All About Nas' Daughter Destiny Jones

Nas' elder child Destiny Jones is an entrepreneur

Nas, born Nasir Jones, is considered one of the greatest emcees in hip-hop history, but the veteran rapper is also a dad to daughter Destiny.

The Grammy winner welcomed his first child in 1994 with his then-partner, businesswoman and author Carmen Bryan. (Nas and his ex-wife, fellow R&B singer Kelis, also share son Knight, born in 2009.)

In the years since her birth, Destiny has continued to inspire Nas and his work: "Daughters," featured on his 2012 album Life Is Good, is an introspective look at his fatherhood missteps.

The song's lyrics also explore Destiny’s development as a young woman and the difficulties of being a parent. The track was nominated for best rap performance and best rap song at the 2013 Grammys.

“To me, ‘Daughters’ lets all those fathers out there know, ‘Hey, don’t end up like me in terms of not being there all the time,’ ” Nas shared with Vibe magazine in 2012. “You should really pay attention to the most precious thing in the world. Destiny and I hang out all the time.”

Nas' elder child often expresses her love for her dad and pride in his accomplishments on social media. In 2021, they celebrated his first Grammy win for his 12th studio album, King’s Disease.

A couple of years later, she congratulated her dad on his induction into Billboard's Hip-Hop Hall of Fame and she has also shown her support by wearing his clothing brand, HSTRY.

“It’s amazing, man,” Nas told XXL about fatherhood, per HipHopDX. “[My daughter]’s so important to me and she always has been.”

Here's everything to know about Nas' daughter, Destiny Jones.

She was born shortly after one of Nas' biggest accomplishments

Nas and Bryan welcomed their first and only child together, Destiny Jones, on June 15, 1994.

The self-proclaimed “Gemini queen” was born just two months after the release of her father’s Illmatic album, which is often lauded as one of the most influential projects in hip hop, even making Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

She’s the owner of a cosmetics company

Destiny turned a childhood hobby into a career: She is the founder and CEO of Matic Cosmetics, which was inspired by her dad's album, Illmatic.

“I've loved makeup since I was a little girl,” Destiny shared with Ebony in 2021. “When I was around 10, my mom got me a lipstick-making kit, and I used to make lipsticks for her and her friends. It gave me a lot of pride to see them wearing my lipsticks when they would go out.”

Destiny credits her dad with teaching her to trust herself and remain confident through her entrepreneurial journey. She has also infused her brand with aspects of her upbringing.

“The names for my cosmetic products are [inspired] by different elements of New York and reference songs and legendary artists in hip-hop,” she said. “For example, Ex-Factor Lipshine is named after the iconic song by Ms. Lauryn Hill and the Jamaica Ave. Jewel Lipgloss represents the part of Queens that I’m from.”

She had to be secretive about Nas being her father

Growing up, Destiny didn't reveal who her father was for safety reasons.

“When I was a kid, my parents told me, ‘Don't tell people who your dad is,’ ” she revealed on HOT 97’s Ladies First in 2015. “So I would always keep it a secret no matter what school I went to, but then it just takes that one person to find out or read something, and then the whole school knows. And then, next thing you know, people in school are following you around.”

However, she could still navigate her neighborhood easily and enjoy family time.

“I grew up in Queens with all of my cousins ... so I didn’t really have an issue going around by myself," she said. "But when we would go to the park, it was like, ‘Everybody huddle up and make sure nobody kidnaps Des.’ I was like, ‘Alright, maybe I’m a little different.' "

Destiny understood why her parents wanted to protect her while she was growing up.

"I feel like I kind of was really blessed because I got the best of both worlds. I could be in the studio with my dad ... but then I could also just be normal and be in Queens with my cousins," she added.

Destiny and actress Yara Shahidi are cousins

Actress Yara Shahidi is best known for her roles on the hit television series Black-ish and its spinoff Grown-ish but she also has a tie to the music industry. Shahidi’s mom, Keri, is Nas’ first cousin — the actress was even a flower girl at his 2005 wedding to singer Kelis.

“I think what was always weird to me is realizing that he was famous,” Shahidi said on Fuse’s White Guy Talk Show. “I mean, in my head, I was like, ‘he’s a great rapper.’ I didn’t know that a lot of people listen to him. I thought that he just knew a ton of people.”

Related: Yara Shahidi's Family: All About Her Parents and Siblings

Now, Destiny and Shahidi have a close relationship. In August 2023, Destiny posted a short clip on TikTok of herself, Shahidi and Shahidi’s younger brother Sayeed partying together at a Drake concert.

The pair even got up to some teenage antics together: Back in 2016, Destiny told Teen Vogue about getting into a minor accident with Shahidi while learning to drive. The car they were in collided with the side of a highway ramp, and Destiny swore Shahidi to secrecy.

“I pulled over, and I was like, ‘Never tell anybody about this.’ She was like, ‘Ok, I won’t.’ It was so bad. Now I’m so much better," she explained of her driving skills.

Destiny once pursued an acting career

When Destiny moved to Los Angeles, she sought out an agent who would help her become an actress.

“I met with an agent who basically told me, ‘You're not professional. You're talented, but you're not professional. I need you to be training and get your weight up, and then we'll talk,’ ” she said on Ladies First.

Destiny moved on to another agent but took the advice to heart and started taking acting classes. In 2015, she described her dream role as “a really strong, powerful woman like a queen or some type of Cleopatra role.”

A year later, in her Teen Vogue interview, Destiny cited Scarface as her favorite movie and expanded on her love for storytelling.

“I like taking on different realities and different perceptions and kind of making them my own,” Destiny explained. “I like the idea of being able to sit with somebody’s story and show it back to them so that they can leave from what they’ve seen knowing someone heard my voice, someone knows my story. I like the idea of that.”

She attended school for fashion design

Before building her makeup brand, Destiny considered a career in the fashion industry. She enrolled at The Art Institute of California before realizing her enthusiasm for the field had waned.

“I wanted fashion design to be my backup plan in case things don’t work out with this or that at least I’ll have this under my belt,” Destiny explained to Teen Vogue. "But after about two years, my passion for it was not the same as my friends and my classmates."

She continued, “I feel like when it comes to your dreams, you have to take that leap or for the rest of your life you’ll wonder what would’ve happened if you would’ve went for it."

She executive produced one of her dad's albums

Destiny was credited as an executive producer when she was 7 years old on Nas' 2001 album Stillmatic.

The entrepreneur made a reference to her producer status in a 2017 Instagram post captioned, “Happy 16th Birthday Stillmatic! The first album I ever executive produced! And at only 7 years old lol.”

In his song “Thugz Mansion,” Nas alludes to supporting Destiny through his art: “See, I'm a good guy / I'm tryin' to stick around for my daughter / But if I should die / I know all of my albums support her.”

She's a big sister

Fifteen years after Destiny was born, Nas and Kelis welcomed their son, Knight, on July 22, 2009. The couple finalized their divorce in 2010 and share joint custody of their son.

Destiny opened up about spending time with her little brother in a 2020 Q&A on her YouTube channel.

“I see him on the weekends and breaks, and pretty much anytime he's at my dad's house,” she shared. “My dad's like 10 minutes away. I just zoom right over there and hang out with him for like the whole day or the whole weekend.”

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