He means, of course, money. After all, the idea of a living President representing an African-American kid from Queens is so far out of the realm of possibility in 1994, when Nas recorded the lines on “The World is Yours,” a song from his legendary debut album “Illmatic,” that the notion doesn’t even seem like a punchline but an iron-clad fact.

The prospect of an actual living president to represent him seems to have invigorated the now-34-year old , who delivered an energetic, inspired, hits-filled set Sunday night, the first of two at a packed Emo’s. (Of course, the fact that his newest album — known as “N,” “Nas” or a common racial epithet — has yielded some of his strongest commercial and critical success in years can’t hurt his mood.)

Following a set from perpetual journeyman Talib Kweli, Nas bounded through present hits and past glories, wearing an Obama T-shirt and shouting out the man on “Black President.” After he and DJ Green Lantern banged out a few newer tracks such as the anti-NewsCorp “Sly Fox,” Nas took it old school, running through bulletproof “Illmatic” era songs such as “New York State of Mind,” the aforementioned “World is Yours,” “One Love” and “Represent.” (“Some of you was 10 years old when that came out!” he laughed.) He skipped now-mostly-forgotten rapper AZ’s immortal opening verse on “Life’s a Bitch;” this was a shame, as dozens of 30-somethings in the crowd could spit it from memory — it was that kind of crowd.

His ‘97 hit single “If I Ruled The World” turned into a (no kidding) moving sing-along (peace to Lauryn Hill, wherever she is). He was careful about cherry picking his career. His salacious semi-comback “Oochie Wally” got just a little lip service, while the crowd went bonkers for “Made You Look” and it’s transcendently funky old-school clatter.

If Obama wins, it would make an entire generation, the folks who rapped along with every word, the folks who had their lives changed by hip-hop and its inherently revolutionary worldview, more than a little verklempt to see Nas spit rhymes at the inauguration. That would be a pretty good sign that the world is ours. — Joe Gross

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Review: My Morning Jacket at Stubb’s

By Michael Hoinski | Monday, August 25, 2008, 12:36 PM

It was obvious the Olympics were over, what with the sea of sweaty bodies at full swell for the crazy-early start time of My Morning Jacket’s sold-out Sunday show at Stubb’s. Still, the Olympic spirit was in the air, as MMJ made like Usain Bolt and gave back to the people who helped elevate them to idol status. That explains the Capital Area Food Bank on-hand to solicit goods, a gesture afforded them in return for Austin’s embrace of the prog-rock five-piece via multiple SXSW and ACL appearances.

Come 8 p.m., frontman Jim James had already worked himself into a lather, wearing a Dracula cape and doing his best Lenny Kravitz impersonation on the electro-soul title track from the band’s random but pleasing new album, “Evil Urges.” James reckoned Austin the place “where all life started and all life will end,” in one of few asides during a two-hour, workmanlike set.

Dudes in the crowd lip-synched along to the gleeful “What A Wonderful Man,” from the breakthrough album “Z.” Dates gave each other a knowing look during the back-to-back run of pedal-steel, singer-songwriter fare that was “Golden,” from “It Still Moves,” and “Librarian,” from the new one. And private dancers came out of hiding during the roughly 15-minute jam that started with the brooding “Dondante,” segued into the clubby “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2,” and then reverted back to “Dondante,” before James’s Theremin work erupted a ballistic climax of strobe lights, hair-flying head-bangs, and handclaps.

The first song of the encore was “Wordless Chorus,” wherein James sang, “We are … the innovators/They are … the imitators.” By then the point had already been driven home. But the on-deck number was “Highly Suspicious,” a goofy, heavy-metal romp that’s apparently polarized diehards, so MMJ must have felt it needed reiterating.

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