The Firm’s Nature Bags Up Rarities Featuring Nas, Pete Rock & AZ (Album Stream)

It has been nearly 20 years since The Firm released its one and only album. The collective of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown, and Nature would sign with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment for a chart-topping LP (called The Album) that is seemingly misplaced by time. Dre would place six of the album’s songs, with The Trackmasters, L.E.S., and Chris “The Glove” Taylor rounding out a strong roster that would give Aftermath buzz before the Eminem chapter began.

While Nas, AZ, and Fox’ have enjoyed prominent careers before and after, Nature would be the relative new artist on the block. A replacement for Cormega in the group’s original lineup (‘Mega would reportedly decline signing a management contract, eventually costing him his spot), Nature had not released an album at the time of the group project. In the 2000s, however, the Queens, New Yorker would release two charting LPs on Trackmasters/Columbia Records, as a label-mate of 50 Cent. Sixteen years after For All Seasons, the MC stays active—appearing on recent albums by Cormega, ONYX, and the late Guru.

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Deep Concepts Media is Nature’s new home. In sparking up interest for the veteran’s new work, they assembled Queens Classics. The 15-track compilation includes plenty of rarities featuring Nas, AZ, N.O.R.E., Screwball’s Blaq Poet, Tragedy Khadafi, and others. Moreover, Heads can hear a scarce Pete Rock remix to Nature’s biggest solo set, “The Ultimate High.”

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For those who have been sleeping on Nature (who released a four-part Seasons Changed series in 2014), this is a worthwhile catch-up course.