Just a Moment

"Just a Moment"
Single by Nas featuring Quan
from the album Street's Disciple
B-side These are Our Heroes
Released February 22, 2005
Format CD single
Recorded 2004
Genre Hip hop
Length 4:23
Label Ill Will, Columbia
44 71538
Writer(s) Nasir Jones
Clifford Peacock
Nile Rodgers
Bernard Edwards
Producer L.E.S.
Nas singles chronology
"Bridging the Gap"
(2004)
"Just a Moment"
(2005)
"In Public"
(2005)

"Just a Moment" is the third and last single from Nas' Street's Disciple. It features his protégé Quan and is produced by L.E.S.. Its lyrics ask for moments of silence for many people worldwide who are going through different life struggles, from victims of violence in the ghetto to soldiers in Iraq.

It contains a sample from “Will You Cry (When You Hear this Song)?” by Chic that was used similarly in "Hear the Song" by Freeway.

Music video

The video features an urban surrounding and many reminders of deceased emcees and contemporary R&B singers through empty rooms, wind, and liquor being poured out in a gesture of respect and remembrance.

Nas mentions both Islam and Christianity as ways for one to have or regain faith, as Nas considers himself a spiritual and faithful person, yet doesn't make it clear which religion he associates himself with. Nas also mentions his own mother, saying, "Mommy, I'm still here, wishing I was there with you..." Quan mentions his fallen friends and his promise of taking care of his sister's child, while she is in Iraq. The video version of the song also interprets a change in the fact that the third verse (originally Quan) was changed to having Nas put in an additional rhyme replacing the end of the third verse:

Photographs of lost memories
On the blocks with blunts and Hennessey
Picture some niggaz in mock neck shirts
Ballantine Ale in brown bags
Brothers like to brag ’bout their cousins
That locked in the system
We all fall victims, we all call Christian
or Islamic faith, to restore all our faith
Barbed wire and tall brick wall
But we all can escape

This is contrary to the album version of the song, where Quan rhymes the whole third verse.