Nas has dedicated much of 2014 to making the 20th anniversary of his classic debut Illmatic. Since April, he’s premiered a documentary, performed at numerous big name shows, and now, he’s readying a visual for track nine, “Represent.”
Yes, this comes two decades late, but a much older, wiser, and more calculated Nas is sure to drop a more thoughtful treatment at this point. The Queensbridge native discovered filmmaker Brian Katz after holding a contest to find someone to man the camera. Katz will work alongside renowned director Jason Goldwatch.
The video is inspired by the soundtrack from the 1924 silent film The Thief of Bagdad that Premo sampled to craft the beat. “I thought there was a lot of parallels between what Nas described as the street life in Queensbridge back in the early ’90s, and what was taking place in 1924 with the themes of The Thief of Bagdad,” Katz explained.
Peep the clip below for a behind the scenes look.
—
Photo: YouTube
