Nas treated New York City to a pop-up show presented by iHeart Radio and Verizon on Thursday night (July 26). After leaving the stage, he sat for a live conversation with radio host Angie Martinez where he chatted about NASIR, working with Kanye West and — much to the crowd’s excitement — a new album.
“I want to work with the greatest producers in Hip Hop. I had the opportunity to work with DJ Premier and Dr Dre,” Nas said, discussing his recent collaboration with West. “We have mutual respect. I wanted to have an album with him. For years we’ve been talking about doing it like this, this has been a conversation for a couple of years.”
He also touched on the fevered recording process and the significance of holding the listening party in his old neighborhood. “I was just waiting for beats,” he said with a laugh. “I was sitting back and watching albums come out like ‘Yo, we got like one week.’ But he’s a professional when it comes to making beats.”
“We finished like 95 percent of the album then went to the park where I grew up in Queens to play the listening party. That was a crazy experience,” he continued. “That’s where it started, in the park. I had to do it there.”
As the interview was drawing to a close, Martinez asked Nas what he has coming up. “[There’s] another album,” he confirmed. “I had already been working on it before I started with Kanye … half of it was already there. I did do something with Swizz [Beatz], and some stuff with RZA.”
Nas assured fans they wouldn’t have to wait very long for the next LP. “I was just busy, doing a lot of stuff that kept me away,” he said of the six-year gap between Life Is Good and NASIR.
“Now I get to do it from another level,” he says of the evolution of his music. “I get to make music from an older point of view … I can’t wait. I can’t wait to please everybody.”
