Nas’ music industry spotlight has intensified thanks to his newest project The Lost Tapes 2. The pioneering influential dropped the soundscape on Friday (July 19).
The album features unreleased tracks from his last four studio albums: Hip Hop Is Dead, Untitled, Life is Good, and Nasir. The Lost Tapes 2 comes as a sequel to 2002’s The Lost Tapes 11-track compilation.
Hypebeast reports the latest installment introduces the Queens native rapping over instrumentals crafted by the likings of Kanye West, Pharrell, RZA, Swizz Beats, The Alchemist, and more. Ten years of material collected well-produced beats, wordsmith pierced verses and inclusive range of rhythm.
“Tanasia” and “Highly Favored” were produced by RZA giving off the classic Nas sounds fans have become accustomed to as he spits about his housing projects in Queensbridge. Other exclusive tracks include “Vernon Family” at the hands of Pharrell, and Swizz Beats’ “No Bad Energy.” Yeezus and Nas also give a less instrumental-forward sound emphasizing the ever-so clever rhymes from The Lost Tapes 2 mastermind on “You Mean the World to Me.”
In an interview on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the hip-hop artist spoke about how his project is somewhat of a guessing game when figuring out when the tracks were actually created. “You just play them. You kind of got to guess like, ‘What year did he make this one?'” he said. “Some of the songs are, like, ten years old, 12 years old, and some of them are, like, as early as, like a year and a half ago.”
He also teased to a partnership with the creation of the Hip-Hop Museum that’s slated to come to the Bronx by 2022.
Check out the full interview below and stream the project below.
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