S. Samuel
Nas has confirmed plans to create a follow-up to 2002's Lost Tapes, which consisted of the Queens emcee's previously unreleased tracks.
According to the rap veteran, his new compilation will drop December 14th.
“I’m unloading records I want the streets to hear,” the Queens rapper said in an e-mail. “Cleaning out my hard drives. Gonna do this [Lost Tapes 2], then start fresh. I’m dropping my solo LP before the summer of 2011. I love the energy the world has been giving me over the last two years. But now it’s time to focus on owning the streets again.” (MTV)
Yesterday, Nas tweeted about the compilation being in the works.
“It’s coming… LOST TAPES VOLUME TWO!!!,” he wrote Wednesday (September 15). (Nas’ Twitter)
The original compilation disc dropped on September 24, 2002.
Several of the tracks touch on many personal issues as I Am… was supposed to be an autobiography. Examples include “Poppa Was a Playa” a song which was ghost-produced by a young Kanye West for then-mentor Deric Angelettie. It’s a record where Nas recounts childhood memories of his father Olu Dara‘s self-indulgent lifestyle. Another personal track is “Fetus” where Nas recounts his experience while inside his mother’s womb before birth. Other notable songs include the social commentaries “Purple”, “Black Zombie” and “Drunk By Myself”—a song that ventures into the tragic mind of an alcoholic. The Lost Tapes, along with Stillmatic, and to a lesser extent, God’s Son, revived the underground credibility that Nas seemed to have lost over the years while breaking into the mainstream. Gaining notable critical acclaim upon its release, the album is said to have some of his most artistically developed work ever. (Wikipedia)
Producer Bangladesh recently talked with SOHH about preparing to work with Nas for his follow-up solo LP to 2008’s Untitled.
“I just do what I would like to hear from him,” Bang said referring to putting together beats for Nas. “I’m a super Nas fan. I’ve been a Nas fan since he came out. Since the first song. With me being a producer and me having my sound, I would like to hear him on harder beats, more 808-driven, just more aggression. With a Nas record, typically to me, the songs will make the track good. It’s not the track that makes the song good and that’s what I want to bring. I want to bring the track and the song so that you’re not only jamming to the beat with the words on it, but you can jam to the beat and the words and you can jam to the acapella with no beat to it. I think he’s a great songwriter but sometimes his beats aren’t as good as his songs. I want to bring that element where it’s more aggressive, more heavy, something that’s going to pay more attention to Nas in an area where he doesn’t get looked at a lot.” (SOHH)
Listen to Nas’ “Doo Rags” from Lost Tapes down below:
