Hip-Hop Icon Wants to 'Figure Out Who Killed JFK'

An all-time great rapper has expressed his interest in the Kennedy assassination in some surprising ways

JFK Facts’ Ultimate JFK Assassination Playlist is growing, thanks to rapper Nas.

In August 2023, as the acclaimed performer was being inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, he sat down for a 38-second interview with Billboard, part of the publication’s “5 Things” series, in which artists rapidly reveal five little-known facts about themselves.

The rapper behind “Illmatic,” oft-cited as the greatest hip-hop album of all-time, Nas shared a fairly conventional list with Billboard. He likes air travel because it gives him a break from his busy life. His appreciation of the holidays has grown over the years, and he loves to have a chance to be around his family and friends. He loves Frank Sinatra and “My Way.” He’s a big fan of actor Jim Kelly, who performed in Bruce Lee’s martial arts action films, such as “Enter the Dragon.”

But Nas’ last fact was more unexpected:

"Every once in a while, once a year, I try to figure out who killed JFK," he said.

There was no more elaboration on this point, and he does not seem to have mentioned it in any other previous interviews.

But a review of the artist’s discography requires adding three new tracks to JFK Facts’ compilation of popular music related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and its impact on the world.

You can listen here.

‘New World’

Nas’ first direct reference to the slain president is on his 1999 track “New World,” which examines life on the cusp of Y2K. Some of the lyrics are rather prescient, such as:

“Solar-energized rides, no steerin' wheel, tell it how to drive

No propellers in the sky

Airplanes like mini rockets

Waiting lists for the rich to get tickets to visit Mars

While the poor people starve, computers takin' over they jobs”

He broaches the JFK assassination by comparing Bill Clinton to Kennedy with an aside about a future president.

“Bill Clinton's the new JFK, without the hole in his dome

The new Don Trump is Bill Gates

Not because his occupation, it's 'cause we respect his cake

And cake mean his stock, net gross”

And he even introduces the theme of America’s covert operations:

“And US embassies overseas

Almost every foreign country's under siege

Covertly startin' wars, CIA, NAVY Seals

Commit larcenies that be worth over mils

Oil in the earth spills”

He references the assassination of JFK in close proximity to his lines condemning the Military Industrial Complex, though he does not explicitly link the two.

‘The Flyest’

Rapper AZ featured with Nas on his 2001 song “The Flyest,” in which the duo drop the lines:

“Yo, it's kill or be killed

“Understand, real be real

A forty-shot spectrum make your whole embassy kneel

Identity sealed, protected by our energy shield

And fuck a drop 'cause that's that shit that got Kennedy killed

Close the book

Was taught never expose a crook”

The implication that Kennedy was killed for exposing criminal actions could be either a reference to the Kennedy brothers’ crackdown on the Mafia or perhaps exposing the crimes of the CIA.

‘Blunt Ashes’

In the 2006 track “Blunt Ashes” Nas finds himself pondering the inner lives of Black icons. In a verse discussing the violent deaths of Black celebrities, Nas makes a frank admission of his interest in the mysterious murder of the 35th president:

“John F. Kennedy's enemies dealt with treachery – it interests me.”

And Nas’ influence was widely felt. In 2007, artist Jay Electronica wrote “My World,” a tribute to Nas and reference to his seminal 1994 hit, “The World is Yours.” Maybe Jay Electronica knew of Nas’ interest in the JFK assassination, considering his very blunt lyrics affirming a conspiracy in the president’s death:

“Get at me, me and my chick is like JFK and Jackie

They can't wait to catch me in Dallas

Top down on the grassy knoll and clap me

Kidnap my body and fuck up the autopsy”

After more than 25 years of JFK Assassination lyrics peppering Nas’ music, one wonders what results his annual investigation has yielded and what exactly he believes happened on Nov. 22, 1963.