It’s been two years since the release of Nas’ 12th studio LP Nasir, a project that, as the group of G.O.O.D. Music albums that surrounded its release, saw a lean seven tracks and features from Tony Williams, Diddy, 070 Shake, The-Dream, and — of course — Kanye West, who also helmed the album’s production. While he did also release last year’s The Lost Tapes 2, fans have been waiting for a follow-up that Nas had previously been working on — one that saw production from Swizz Beatz and RZA.
This week, Nas surprised his fans by announcing that a new album is completed and on the horizon. That album is titled King’s Disease, and is entirely produced by Hit-Boy. The alleged artwork for the album landed on social media as well.
In addition to the album and artwork unveiling, Nas also dropped off a quick strike trailer on his Instagram that shows him and Hit-Boy in the studio crafting the potential masterpiece. The trailer also saw Nas explaining that he intended to collaborate with the California beatsmith for a while:
“I’ve been trying to do this with this man for years… I finally got that time to work, that alignment…”
Before King’s Disease makes landfall, the hip hop world can check out the first single titled “Ultra Black,” which sets a very high standard in regards to what we can expect from the still mysterious body of work. While we still don’t know where those aforementioned Swizz and RZA tunes are, we can certainly be sure that some absolute heat will be arriving from the self-proclaimed God’s Son next Friday (August 21).
Until then, you can press play on “Ultra Black” below. In related news, Hit-Boy has also been busy as Half-A-Mil alongside Dom Kennedy — you can check their latest installment here.