Nas To Perform Concert In Forest Hills Benefiting City Harvest

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Grammy Award winning hip hop artist Nas will return to the borough where he grew up to perform a benefit concert next month.

Nas will take to the Forest Hills Stadium stage on Sept. 23 for his “Concert to Feed NYC.” Proceeds from the concert’s tickets will benefit City Harvest, the city’s largest food rescue organization.

”I am looking forward to returning to [the] stage for a performance in my hometown—especially since it supports a cause I care deeply about,” said Nas in a news statement.

The concert, which will be Nas’ first in NYC in several years, was announced a couple of days after the former Queensbridge Houses resident dropped his 14th studio album, King’s Disease II.

Nas’ effort to raise funds for City Harvest comes as millions of New Yorkers struggle to put food on their tables amid the pandemic, which exacerbated the city’s hunger crisis according to reports.

That crisis has been felt on City Harvest’s part, too. Since March 2020, the organization has distributed more than 190 million pounds of food to citywide soup kitchens and food pantries — more than double the amount of food that the organization distributed during the same time frame pre-pandemic, it reported.

City Harvest CEO Jilly Stephens hopes that Nas’ concert will help the organization “rescue and deliver more food for the many New Yorkers who are struggling to put meals on their tables because of the pandemic, many for the first time.”

“The COVID crisis is far from over,” said Josh Wood of Josh Wood Productions — the concert organizer — pointing out that the city’s hunger epidemic is far from over, too.

Other groups are chipping in alongside Nas to help with the fundraising effort. Clothing brand DKNY, for instance, is coming on as an event sponsor, creating exclusive concert merchandise that will benefit City Harvest.

While this is the first benefit concert at Forest Hills Stadium in a while, it’s not the only time that hip hop icons will be taking to the stage this summer.

On Aug. 20 George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, DJ Hurricane, and Too $hort — among other hip hop icons — will take to the Forest Hills stage in a free hip hop concert celebrating the city’s pandemic recovery.

The Concert to Feed NYC will have 4,000 seats up for grabs. Tickets go on sale on Aug. 13, and range from $75 to $500. Event organizers haven’t announced any opening performers yet.