As the lights dim, the crowd chants his name.

Finally, the beat drops and Nasir Jones plunges into his set, his diamond-studded chain sparkling as it swings from his neck.,A thick haze of smoke rises steadily from the crowd at New York’s Nokia Theater in Times Square on Dec. 23.

As the lights dim, the crowd chants his name.

Finally, the beat drops and Nasir Jones plunges into his set, his diamond-studded chain sparkling as it swings from his neck.

The scene is a hip-hop clich