The World of Nas: Analysis of The World Is Yours


By Noemi Vazquez

Rap/Hip-Hop Journalist

Have you ever imagined a perfect world that is completely and authentically yours?  The idea of having a world that is yours is a façade since many factors play into this. Nas brings a different perspective to this saying in which he creates rhymes and can tell a story of his personal life experiences in New York during the 80s. Illmatic is Nas’s first debut studio album and is a collection of stories from his youth, including The World is Yours. The saying has been generational, meaning you have free will and can mold your life any way you want. Nas takes inspiration from a scene in Scarface (1983) where Tony Montana is in a mansion observing a blimp with the message “THE WORLD IS YOURS,” signifying that the world is at your disposal.

You may ask yourself, how did Nas make his world his own? As he rhymes his story in this dynamic song, he expresses his hardships in the “rotten apple” (New York City) and emphasizes that even through these trials of hardship, he can still prosper. Now, let’s explore the versatility of his rhymes and further decipher to understand his narrative. 

  To my man Ill Will, God bless your

  life (it’s yours)

  To my people throughout Queens, 

  God bless your life

  Dwellin’ in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled

  Or caught by the devil’s lasso, s**t is 

  a hassle

This line alone gives us an insight into the violence Nas experiences and the result of that. After researching Nas, Ill Will was a childhood friend of Nas who died due to an altercation. Nas blesses him, and although he has passed, the world is still his because he made that his narrative until death. But life isn’t easy for individuals like him stuck in a city that reprimands you for the person you are.

As he mentions “dwellin’ in the rotten apple,” he suggests that New York is an evil place, almost like hell and being caught by a “devil’s lasso” is an extraordinary way to describe law enforcement. Nas is in the worst environment, but music keeps him in line and lets him know there’s more. He rhymes this feeling like the following.

The fiend of hip-hop has got me stuck like a [redacted] pipe

He describes the feeling as addiction. Some can argue this is not the best way to interpret a passionate love for talent, but Nas’s raps are cutthroat, deep and authentic. As he continues the second verse, he says something that resonated with me out of all his rap.

Thinkin’ a word best describin’ my

life to name my daughter

 My strength, my son, the star will be

 my resurrection

 Born in correction, all the wrong s**t 

 I did, he’ll lead in the right direction 

Nas can bluntly say that no matter the mistakes or obstacles, one day, his children will know better than him; they don’t have to abide by the cards they have dealt. Two fun facts are that Nas wrote this at 17 years old and eventually had a son and a daughter whom he named Destiny after this song. Destiny is the name of his world; he followed his world and did not let his obstacles take away his destiny. This song helped me understand that your environment does not define you – your sense of being and your world does. So, consider whose world this is because as much as it is Nas’s, it’s yours and mine for the taking, so let’s not take the world for granted.