Hip Hop Royalty Graces Icons

With a fresh haircut and new gold chain, MTV's fifth-ranked hip hop artist Nas took the Icons crowd on a trip down memory lane by performing hits from several of his classic albums.

“I’ve been doing this since '92,” he said inbetween songs during his Saturday night set. “I want y'all to remember that, '92!”

Fans paid as much as $40 at the door to see the legendary Queens MC.

The performance served as a reminder of when he defied the rap universe in 2002 and released hit song "Ether," a diss to Jay Z, who was the hottest MC in the game at the time.

Sketch and Capital G were among the local artists who warmed the crowd up before Nas put the crowd in a frenzy.

"It was a long drive from Queens bridge," said Nas. “Life is good!”

The crowd yelled at the MC to perform his older hits, especially "Ether." Nas had to laugh it up when the crowd sang it in unison, years after it had any relevance.

He performed other classic hits like “Hate Me Now” and “Made You Look.”

“Nas killed it,” said Thomas Word, a Burke resident who came with friends to see the show. “It was worth every dollar I paid to get in. I don’t think anything like that will ever happen Fairfax ever again.”

He left the stage after letting the crowd know that his new album, “Life is Good,” will be in stores later this year.