Nas Shares Powerful “Cops Shot the Kid” Video

One of the few standouts from Nas’ Summer ’18 7-track has finally received a music video. “Cops Shot the Kid” derives a lot of its momentum from its iconic sampling of Slick Rick’s beloved “Children’s Story“. And to our delight, the legendary MC made a cameo at the tragic finale of the new “Cops Shot the Kid” video. Check out the new visuals from Nas, below.

Frenetic, fiery, sobering, earnest. Nas put his foot down for the making of this video, and depicted precisely the violence he sees exerted on the black community by police officers. Though disturbing and at times hard to watch, Nas’ “Cops Shot the Kid” video is a brief and powerful stroke of awareness. But don’t look for a happy ending here. Neither of the video’s protagonists make it. Both are killed by law’s hand.

In a November interview with Rolling Stone, Rick revealed—to fan astonishment—that his 1988 hit wasn’t written intentionally about police relations in the black community. “I wasn’t concentrating on police brutality. That wasn’t the direction I was going in,” Rick said. “The basis of the story was just to be entertaining, gritty… It’s like we trying to intrigue your peers with a story that should draw them in.”

Though NASIR was mostly maligned, we are hopeful that Nas channels the energy for a 2019 album release. Still known as one of the best MCs to come out of New York, Nas is a voice we want present in these times. Could 2019 be the new season of Nasir?