Faith Newman started at Def Jam Records in the mid-80s, hired by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin to establish a publishing company. She became an A&R rep and by the fall of 1991, she was at Columbia Records where signed Nas, originally known as Nasty Nas. Faith told NPR that she first heard Nas on the 1991 posse cut "Live At The Barbecue" from main Source's Breakin Atoms.
"I had been looking for him, and I asked Large Professor to introduce me," she explained. "He said that Nas was kind of young and [I should] talk to Akinyele. I was like 'I like Ak but it's this kid.'"
She then shared that MC Serch had Nas' demo which contained an alternate version of Illmatic's first single, "It Ain't Hard To Tell" and "Just Another Day In The Projects."
"Basically, you know, I lost it and I went down the hall to my boss, the head of the A&R department, David Kahne. "'Look,'" I said, 'You don't ever have to let me sign anything else while I'm here, but you've gotta let me sign this kid.' He was like, 'OK. Alright.' And that's how it happened."