing to #10.) On the radio, the song went to #15 on the R&B/HipHop Airplay chart, and #32 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, a remix from the Brainpower team helped the song become a top-40 hit in the Netherlands (#12) and Belgium (#28 Flanders) a year later. The Stillmatic album, released in December of 2001, went to #5 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and spent six weeks at #1 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2003, "One Mic" was nominated for Best Music Video, which Eminem took home for the crass comedy of "Without Me".
A fourth song from Illmatic, "You're The Man", went to #76 on the R&B Singles chart. Finally, "Rule", which interpolates Tears for Fears' #1 pop hit "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", featuring R&B singer Amerie, which originally was the first single but stiffed, rose to #67 on the R&B Singles chart.
(7/10)
Comments