"The World Is Yours" is a 1994 song by American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

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 ( ...

. It was the fourth single from his debut album ''

Illmatic ''Illmatic'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Nas. It was released on April 19, 1994, by Columbia Records. After signing with the label with the help of MC Serch, Nas recorded the album in 1992 and 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Re ...

'', released a month after the album. It is considered by music critics as one of the greatest hip-hop songs ever recorded;

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

ranked it seventh greatest rap song of all time.Top 100 Rap Songs (1-10) at About.com
It reached number 13 on the

Hot Rap Singles Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...

chart in 1994. It contains a sample of

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. Biography Early life Jamal was born Fr ...

's 1970 song, "I Love Music". The song (including the title) and its accompanying video pay homage to the film '' Scarface''. The song also references drug dealer/crime boss Howard "Pappy" Mason. The song also mentions the serial killer of the

Texarkana Moonlight Murders The Texarkana Moonlight Murders, a term coined by the contemporary press, was a series of four unsolved serial murders and related violent crimes committed in and around the Texarkana region of Arkansas and Texas in the late winter and sprin ...

, which went, and still are, unsolved. A remix of the song was produced by Q-Tip featuring similar but new lyrics; both it and the original were released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

as singles, and promoted with music videos. Sprite has put the title of this song on its cans and bottles in summer 2015 in part of their "Obey Your Verse" summer campaign which had rap lyrics on their cans.

Soundtrack appearances

The song was featured in the video games ''

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'' and ''

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''. It can also be heard in a scene in the 2002 film ''

Antwone Fisher Antwone Quenton Fisher (born August 3, 1959) is an American director, screenwriter, author, and cinema of the United States, film producer. His 2001 autobiographical book ''Finding Fish'' was a The New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York ...

'', and appears on the soundtrack for the 2008 film ''

The Wackness ''The Wackness'' is a 2008 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Jonathan Levine and starring Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Mary-Kate Olsen, Famke Janssen, and Olivia Thirlby. The film is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. ...

''. The song is also played in the 2015 film '' Dope''.

Other cultural references

"The World Is Yours" was mentioned by Nas in his later songs " Got Ur Self A..." and "

Firm Biz "Firm Biz" is the first and only single by the hip hop supergroup The Firm from their singular collaborative LP '' The Album''. The song was produced by L.E.S, who based the song's track on a sample of Teena Marie's 1981 hit " Square Biz". "Firm ...

Single track listing

A-Side

# "The World Is Yours" (4:51) # "The World Is Yours" (Instrumental) (4:51)

B-Side

# "The World Is Yours" (Tip Mix) (4:29) # "The World Is Yours" (Tip Mix Instrumental) (4:30)

Charts

Weekly charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World Is Yours (song), The 1994 singles Nas songs Song recordings produced by Pete Rock Songs written by Nas Hardcore hip hop songs 1992 songs Columbia Records singles Black-and-white music videos Songs written by Pete Rock Jazz rap songs