While watching Blue Ivy swipe her finger across Beyonce’s birthday cake 75 times I got to thinking about what makes you love someone? Is it a tangible thing? Sometimes. But many times when trying to properly describe love it is nonverbal, just beyond the tip of our tongues, yet visible, and known. Its the two heart swirl emoji. It’s hearts, but it’s also the swirl between the hearts, the movement. That’s how I feel about, Nasir Jones. Also known as God’s Son, Nas.

I love him, and not just because he’s cute, but that’s definitely on the list. Possibly in the top five reasons. I try not to put too much stock in looks because we don’t have any control over how we look just as we don’t have any control over how tall we are, but it’s noted. He’s cute. While he is easy on the eyes that wasn’t the first thing that drew me into him. It was his way with words. I remember hearing Nas on the soundtrack to “Zebrahead” and while i wasn’t immediately overcome by him (it was nineties and our cups runneth over) I liked him. When Illmatic was released I loved him, in a pure way. His voice was filled with an innocence yet held authority. He wasn’t too hot or too cold but just right. The way he assembled his words was unique to him but familiar to all of us listening. He was the right kind of righteous for me. For all of us.

Nas always had an underdog quality about himself to me. In a world of cliques and crews he stood alone. Not to say he didn’t have his people, he did, but he presents as singular. Even with his stint with “The Firm” I still saw him as a lone wolf. Because of this, when he had his battle with Jay it seemed almost David and Goliath. Nas against the world.

He created for us and we devoured. Meanwhile while his peers seemed to put their hands in various business ventures and attempted to become larger than life personalities, Nas kept to himself. Kept quiet. With the exception of his battle with Jay and his unfortunate parting of ways with Kelis, Nas has kept his nose clean.* No attempted murders, assaults, shootings, stabbings, you get the picture. None of that. You could totally take him home to meet your granny and she would love him.

That may be his true gift. For all intents and purposes we don’t really know that much about him. We know the things he has shared with us. His mother and her passing, his father and their relationship, but we don’t know about his dirty laundry. We have what he has given us, his music. That is what he wants to share with us and that is mostly what we have from him.

As times have changed we have seen more of his business side and he has always supported the culture. From Bevel to “The Get Down” he is universally loved by most. That is no small feat. He has been compared to Rakim. For me its more than the lyricism, it’s the temperament. He comes across as a genuinely nice guy. Nas is our boy next door.

So this is for you Nasir. I appreciate you, and not for nothing, you are super cute.

Snuka

*He did say he was moving to Africa in Belly like it wasn’t a continent, but I’ll chalk that up to bad writing.