Nas has notched a new career milestone, headlining New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the first time during a stellar performance featuring special guests and a tribute to De La Soul‘s Trugoy.
The Queensbridge legend paused his career spanning set on Friday night (February 24) to play the opening verse on De La’s hit single “Buddy” before yelling out, “Make some noise for Trugoy, De La Soul. Rest in Poetry!”
Dave “Trugoy The Dove” Jolicoeur, who opens the song, passed away unexpectedly earlier this month at the age of 54. Though a cause of death has yet to be revealed, his longtime friend and groupmate Posdnous captured the significance of the loss in a heartfelt statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday (February 22).
“Your passing is a great loss not only to us, but also to the entire hip-hop community,” Pos wrote. “You were a true artist who used music to inspire and uplift others, and you will be deeply missed by all who knew you.”
In November 2022, Nas announced plans to perform his King’s Disease trilogy during the special one-night only performance at MSG.
However, what he also delivered to fans was a set full of hits from his entire discography — which, in addition to countless guest features, comprises 15 studio albums; two volumes of his unreleased compilation series, The Lost Tapes; and group efforts with The Firm, Damian Marley and his Ill Will Records comrades.
The sold out crowd was treated to live renditions of Nas’ greatest hits, including “The World Is Yours,” “Made You Look,” and “If I Ruled The World”; as well as album cuts like “Get Down” and guest verses including his contribution to Missy Elliott’s “Hot Boyz.” The 34-song set also featured songs from each of the King’s Disease albums including “27 Summers,” “Spicy,” and “Michael & Quincy.”
To top off the history-making moment in his career, Nas brought out Mary J. Blige, Slick Rick and AZ to perform “Reminisce,” “Hey Young World,” and “Life’s A Bitch” respectively.
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The performance arrives amid rumors that Nas is already at work on a fourth installment in his Grammy-winning King’s Disease series with Hit-Boy.
The cat was let out of the bag in 50 Cent’s sprawling cover interview with Billboard, in which he discussed his impending musical comeback, ever-expanding multimedia empire and the 20th anniversary of his blockbuster debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’, among other topics.
The publication noted that in addition to working on a new solo album with Eminem and Dr. Dre, the G-Unit general is set to feature on Nas’ forthcoming King’s Disease 4 LP. Further details about the project, however, remain scarce.