"The Don" is a song by American rapper Nas. Released as the second single from his tenth studio album, Life Is Good (2012), it is produced by record producers Da Internz, Heavy D and Salaam Remi, who all helped write the song along with Nas, although Heavy D died before the song could be finished. Built around a sample of "Dance in New York" by reggae singer Super Cat, a former collaborator of Nas, "The Don" is backed by a boom bap, reggae-tinged production with additional drum and piano sounds. Lyrically, Nas attempts to reaffirm his status as a "street poet", addressing the hardships of poverty within disadvantaged societies and the realities of weapon and drug problems.

"The Don" was released to digital retailers on April 3, 2012. Although the song was not commercially successful, charting only in the lower regions of the UK Singles Chart, it received acclaim from music critics, many of whom praised Nas' rapping style and lyrics, especially the realistic persona he conveyed. Some also pronounced themselves impressed with Nas' motivation at such a point in his long career. A music video for "The Don", directed by Aristotle Torres, was premiered on April 27, 2012, which attempts to present several aspects of Nas' lifestyle, including performing at concerts, as well as his experiences in New York City, his place of residence.

"The Don" was produced by Da Internz, Heavy D and Salaam Remi – the latter a regular collaborator with Nas on many of his previous songs, including the singles "I Can" and "Made You Look". Heavy D originally presented the song "Dance in New York", by reggae singer Super Cat to Remi in the belief that Remi could create a "crazy" production if he could choose an appropriate part of the song to sample and edit. Nas, who had worked with Super Cat earlier in his career, claimed that Super Cat actually mentioned him in "Dance in New York" on his first listening of the song. Remi began to try and edit the song, and put together the bassline that would eventually be used on "The Don", but could not work with the sample that he had been given extensively: after learning the identity of the original producer of "Dance in New York", Jah Thomas, he paid Thomas in return for use of the song's multitrack.

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