(June 14, 2018 – New York, NY) Hip-Hop icon Nas – who’s legendary career spans over two decades as one of the undisputed greatest MC’s of all time – releases NASIR tonight via Mass Appeal / Def Jam Recordings. NASIR is Nas’ 11th studio album, and his first new solo release since 2012’s Life Is Good. NASIR’s seven tracks are produced by Kanye West. West was also creative director for the exclusive Cali Thornhill Dewitt designed merch collab, which will be available on shop.nasirjones.com.
NASIR is the fourth of five consecutive weekly albums produced by West, each with seven tracks: Pusha T’s Daytona, Kanye West’s ye, the Kids See Ghosts collaboration between Kanye and Kid Cudi, Nas’ NASIR, and next week’s finale from Teyana Taylor.
YouTube will exclusively stream tonight’s NASIR album listening party with Nas and Kanye West on the Mass Appeal YouTube channel. Fans wanting to get a first listen of the album can catch the stream on YouTube at 9pm ET here: http://bit.ly/NasirLiveStream.
NASIR will be available at all streaming services and digital music retailers. In addition, Nas has launched an exclusive online store – shop.nasirjones.com – offering merch designed by Cali Thornhill Dewitt with creative direction by Kanye West, NASIR vinyl and CD formats, and more.
The release of Nas’ NASIR – in collaboration with Def Jam Recordings – is Mass Appeal’s first as part of its new partnership with Universal Music Group, announced earlier this week.
ABOUT NAS:
Nas (Nasir Jones) first reached an international audience when his track “Halftime” was tapped by producer MC Serch as the opening cut on 1992’s Zebrahead movie soundtrack. Signed to Columbia Records, the first full-length album by poet and rhyme-master Nas arrived in 1994, Illmatic. The RIAA platinum hip-hop landmark featured “It Ain’t Hard To Tell,” “The World Is Yours,” and “One.” 1996 brought the breakthrough double-platinum It Was Written (#1 R&B for 7 weeks, #1 pop for 4 weeks), with his first major crossover singles “Sweet Dreams” and “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That).” Success continued with the double-platinum I Am in 1999 (again #1 pop and #1 R&B), with the chart singles “Nas Is Like,” “Hate Me Now” (featuring Puff Daddy), and “You Won’t See Me Tonight” (featuring Aaliyah).
Subsequent albums by Nas included: the RIAA platinum Nastradamus (1999, #2 R&B, #7 pop, with “Nastradamus” and “You Owe Me,” featuring Ginuwine); the platinum Stillmatic (2001, #1 R&B, #5 pop, with “Got Ur Self A…,” “Ether,” “One Mic,” and “Rule”); the platinum God’s Son (2002, #1 R&B, with huge R&B/pop crossover hits “Made You Look” and “I Can”); and the platinum double-CD Street’s Disciple (2004, #2 R&B, #5 pop, with “Bridging the Gap” and “Just a Moment”).
Over the years, Nas has also been the featured guest on a number of crossover hits by other artists, among them: Allure (“Head Over Heels,” 1997); R. Kelly (“Did You Ever Think,” 1999); Missy Elliott (the #1 “Hot Boyz,” 1999); fellow Queensbridge rapper Mobb Deep (“It’s Mine,” 1999); Nature (“The Ultimate High,” 2000); Jagged Edge (“I Got It 2,” 2002); J-Lo (“I’m Gonna Be Alright,” 2002); Kelis (“In Public,” 2003, and “Blindfold Me,” 2006); Kanye West (“Classic (Better Than I’ve Ever Been),” 2006); and others.
In addition to his successful career in music, Nas has pursued a career in motion pictures that began with his co-starring role (alongside DMX) in 1998’s crime drama Belly, a film by director Hype Williams (with whom Nas has done several video clips). Subsequent appearances include Albert Pyun’s action crime thriller Ticker (2001, with Tim Sizemore and Steven Seagal); Carl Seaton’s Sacred Is the Flesh (2001, also co-written by Nas); a cameo as himself in Boaz Yakin’s comedy Uptown Girls (2003, with Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning); Lawrence Page’s Murda Muzik (2004, with Ron Artest and Chinky); the fictional hip-hop group bio-pic The Vapors (2008, with an all-star cast of Roxanne Shanté, Kool G Rap, Marley Marl, Biz Markie, and others); the CBS tv hit series, Hawaii Five-O (2010); Black Nativity (2013); and Monster (2018), Anthony Mandler’s adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’ award-winning young adult best-seller.
