"Nastradamus" is the first single from

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

' fourth album ''

Nastradamus ''Nastradamus'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper Nas, released on November 23, 1999 by Ill Will and Columbia Records. Originally scheduled to be released on October 26, 1999 as a follow-up composed of material from sessions for hi ...

''. It was produced by L.E.S. The song contains the lyrics "You wanna ball 'til you fall, I can help you with that" which were viewed as a jab at

Rocafella Roc-A-Fella Records was an American hip hop record label and music management company founded by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke in 1994. History 1994–2000: Formation ...

artist

Memphis Bleek Malik Deshawn Cox (born June 23, 1978), known by his stage name Memphis Bleek, is an American rapper who was a protégé of fellow New York rapper Jay-Z. Cox started his own labels: Get Low Records in 1998, and #Warehouse Music Group, Warehouse M ...

, sparking the beef which would eventually involve

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

. The music video was originally released in 3-D with

Tower Records Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records ...

providing "Nastradamus"

3-D glasses Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

as a tie in (this was the first ever Music Video to use the 3-D technology, wrongly credited to the 2008

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

video "

Ching-A-Ling "Ching-a-Ling" is a song by American rapper Missy Elliott. It was written by Elliott along with frequent collaborator Cainon Lamb as well as Shawn Campbell and Marshall Leathers from production duo The Arkitects for what was supposed to be Ellio ...

"). Nas debuted the video with

Carson Daly Carson Jones Daly (born June 22, 1973) is an American television host, radio personality, Television producer, producer, and celebrity, television personality. Prior to 2003, Daly was a VJ (media personality), VJ on MTV's ''Total Request Live'', ...

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''

TRL TRL or trl may refer to: Arts * Temporary Residence Limited, a record label * ''Total Request Live'', a former MTV show * TRL Awards (''Total Request Live''), an Italian music award Libraries * Tampines Regional Library, a regional library in Ta ...

'' in November 1999. The beat uses the sample "The Monorail Express" by the J.B.'s, the same one

EPMD EPMD is an American hip hop duo from Brentwood, New York. The duo's name is a concatenation of the members' names "E" and "PMD" or an acronym for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referring to its members: emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. ...

used on their song "Let the Funk Flow" from their 1988 album '' Strictly Business''. A music video directed by

Jeff Byrd Jeffrey Alan Byrd (born November 11, 1956) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher in 1977 for the Toronto Blue Jays. Career Texas Rangers Byrd was drafted out of El Capitan High School (California), El Capitan High School in Lakeside, Califo ...

was released too.

Track listing

A-side

# "Nastradamus" (Album version) (4:13) # "Nastradamus" (Clean version) (4:13) # "Nastradamus" (Instrumental) (4:13)

B-side

# "Shoot 'Em Up" (Album version) (2:56) #*Produced by

Havoc High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) is a set of crewed NASA mission concepts to the planet Venus. All human portions of the missions would be conducted from lighter-than-air craft or from orbit. Background Venus is a planet with a r ...

# "Shoot 'Em Up" (Clean version) (2:56) # "Shoot 'Em Up" (Instrumental) (2:51)

Chart positions

*#92 (U.S. Hot 100) *#27 (U.S. R&B) *#4 (U.S. Rap) *#24 (UK) {{authority control 1999 singles Nas songs Song recordings produced by L.E.S. (record producer) Songs written by Nas 1999 songs Columbia Records singles