Alberts was elected to the NAS in 1981.
From 10 July, he will star as Nas in HBO's miniseries The Night Of.
The squadron is based at the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Pensacola, Fla.
Nearly everyone who heard Droog rhyme was convinced that he was the legendary rapper Nas in disguise.
Alberts resigned both positions after succeeding American geophysicist Frank Press as president of the NAS in 1993.
Five years ago there was a shooting at a gig by US rapper Nas in Brixton, the kind of "incident" that has made police forces countrywide nervy about young black artists – any young black artists – pitching up in their neighbourhoods.
Backed by a full band, Nas – in the late-afternoon slot – rips through 50 minutes of hard-nosed New York hip-hop with pugnacious urgency that makes A Tribe Called Quest's traditional MC/DJ setup seem archaic, albeit fun.
When Nas, in his epic Jay-Z diss "Ether," rapped, "Hot rocks, fellas, put you in a dry spot, fellas / in a pine box with nine shots from my Glock, fellas," Jay-Z probably didn't fear for his life.
That song sets the tone for an album that's a simulacrum of the sound that made him legendary, capturing Nas in his vintage prime without coming off as anachronistic.
But asking Nas in 2014 to rap like he did in 1993 is like asking J. D. Salinger, deep in the New Hampshire woods and cocooned in Mahayana Buddhism, to write "The Catcher in the Rye".
Time is Illmatic charts the making of the iconic debut album by rapper Nas in 1994.
