Daughters
by Nas

Album: Life Is Good (2012)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Nas's ex-fiancée Carmen Bryan gave birth to their daughter, Destiny, in 1994 and on this song, the Queensbridge-raised MC raps some heartfelt verses about his teenage girl. They include some rhymes addressing the time back in February 2012 when Destiny posted a photo on Twitter showcasing a box filled with Trojan condoms. "She planted a box of condoms on her dresser then she Instagram-ed it," he spits. "At this point I realized I ain't the strictest parent."
  • This isn't the first time Nas has rapped about Destiny. He first referenced his daughter soon after she arrived in this world on the 1994 song, "The World Is Yours." Nas then sang of "daddy's little girl" on "Me & You (Dedicated to Destiny)," a track from his 2004 double album, Street's Disciple.
  • So what was Carmen Bryan's response to Destiny's father's song. "Just heard 'Daughters' by Nas. What a disappointment! He had nothing positive to say about our daughter and his depiction of her is false," she wrote on Twitter after its online release.
  • The ode to fatherhood was produced by renowned Chicago beatmaker No I.D. who has also worked with Kanye West, Jay-Z and Common.
  • The song's music video was directed by Chris Robinson (Lil Wayne's "How To Love" Rick Ross' "Touch 'N You" ) and it chronicles their daddy-daughter relationship through her eyes. "Right off the bat, he really loved the idea of the P.O.V.," Robinson, told MTV News.
  • Rather than casting an actress to play his daughter, Nas persuaded the director to let Destiny play herself. "I think that this song for Nas is so personal, everything in the song is real, that he wanted to share this moment with his fans, with the world, and it was actually his suggestion," Robinson revealed to MTV News. "I was ready to cast someone, and he was real calm and said, 'Hey, Dest is gonna be here, I think we need to keep it real.'"
  • Nas reached out to Eminem to be on "Daughters," but Em politely declined. Eminem's reasoning, as Nas recounts it, was that he felt he had already done enough songs about his daughter (alluding to tracks like "Mockingbird" and "Hailie's Song") and did not want to keep revisiting that subject in his music at that time.

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