I was underdressed at the symphony. Or so I thought as I made my way inside the Encore Theater where guests in glittering gowns and tuxedos settled into their seats alongside people in vintage baseball jerseys and ball caps. At a glance, these crowds couldn't have been any more different. But when the lights went down and the Las Vegas Philharmonic joined hip-hop legend Nas onstage, we were united under the great equalizer of music.
“If you ever had a cassette tape with my sh*t, you at the right place,” said Nas on opening night of his Wynn debut.
The East Coast emcee stepped out in full drip just after the Las Vegas Philharmonic warmed up the room with a selection of classics by Al Green, Steely Dan and Michael Jackson, Nas’ favorite artist. Donning a golden suit jacket to match the one of distinguished conductor Stuart Chafetz (“My man Stu, he ain’t playin’ with y’all!”), Nas journeyed us through an intimate celebration of his debut album, Illmatic, one of the greatest rhyme storybooks ever told.
“We put out this album, my first album, in 1994. We were all different back then. We talked different. We hung out with different people. The music was a little different. But it’s something about that time that can never be forgotten. It’s something about the rhymes,” Nas said. “I was just a young kid. In the projects, man, just trying to enter the rap game. And because of all of you, I’m here. We’re here.”
Nas opened the show with “N.Y State of Mind,” the drama of the symphony mounting behind it like a rolling storm just on the horizon. I’ve never seen an orchestra. Nor have I ever seen Nas perform live. But what I can tell you is that the combination was kinetic. Violin bows nipped at their strings in haste, raising my heart rate; the deep-seated bellow of cellos unleashed goosebumps on my arms.
Nasty Nas, as they once called him, emerged with a quickness by “Halftime,” matching audience members bar for bar on even his most tongue twisting of rhymes. Between tracks, Nas spoke of his Queensbridge projects upbringing. How basketball hoops were riddled with bullet holes. How he used to write letters to his friends in prison. “But there was still hope,” he reasoned.
On “Life’s a B*tch,” Nas stunned the crowd by bringing Illmatic collaborator AZ onstage, amplifying the moment with a room-wide singalong that could probably be heard from the theater lobby.
The momentous night wrapped with Nas’ “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” featuring a sample of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” that the Phil absolutely relished. That singular song proved why we desperately need a live recording of this concert, and why Nas will always mean something special.
“We did this,” he said, peering up into the aisles. “Las Vegas, we did this, from ’94 to 2024.”
