The song was released by the Columbia records and the distribution is done by III Will Records based in the United States. The song is the third single in his Album Stillmatic, the Fifth album.The production was handled by the renowned Hip-hop producer Chucky Thompson and Nas. The song features production procedure that encompassed a quite harmony that progressively increases in intensity and energy until an increasingly amped Nas lets out his lyrical anger bubble over like a final dream combatant strike once too often. The writer of the song is Nick Butler and he describes the song's structure as a slow build up from simple scrip to the full production, the composition is a bit interesting in such a way that the song is like two mini hip-hop versions that would be clear when Nas gets to the third verse of the script where he does the same thing in reverse (Walker, 11). The final verse is also seen reversing the formula where Nas starts from the louder to soft spoken thus getting the audience closer to his rapping and the lyrics.
The song is unique; its starting is slow with evident deliberate flow and beats. The slow beat that the song starts with is suggestive of a crappy R song, as the song progresses, Nas sluggish flow turns out into an angry seethes over the fast paced beat and lastly the siren. The song literally crescendos' till Nas is seen to be kind almost screaming over the cleverly elaborated track."One Mic" is seen by many as being socially excellent and honest.
The lyrics are seen to be aimed at neutralizing the toxic effects caused by the earlier release "You owe Me" which almost destroyed his career. The lyrics of the song describes Nas's evident urge for simple life. As evident in the lines...
"Only if I had one gun, one girl, and one crib...One God to show me how to do things his son did.
.." he also discusses the obstacles that he encounters in his quest for a simple life and he clearly proclaims the kind of life he desires and he offers a vivid big picture of what that lifestyle will entail; this is seen in the lyrical flow that is captured in the following lines... "[if] One ni**ga front, my face on the front page.
.. All I need is one mic - fuck the cars, the jewelry...
" the use of visual flair has been maximized in the song with the use of souvenir motivation.The components of dystopian and political awareness are well captured in the lyrics (Milliman, 89). If closely observe the video, the "One Mic" brings out the metropolitan claustrophobia that is kind of digitized and well distilled where Nas's posture of the eyes is seen zooming in for the details and then making a pull back to the panoramic overview. The lyrical scheme is seen to be building on to the crescendo slowly where the rage and declaration is attained before coming back to seek the path of making the difference with the use of the one precious mic.
The song can be seen to be calling for immediate action and sense of reality being emitted by the artist.In his on interview with the rolling stone magazine, Nas stated that the theme of the song "One Mic" is about the power. The song was an avenue for the artist to share with the whole world what is going on in his neighborhood and counts it a blessing to be able to share his experience and let the outside world relate with it. This song as mechanism to clean up any mishaps Nas might have created in his earlier releases was aimed making people turn around and pay attention to what he is saying and possibly take him seriously.
He aimed at refuting and the notion that he was talking nonsense but he wanted to bring out the reality that majority of the people are facing whereas there has been no formal avenue for the world to really getting to understand the predicament of the people in his neighborhood. We also see the bringing out the concept of being insane when people or he is upset. The artists sees this as the evidence of people's ignorance or the just luck of interest to understand the truth or reality in the matter. The artist is generally presenting facts as they are and he really does not care about those that are scared or guilty of what is happening, the artist generally did not sugar coat his words but since he has his mic let those uncomfortable with what he is saying react using theirs. In the song Nas is asking God for forgiveness for the sins he has committed, the song has some strong religious overtones and lyrical themes that are mostly Christian (Sloboda, 21).
Nas 's allusions generally humanize Jesus brings out the direct parallels between our personal desires and those of the wayshower. Nas is asking God to show him the way to do things that His son did. Nas relate the daily challenges faced in day to day routines of life with the pressure that Jesus and others felt and we see here an attempt to show the transfer of spiritual gifts and power to himself.
