Nas Sets Up His New Album With 1 Of His Best Verses In Ages (Audio)

Life is too short to listen to bad music. So…let AFH fight through it for you and only supply you with that great stuff. Despite the reports, Hip-Hop is alive and well and, in many ways, is better than it’s ever been. Not only are we able to go back and listen to all of our favorites, at the click of a button, there is also a ton of great music still being made by artists, young and veteran alike…if you know where to look. To help with that task, we’ve created a playlists with recent music—songs that have been released within the last year or so. We update it regularly, so, if you like what you hear, subscribe to follow us on Spotify.

Today (May 18), a six-song musical companion to the Netflix series Rapture released. It features new material from some of the artists profiled in the documentary, including T.I., Rapsody, 2 Chainz, Logic, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, and G-Eazy. Perhaps most excitingly, the Def Jam-backed project features new music from Nas and Dave East.

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Nas’ twelfth album is due in less than a month—according to Kanye West. Last month, ‘Ye announced that he was producing the entire album of his longtime collaborator, in addition to projects by Pusha T, Kid Cudi, and himself. For nearly two years, Hip-Hop has heard that “Nas Album [is] Done,” thanks to DJ Khaled’s video single. Plausibly, it has taken on new shape and direction since Kanye entered the fold. As Heads have waited nearly six years since the stellar Life Is Good, Hip-Hop is ready for Nas. On this mini-soundtrack, fans get a satisfying sample of Nasir Jones’ lyricism care of “NYCHA.” An acronym for New York City Housing Authority, it is the latest collaboration with protege Dave East. Dave does his thing on the soulful piano, drum, and bass guitar creation. He takes the first verse, waving off weaklings. Then, ahead of 1:30, Nas makes an entrance. He spits: “New York City Housing Authority, honor me / Property of the ghetto / Choppers poppin’, I should receive a medal for surviving, if you snooze, sleep with your snub-nose / I did receive a medal from Harvard, I rose above those / Obstacle courses, where cops and shots’ll stop you from reaching your full potential,” he spits, adding that his bars involve no pen or paper, but is a freestyle, “straight off the mental.” Nas asserts that he raps his reality when so many MCs fabricate their environmental upbringing. Dave East comes back in, with so much vivid detail that it is clear he lives his bars too. The Harlem MC signed to Nas’ Mass Appeal imprint also rocks a lengthy chorus that defies the conventional. If “NYCHA” is any preview of Nas’ June 15 album, there is a lot to look forward to.

In addition to new music from Nas and Dave East, the playlist features recent music from Royce 5’9 and his group PRhyme, Dr. Octagon, Phonte, J. Cole, Drake, Logic, Kendrick Lamar, Black Milk, Eminem, Lute, Jeezy, Wiz Khalifa, Statik Selektah, Brent Faiyaz, Freddie Gibbs, Arin Ray, CyHi The Prynce, Saba, Scarface, Rapsody, Sylvan LaCue, Evidence, Fabolous, Jadakiss, Big K.R.I.T., Nipsey Hussle, and a host of others.

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