Fontaines D.C. have released ‘Tongue’ and its New York-shot video•
LCD Soundsystem have announced 12 New York residency shows, including their 100th•
Saint Clair have shared new single ‘Dreams’ ahead of sold-out autumn headline tour•
overpass and Nieve Ella have shared a new version of ‘Fall In Love’•
Pollyfromthedirt has shared ‘White Wine Vinegar’ and announced a first London headline show•
Keo are leading the midweek UK album chart with ‘Put A Smile On For Me’•
Welly has released new single ‘Skinny Boy’•
Rachel Chinouriri has shared ‘Broken chair’ from new album ‘I Think I Spoke Too Soon’•
Lime Garden have shared new track ‘Moving Target’ with Antony Szmierek in the video•
CMAT will perform on ‘The Daily Show’ this week•
Matty Healy says The 1975’s new album is ‘almost done’•
boygenius have reunited onstage during Phoebe Bridgers’ Brooklyn show•
Rose Gray has dropped a new track that's "all chaos, love and emotion", ‘Blink Twice’•
Keo have released debut album ‘Put A Smile On For Me’ as Brixton Academy show sells out•
Taylor Swift has released four new songs on ‘The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore’•
Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•
The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•
flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•
Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•
JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•
Fontaines D.C. have released ‘Tongue’ and its New York-shot video•
LCD Soundsystem have announced 12 New York residency shows, including their 100th•
Saint Clair have shared new single ‘Dreams’ ahead of sold-out autumn headline tour•
overpass and Nieve Ella have shared a new version of ‘Fall In Love’•
Pollyfromthedirt has shared ‘White Wine Vinegar’ and announced a first London headline show•
Keo are leading the midweek UK album chart with ‘Put A Smile On For Me’•
Welly has released new single ‘Skinny Boy’•
Rachel Chinouriri has shared ‘Broken chair’ from new album ‘I Think I Spoke Too Soon’•
Lime Garden have shared new track ‘Moving Target’ with Antony Szmierek in the video•
CMAT will perform on ‘The Daily Show’ this week•
Matty Healy says The 1975’s new album is ‘almost done’•
boygenius have reunited onstage during Phoebe Bridgers’ Brooklyn show•
Rose Gray has dropped a new track that's "all chaos, love and emotion", ‘Blink Twice’•
Keo have released debut album ‘Put A Smile On For Me’ as Brixton Academy show sells out•
Taylor Swift has released four new songs on ‘The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore’•
Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•
The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•
flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•
Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•
JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•
Dork
News
Features
Reviews
Magazine
  • Dork
  • Popzines
Shop
Listings
Directory
Festivals
Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST
Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD
The 19755SOSAlessi RoseArctic MonkeysArlo ParksBastillebeabadoobeeBillie EilishBleachersblink-182BlossomsBlur
Bring Me The HorizonCarly Rae JepsenCavetownChappell RoanCharli xcxCHVRCHESCMATConan GrayDeclan McKennaDjoFall Out BoyFoals
Fontaines D.C.Ghostgirl in redGlass AnimalsGorillazGracie AbramsHAIMHarry StylesHolly HumberstoneInhalerJames MarriottThe Japanese House
The Last Dinner PartyLewis CapaldiLinkin ParkLouis TomlinsonMaggie RogersMaisie PetersMUNAMy Chemical RomanceNiall HoranOasis Live '27Olivia DeanOlivia Rodrigo
Pale WavesParamorePhoebe BridgersPinkPantheressRemi WolfReneé RappSabrina CarpenterSam FenderShameSlipknotTate McRaeTaylor Swift
Twenty One PilotsWallowsWet LegWolf AliceYard ActYUNGBLUDZara Larsson
etc.
Film & TV
Gaming
Literature
Culture
Festival Guides-YOUR ESSENTIAL FESTIVAL COMPANION
Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST
Mixtape-DORK'S BEST NEW TRACKS
Play-DORK'S NEW MUSIC FRIDAY EDIT
Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD
Playlist Covers
Playlist Directory
Recommender
Before Doors-LIVE SESSIONS
After Gates-FESTIVAL SESSIONS
Music Video Directory
Down With Boring-THE DORK PODCAST
Chart Attack-UK NUMBER ONES, DISSECTED
Dork Live
Oasis Live ’27Tickets. Dates. What’s the story?Explore the tour
Dork Radio
Live
Live 24/7
Dork Radio
Dork
Down With Boring

Join thousands of music lovers getting the best new tracks, exclusive interviews, and breaking news delivered straight to your inbox every week.

In print now

September 2026

Latest issue variants

View archive
Dork, September 2026 (Carly Rae Jepsen cover)

Carly Rae Jepsen

Dork, September 2026 (Cruz Beckham cover)

Cruz Beckham

Dork, September 2026 (Westside Cowboy cover)

Westside Cowboy

Advertise|Support|About Dork|Editorial standards & corrections|Privacy Policy|Genres|Years|Sitemap|RSS|Cookie settings
© 2026 The Bunker Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Powered by PlaywireAdvertise on this site.
  1. Tracks
  2. NAS
  3. Life Is Good
  4. Back When
Back When by NAS

TRACK

NAS

Back When

Release date: 12th July 2012

From Life Is Good
Track 10
3:22
Hip-Hop/RapMusicEast Coast RapHardcore Rap
Spotify Apple Music More on NAS

About This Track

Nas builds 'Back When' around a looping refrain that doubles as its thesis: the appetite for origin stories, for how it all started. Over samples that include MC Shan's work, he moves between two registers, the nostalgic and the forensic. He recalls the New York of the 1980s in specific detail: the NB5 bus, Pro Keds trainers, fifth-floor project apartments, Hollis Avenue. These are not mere backdrop; they are the conditions from which something emerged. The second half shifts. Nas turns critical, naming the inauthenticity that has calcified around hip-hop since his early years. He invokes Tupac and mourns the dilution of what once felt real, the infiltration of the culture by those who treat it as costume. The song moves from celebration of origins into a kind of elegy for the moment when the work still mattered more than the machinery. What began as reminiscence becomes something closer to indictment, a measure of distance travelled.

"Back When" is a track by NAS, from the album Life Is Good, released 12th July 2012. The track is 3:22 long. It's filed under Hip-Hop/Rap. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 1 article about NAS.

About the Artist

NAS

NAS

Lyrics

Back When

Warning, Warning...
New York, New York
The sound, the sound
You're about to hear, to hear...

You love to hear the story
How it all, how it all, got started, got started
You love to hear the story
How it all, how it all, got started, got started
You love to hear the story
How it all, how it all, got started, got started
Start it off, start it off, start it off
Back when, back when, back when, back when
Back when, back when, back when, back when

The ill reminisce and think about the fly days
Nothing like them 80s summer NY days
Hop on the NB5 days
Mopeds, Pro Keds, city split five ways
How it all started, fifth floor apartment
A jigsaw puzzle aerial view of the projects
A kid saw struggle, buried a few of his partners
Now I chill in resorts, enjoying massages
Check out the oracle bred from city housing
Nas, I arise the dead by thousands
I remember seeing Shan chilling near his Audi
Hollis Ave, Run and them, but I proudly
Put a poster up of Shan and Marley, that was art, kid
You love to hear the story how it started
The bubbly I'm pouring wasn't popped yet
Before there was a audience to watch us
I assure you, there was a process

You love to hear the story
How it all, how it all, got started, got started
You love to hear the story
How it all, how it all, got started, got started
You love to hear the story
How it all, how it all, got started, got started
Start it off, start it off, start it off
Back when, back when, back when, back when
Back when, back when, back when, back when

To call them fake today is hate, real niggas extinct
Pac left me inside a rap world with niggas that wink
At other rappers, undercover niggas spit every way
Won't be surprised if all their rides have federal plates
Let alone their wardrobes and Studio 4 flow
It was real when I appeared, it would've been some jaws broke
Nas, my real name, stage name, same thing
How could you let these lames claim king? I'm so ashamed, man
I light a L for Vernon, for niggas who would burn in Hell
For Vernon; 10th Street, 12th Street, Nightmare on Elm Street
Pimps creep, delve deep inside the editorials
Of the ghetto queens, kings, stories true
Who possesses the testicular fortitude
To blow away myths that's a hindrance to all of you?
You blame your own shortcomings on sex and race
The mafia, homosexuals and all the Jews
It's hogwash point of views, stereotypical
Anti-Semitic like the foul words Gibson spewed
And it's pathetic
I don't get the credit I deserve
That's why I hate doing interviews
But I don't sweat it, study long, study raw
My man Dion said "Nas over-think the songs he writing"
I'm not a wack performer standing near a corny hype man
I got the Donism
I'm here to enlighten

You love to hear the story
How it all, how it all, got started, got started
You love to hear the story
How it all, how it all, got started, got started
You love to hear the story
How it all, how it all, got started, got started
Start it off, start it off, start it off
Back when, back when, back when, back when
Back when, back when, back when, back when

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From Life Is Good

3:222012
Listen
Album
Life Is Good
Life Is Good
NAS
13th July 2012
Track number
10
Release year
2012
  1. 1No Introduction
    4:15
  2. 2Loco-Motive (feat. The Large Professor)
    3:41
  3. 3A Queens Story
    4:35
  4. 4Accident Murderers (feat. Rick Ross)

More from NAS

Albums & EPs

Magic 3
Magic 3
2023
Magic 2
Magic 2
2023
One Mic, One Gun
One Mic, One Gun
2022
Made You Look: God's Son (Live, 2002)
Made You Look: God's Son (Live, 2002)
2022
Magic
Magic
2021
It Was Written (Expanded Edition)
It Was Written (Expanded Edition)
2021

Explore

More tracks by NAS

  1. 1-800-Nas&HitMagic 3
    4:37
  2. 10 Shots (50 Cent diss)
  3. 3rd Childhood
  4. Believe
  5. Bouquet (To The Ladies)
  6. Crabs In A Barrel
  7. Define My Name
  8. Down For You
  9. GiT Ready
  10. H To The OMO

Showing 10 of 50

If you like NAS

JAY-Z

JAY-Z

Mobb Deep

Mobb Deep

AZ

AZ

Big L

Big L

Raekwon

Raekwon

Gang Starr

Gang Starr

4:38
  • 5Daughters
    3:20
  • 6Reach Out (feat. Mary J. Blige)
    3:47
  • 7World's an Addiction (feat. Anthony Hamilton)
    5:01
  • 8Summer on Smash (feat. Miguel & Swizz Beatz)
    4:20
  • 9You Wouldn't Understand (feat. Victoria Monet)
    4:36
  • 10Back When
    3:22
  • 11The Don
    3:02
  • 12Stay (feat. The Large Professor)
    3:45
  • 13Cherry Wine (feat. Amy Winehouse)
    5:56
  • 14Bye Baby
    3:59
  • 15Nasty
    3:05
  • 16The Black Bond
    2:23
  • 17Roses
    3:32
  • 18Where's the Love (feat. Cocaine 80s)
    4:27
  • 19Trust
    4:35
  • —Accident Murderers
  • —Reach Out
  • —Where's The Love
  • —Cherry Wine
  • —Summer on Smash
  • —Stay
  • —Loco-Motive
  • —You Wouldn't Understand
  • —World’s an Addiction

    • Credits

    Production & Engineering

    Writer
    Barry Forgie, Chris DeGarmo, Marley Marl, MC Shan, Nas, No I.D.
    Producer
    No I.D.
    Bass
    Steve Wyreman
    Guitar
    Steve Wyreman
    Keyboards
    James Poyser, Kevin Randolph
    Additional Vocals
    Hannah Sidibe, Kaye Fox
    Assistant Engineer
    Anne Ugarte, Keith Parry
    Assistant Mixing Engineer
    Anne Ugarte
    Mixing Engineer
    Rob Kinelski
    Recording Engineer
    Def Jam Recordings, Rob Kinelski, Stuart White
    READ MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NAS
    READ MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NAS
    Why Run The Jewels connected with rock crowds without becoming a rock act
    Features

    Why Run The Jewels connected with rock crowds without becoming a rock act

    Run The Jewels’ bond with rock audiences came from the force of their live shows, a two-MC dynamic built for collective release, and collaborations that extended their world without changing its centre.

    21 Sept 2026 • 8:05 am
    N.O.R.E. has denied Carmen Bryan’s sexual assault allegations
    News

    N.O.R.E. has denied Carmen Bryan’s sexual assault allegations

    The rapper’s attorney has called the claims in Bryan’s civil lawsuit “entirely false”.

    11 Sept 2026 • 2:17 pm
    Tool, Twenty One Pilots and Alanis Morissette top Riot Fest 2026 bill
    News

    Tool, Twenty One Pilots and Alanis Morissette top Riot Fest 2026 bill

    Pierce the Veil, Morrissey, Iggy Pop and Pixies join the Chicago weekender

    31 May 2026 • 6:43 pm
    ENNY, NAS and Ezra Collective are among the supports for Loyle Carner at All Points East
    News

    ENNY, NAS and Ezra Collective are among the supports for Loyle Carner at All Points East

    The festival takes place in London's Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets

    22 Nov 2023 • 10:13 am