Songoftheday 11/9/23 - Now let's get it all in perspective, for all y'all enjoyment a song y'all can step with...

 

 

"Made You Look" - Nas

from the album God's Son (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 6

 

Today's song comes from rapper Nasir "Nas" Jones, who had gained the respect of the hip-hop world throughout the 1990s, and even broke through on the mainstream radio market in the beginning of 1994 with the single "Street Dreams". After being featured on the rap collective QB's Finest's single "Oochie Wally" which hit the Hot 100 top-40 in 2000, and on Jennifer Lopez's top ten pop hit "I'm Gonna Be Alright", Nas almost reached the level on his own with "One Mic" from his album Stillmatic in the spring of 2002, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video the year after, losing to Eminem's "Without Me" (he also was nominated with rapper AZ for Best Rap Duo/Group Performance for "The Essence", which went to Outkast and Killer Mike for "The Whole World"). 

At the close of 2002, Nas returned with his sixth studio album God's Son, which was preceded by the lead single "Made You Look". Written by the rapper with producer Salaam Remi, the record samples the 1973 single "Apache" from the Incredible Bongo Band, which went to #57 on the Hot 100, and was itself a remake of an instrumental of a #2 pop hit from Danish artist Jørgen Ingmann in 1960, which again was a remake of version from the Shadows that topped the British chart that same year, as well as the "first" recording of the song from Burt Weedon that made the top-40 in Britain. Nas' song starts with a jolting round of gunfire, Nas goes hard and heavy on bragging about his rap game and his wealth, but it takes so many quick turns of phrase that you're hanging on for the ride. After his time-and-clout-consuming feud with Jay-Z, this was concentrated his efforts on his delivery game matching his start, and with this no-holds-barred approach, while radio wasn't going near it, his fans gave it enough love to bring him back to the top-40...

 

 "Made You Look" made the top-40 on Billboard's Hot 100 in February of 2003, while climbing to #12 on their R&B Singles chart and #9 on the Rap Singles list. On the radio, the song reached #16 on the Mainstream R&B Airplay chart and #32 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single scored Nas' seventh top-40 hit in the United Kingdom at #27. The God's Son album, released in December of 2002, peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and spent a week at #1 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies. 

Both Nas and and album will be back to the series.

(7/10)

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Here's Nas performing "Made You Look" at a concert for radio station Hot 97...

and lastly, at a show for internet channel VEVO in 2012...

Up tomorrow: This rapper/singer pairing hypnotizes.