{"id":226583,"date":"2026-04-29T10:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/?p=226583"},"modified":"2026-04-26T21:53:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:53:50","slug":"why-nas-always-mentions-ill-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/why-nas-always-mentions-ill-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Nas Always Mentions ill WILL?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Eyi5oTJwWSs?si=7-Rixeqkp-79lUgT\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Nas frequently references Ill Will (born Willie Graham) as a tribute to his childhood best friend, neighbor, and early collaborator. Ill Will was Nas\u2019s first DJ and a key force behind his early development, encouraging him to take rap seriously and helping him record his first material. He also played a crucial role in building connections, getting Nas\u2019s demo tapes into the hands of DJs. In May 1992, Ill Will was tragically murdered, marking a turning point in Nas\u2019s life. Nas has described the loss as a profound wake-up call that pushed him to fully commit to music as his path out of the Queensbridge Projects.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"226584\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/why-nas-always-mentions-ill-will\/why-nas-always-mentions-ill-will\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Why-Nas-Always-Mentions-ill-WILL.jpg?fit=686%2C386&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"686,386\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Why Nas Always Mentions ill WILL\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Why-Nas-Always-Mentions-ill-WILL.jpg?fit=640%2C360&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Why-Nas-Always-Mentions-ill-WILL.jpg?resize=640%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-226584\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nas frequently references Ill Will (born Willie Graham) as a tribute to his childhood best&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dig-of-the-day"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pG6fW-WWz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226585,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226583\/revisions\/226585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}