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Today (July 21), Nas and Hit-Boy have released their fifth album in three years. Since launching the Grammy Award-winning King’s Disease series in 2020, the Queensbridge, New York MC and the Southern California producer have provided a side franchise: Magic. In the closing days of 2021, the first installment book ended a year that included Nas’ first Grammy win. Now, midway into 2023, Magic 2 arrives—featuring a highlight song in “Black Magic.”

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Nas begins his first verse by examining curses and ominous energies. “She havin’ nightmares sleepin’ next to me / Waking up unexpectedly, maybe somebody hexin’ me / Questionin’, blessings on me protect me from weaponry / Hopin’ she gon’ have the same success if she don’t let ’em in / I meant to set the alarm, she dreamt of all the whips / High speed chase, turned the TV on, I saw that s__t / Dreamt she saw me bleeding like a True Blood was cornered in / And it’s crazy that I really woke up and bought the whips / Tapped her on the shoulder, don’t believe in / Superstitious thesis, ’cause I’m amongst the demons.” The legendary MC speaks about feeling caught between Good and Evil. “Cross on me the first time I got tatted, these cards I was handed / I’m accessing the damage like the whole Jackson 5 dancin’ / How I slide out, super squeaky, always keep my sneakers clean / Back home, late night, iPhone on DND / Shorty’s sleeping next to me and it’s not even sexually / I think she might be scared, she hope nobody put a hex on me / Black magic undefeated, black magic undefeated.“

In the second verse, Nas speaks about who may be putting hexes on him. “No good deed goes unpunished / It’s the bummiest, dumbest, life got bad luck in abundance / Look how happy these lames be whenever lies get slung at / The God, why they so angry like they wishin’ they can just run with / Anything when it comes to Nas? / The desperation it shows, Devil is inside of you / Black smoke, black magic on your back, it’s riding you / If I was you, I would watch who I give my power to / I don’t make no coward moves / My solution’s f__k-ton of positive is what I’m producin’ / Thought patterns convoluted.”

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He closes with broader commentary: “Black culture, that’s black magic, it’s way more than fat asses / Who chain bigger? Who car the fastest? / New contracts, I autograph it, new haters, that’s automatic / They ain’t see this comin’, they got hit with the new wave / Evil in the atmosphere, let’s hit it with the sage.” The song ends with Nas praying an ask of protection his G’s, and especially for the women and children in his life.

The 11-track collection also features a noteworthy reunion with 50 Cent, as well as previously released collaboration with another past adversary of sorts—21 Savage.

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In addition to “Black Magic,” the AFH playlist features another Nas and Hit-Boy collaboration from the producer’s Surf Or Drown Vol. 1, as well as a recently released music by Cormega, Alchemist, and Mass Appeal Records artist Black Milk featuring Phonte and Raphael Saadiq.

#BonusBeat: A late 2022 episode of AFH‘s What’s The Headline podcast that examines Nas’ career renaissance and a track-by-track breakdown of King’s Disease III: