! BOOK ONE OF THE NAS TRILOGY !
In building 40-16 of Queensbridge North Housing, Nasir Jones steps up as the man of the house. Looking after his mother and brother, Jabari, he's hungry for a way out. His back is against the wall after the loss of hi...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I stared at Nasir's baby photo faded in front of the backdrop of Queensbridge project. I held the vinyl record in my hand. He signed it for me before the staff at the record store stocked the rest on the shelves.
"Seal that up for my baby." Nasir yelled to the store clerk behind the counter, referring to the vinyl record I was holding.
I ran my fingers over the silver ink and read the words he had written once more before giving the record over to clerk.
"To my baby girl Giana,
My muse. Destined's mother. Thank you for making history with me.
Nas."
I smiled at the clerk as she sealed the vinyl in plastic to preserve his signature. Nasir sat behind the unfolded table as the record store was preparing to open for the album signing of Illmatic.
Ms. Ann held Destined for me as I walked over to the table. I leaned over it with my hands planted flat on the table top and leaned over to press his lips against mine. I pulled away with a proud look in my eyes.
"How you feeling, Nas?" I asked him with a tilted head and a playful smirk on my face. He bit his bottom lip as he licked his gaze on me.
"Like that nigga." He said as he showed off his gold fronts. I laughed at his antics as he tugged on the Cuban link of his chain.
"What about you, Miss Billboard?" Nasir leaned back in the chair he was seated in, not breaking his gaze.
Nasir was referring to my skincare campaign shoot being plastered on a huge billboard in Times Square. We went down there earlier today to see it and take photos in front of it together after Farrah called me with the news.
"It's so weird seeing my face in public." I said as I laughed nervously. "You telling me?" He said as I held a physical copy of his CD in his hand.
We both laughed at our successes as Nasir's manager pulled him aside to talk about how the signing was going to go.
I walked over to Ms. Ann who was tickling her grandson as his little laugh projected inside of the record store. The staff smiled at my son and at the pure interaction between he and his grandmother. I smiled at them both as I watched them.
"Look, there's mama!" Ms. Ann pointed at me to get my son's attention. He took notice of me and smiled, showing his gums and his dimple. The same one his father has, just on the opposite side of his cheek.
"Come on, papa! Let's look around the store." I took Destined from Ms. Ann's arms and smiled at her.
"Before you walk around, I want to talk to you Gia." Ms. Ann pulled me aside in the very back corner or the store. I adjusted Destined over my shoulder as I bounced him.
