Musical #tbt: December 13

God's Son, an album by Nas on Spotify

Welcome back to throwback Thursday, Culture Capital style. Every week we’ll remind you of some transcendent tune or magical musical happening from that day way back in yester-year. Today we have some birthdays and early-2000s rap. It’s Thursday, December 13, 2018.

December 13 has birthed a few major music figures. Today we have three birthdays: Ted Nugent (1948), Jamie Foxx (1967), and Taylor Swift (1989). The guitar gripping activist, jack of all trades, and break-up ballad sensation, all graced the earth on the same day roughly twenty years apart and have provided us with songs, shows, and smash hits. We’re here for something else though.

Sixteen years ago today, Nas released his sixth studio album, God’s Son. The album featured appearances from then-wife Kelis, Alicia Keys, and a posthumous pop-up from 2Pac. On God’s Son, the Queensbridge maestro mourned the death of his mother and grew beyond his beef with Jay-Z, illuminating a vulnerable side of himself which until that point remained unseen to the public. Check it out.