BTS rapper RM paused the group's MetLife Stadium concert on Sunday, Aug. 2, to give an onstage shout-out to Nas — calling him "the King of New York" and telling the crowd that the Queens rapper was in the building. "Big Nas is here tonight," RM announced, according to Billboard.

The moment carried a decade of history. RM, whose stage name stands for "Rap Monster," has cited Nas as his biggest artistic influence since he was a teenager. In a 2021 Vanity Fair video, his BTS bandmates correctly guessed that Nas was the artist who shaped RM most, and RM confirmed the rapper had been his idol for ten years at that point (Billboard).

On the MetLife stage, RM said Nas dominated his entire teenage years and called him "a defining artist," according to Complex. The shout-out turned into a meeting: RM later posted a backstage photo of himself and bandmate Suga with Nas on Instagram Stories. Nas reposted the image on his own account with the caption "AMAZING SHOW" (Billboard).

The Aug. 2 date was the second of two nights at MetLife on BTS' ARIRANG World Tour. Billboard described the stop as BTS' first concert back in the New York area (Billboard). For fans who have followed the group's individual musical roots, RM naming Nas from a New Jersey stage — across the river from Manhattan, in the heart of the region Nas built his legacy in — landed as a full-circle moment rather than a casual celebrity photo op.

No collaboration or further appearance was announced. The exchange stayed exactly what it was: one of the world's biggest pop groups pausing a stadium show so one member could acknowledge the artist who shaped how he started.