Last week, Nas appeared in the video to one of his best songs of 2018. The track and subsequent visual are courtesy of a guest verse on Swizz Beatz’ “Echo.” Days later, Nasir appears in another highlight feature shot from the year. This time it’s from the Black Eyed Peas’ “BACK 2 HIPHOP.”

The song, which references Soul II Soul’s 1989 hit “Back To Life,” opened Octobers’ Masters Of The Sun, Vol. 1 from the once-again trio out of Los Angeles, California. will.i.am, Taboo, and apl.de.ap released their first LP since the top of the decade and returned the Peas to their Hip-Hop roots. Thus, this is a fitting track to begin the message on the LP that also features the late Phife Dawg, Slick Rick, Posdnuos, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad.

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The video uses motion animation. For Nas’ verse, which begins at the 3:00 mark, he appears as a pharaoh. This looks like the MC’s I Am… artwork, which will celebrate its 20th-anniversary next year. The gold-plated king delivers his rhymes while the 1965 Chevy Impala low-rider drives through the computer-generated universe.

“BACK 2 HIPHOP” features some noteworthy rhymes. In his intro verse, will declares, “You coulda sworn that you wasn’t warned ’cause we was / Trapped in the box that rap had spawned / It was a square until we kicked it to an octagon / We gotten strong from the pain it’s undergone / Whereupon we kill the beat when the mic ain’t on / That’s my motherf*ckin’ procedure I/ ‘m cold with the flow I will freeze ya / I’m the emperor, I’m Caesar / Can somebody tell me where the MCs are?” apl raps, “Proficient with the lyrical, a vision like a miracle / Damage all you mumblin’ MCs rhyming ’bout decimal / Increasing no residual, why you still remain minimal / Maximize, utilize, my plan mineral / Do not try to bite because my sh*t is not edible / Rhyme unforgettable like Nat King Cole / You can feel it on your neck like you in a choke hold.” Nas reps his Queensbridge home in a verse about fatality. “Another 40-side killer, man / North side in the sixteenth building and / I’m on the corporate side, still pull off a New York walk by / Keep tryin’ talk fly.”

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Nas previously worked with will.i.am on his 2006 Hip Hop Is Dead campaign. The hit-maker famously laced that thematic LP’s title cut.