"One Mic" is a song by American hip hop rapper Nas, released April 16, 2002 on Columbia Records and distributed through Ill Will Records in the United States. It was issued as the third single from his fifth studio album, Stillmatic (2001). The song samples a portion of Phil Collins's "In The Air Tonight". The single peaked at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Nas's third top-fifty hit on the chart.

Composition

Musical style

According to Juon, the final verse has a reversal of this formula, in which Nas "goes from amped up to soft-spoken, drawing you even closer into his rap." Music critic Brett Berliner wrote "'One Mic' starts out with a slow beat reminiscent of a crappy R&B; song. Throughout the song, Nas' lazy flow turns into an angry rant over a fast paced beat, and finally a siren." According to Mark L. Hill of PopMatters, the song "crescendos until Nas is nearly screaming over the subtly elaborate track." Keith Harris of City Pages described the lyrical structure of "One Mic" as "urban claustrophobia distilled and digitized, with Nas's reportorial eye zooming in on a detail, then pulling back to a panoramic overview." One writer described the song's lyrical scheme as "building slowly to a crescendo of declaration and rage, then coming back, to seek a way to make a difference, with that precious one mic." In an interview for Rolling Stone magazine, Nas discussed the theme of the song, stating "'One Mic' is just about the power. It's almost like Hip Hop is Dead in its infant stages, saying how much this is a blessing to be out here, speaking about what's happening in my neighborhood, having the whole world understand and relate." In the hip hop book Beats, Rhymes & Life (2007), music writer Ytasha Womack compared Nas's lyrics on "One Mic" to the work of rapper Tupac Shakur, analyzing it as a song with strong religious, Christian overtones and lyrical themes. Womacks wrote that "Nas's references ultimately humanized Jesus, with attempts to show direct parallels between our quest and that of the Wayshower." receiving heavy rotation on the music television network MTV.

Release and reception

Critical response to the song was generally positive, as writers and music critics cited hailed it as a "classic". In spite of this, a columnist for Blender lauded the song's lyrical detail, and James Poletti of Yahoo! Music cited it as "some of the best hip-hop recorded last year." A writer for the website BlackPrint described "One Mic" as "soon to be legend ... perfect in every way." The columnist continued to write "This track is simply incredible and will be the measuring stick of every other deep soul searching type of rap joint from here on out." In retrospect, IGN's Jon Robinson viewed "One Mic" as a comeback for Nas, writing that it "proved that he was still not only one of the dopest MCs in the world, but possibly the most gifted writer of the rap community." According to music critic Steve Juon, the song signalled a return for Nas to his early musical roots, stating "you know that the rapper we all once called Nasty Nas has truly returned."

Chart history

Track listing

A-Side

B-Side

Remixes / Adaptations

Notes

References

External links

Category:2001 songs Category:2002 singles Category:Nas songs Category:Music videos directed by Chris Robinson

Early life

He has seen success in both mainstream Bollywood cinema as well as in Parallel Cinema. He also appeared in many international films most notably playing Captain Nemo in the Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

His elder brother Lt. General Zameeruddin Shah PVSM, SM, VSM, also an alumnus of St. Joseph's Nainital, retired from the Indian Army in early 2008 as Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Planning and Systems) and formerly commanded Dimapur based 3 Corps. He also served as Director Indian Defence Attache to Saudi Arabia from Feb 1994 -April 1997.

Career

He became active in mainstream Bollywood cinema with the 1980 film Hum Paanch. His next major success in mainstream films was the 1986 multi-starrer film Karma where he acted alongside veteran Dilip Kumar. Starring roles for films such as, Ijaazat (1987), Jalwa (1988) and Hero Hiralal (1988) followed. In 1988 he played opposite his wife Ratna Pathak as Inspector Ghote, the fictional detective of H. R. F. Keating's novels in the Merchant-Ivory English language film The Perfect Murder.

He has acted in several multi-starrer Bollywood films as well, such as, Ghulami (1985), Tridev (1989) and Vishwatma (1992). In 1994, he acted as the villain in Mohra, his 100th film as an actor. He strongly believed that the distinction between art and commercial films had largely reduced, especially with the directors of the former also making commercial films. In 2000 his dream of playing Mahatma Gandhi was realized when he played Gandhi in Kamal Hassan's critically acclaimed Hey Ram which focused on the assassination of Gandhi from the assailant's point of view. He won a lot of critical acclaim by acting as Mohit, the drunken coach to a deaf and mute boy in Iqbal (film) which was brilliantly written by Vipul K Rawal keeping specially him in mind. He also worked in a critically acclaimed film "A Wednesday"(2008).

Later, he starred in international projects such as Monsoon Wedding in 2001 and a Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003 (co-starring Sean Connery) where he played the role of Captain Nemo. His portrayal of Nemo was very close to the design of the graphic novel, although his Nemo was far less manic. He worked in an Indian adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, titled Maqbool. in 2004. He then went on to work in The Great New Wonderful. He was most recently seen in Ishqiya. Shah's upcoming films include The Hunt (2010 film) where he plays a recluse growing marijuana in his forest retreat.

He also made his Pakistani film debut in the critically-acclaimed and controversial film Khuda Ke Liye by Shoaib Mansoor where he played a short cameo.

Other media and art forms

In 1988, he acted in the eponymous television series based on the life and times of Mirza Ghalib, directed by Gulzar and telecast on DD National.

In 1989, he acted as the Maratha King Shivaji in another eponymous television series Bharat Ek Khoj based on Jawaharlal Nehru's book The Discovery of India directed by noted film director Shyam Benegal. The role of Aurangzeb was performed by Om Puri. The story of Shivaji was spread over two episodes.

In 1999, he acted as a special agent in a TV Series Tarkash, coming in Zee TV. He played the role of a retired agent haunted by nightmares who is re-inducted as he apparently knows something about a dreaded terrorist somehow connected with his past.

In 1998, he played the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the play Mahatma Vs. Gandhi, (which looked at the Mahatma's relation with Harilal Gandhi, his first son). With this, he achieved his objective of portraying Mahatma Gandhi, a role he had auditioned for Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. Incidentally, in 2000, he again portrayed the Mahatma, this time on film, in Hey Ram.

His performance in Sarfarosh (1999) was widely acclaimed. He played the villain with dual identity of a Ghazal singer and Pakistani spy who supports terrorism in India.

He was widely appreciated in his role of Mohit a drunken coach in the critically acclaimed film Iqbal (film). The role was specially written keeping him in mind by Vipul K Rawal, the writer of Iqbal (film). The role got him rave reviews. The film was also recently voted as one of Ten Hindi Films that is considered ideal training and motivational material.

He was the first of several celebrity actors, who played the role of narrator in the popular audiobook series for kids Karadi Tales,. He was also the narrator in the film Paheli - the Indian entry to the 2006 Academy Awards.

He has been awarded the life membership of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy Of Film & Television.

As director

His directorial debut in movie, Yun Hota To Kya Hota, was released in 2006. The movie stars several established actors such as Konkona Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal, Irfan Khan, newcomer Ayesha Takia, his son Imaad Shah and his old friend Ravi Baswani.

Personal life

Heeba Shah is Mr. Shah's daughter from the earlier marriage. She is not the daughter of Ratna Pathak Shah. Naseeruddin Shah married Ratna Pathak after the demise of Heeba Shah's mother.,

Awards and nominations

Selected filmography

Co-Producer

Director

References

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External links

Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Shah family Category:Indian Muslims Category:People from Barabanki Category:Indian film actors Category:Hindi film actors Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:National Film Award winners Category:Aligarh Muslim University alumni Category:National School of Drama alumni Category:Film and Television Institute of India alumni Category:People from Mumbai