For much of the record, Nas sounds like he’s trying too hard. And there are indeed some highlights: The Swizz Beatz-produced “No Bad Energy,” a moody slow-burner washed in atmospheric background vocals that suits his wistful nostalgia, the crunchy lo-fi wizardry of RZA’s “Highly Favored,” or the vintage Queens boom-bap of Pete Rock’s standout “Queensbridge Politics,” in which Nas plays the wise old uncle, at his most comfortable and confident.īut it’s tragic to hear what he’s done with some of these productions. The credits for The Lost Tapes 2 reads like a hip-hop all-star team: Swizz Beatz, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, No I.D., RZA, Hit-Boy, Eric Hudson, DJ Dahi, Pete Rock, and the Alchemist are all featured. Miles away from the leaked gems on The Lost Tapes-considered some of Nas’ best work-this sequel comprises detritus from the last decade or so of Nas’ storied career.Įven if the lows of Nas’ post-millennium output have been plagued by corny hooks and questionable beat selection, his failures were often in the service of experimentation-or in the case of Nastradamus, a rushed production process-and he’s never lacked access to the game’s premier production talents.

Originally meant for a 2003 release, the project was delayed by his signing with Def Jam and their subsequent disagreements, and it’s unlikely this compilation is the same as the one he intended to release back then.

When they finally saw an official release in 2002 as The Lost Tapes, it solidified the resurgence sparked by 2001’s Stillmatic and the legendary beef with JAY-Z.īut The Lost Tapes 2 is a sequel in name only. Some would be released as part of the career nadir that was late ’99’s Nastradamus, but the rest circulated for years in varying fidelity, creating an aura of mystique around these “lost” tracks. The leak blew up that grand scheme, and the album was officially released as the haphazardly assembled single-disc I Am, without most of the leaked songs. Sign up for our email newsletter to keep up with our weekly new music recommendations for more dope new music like Nas The Lost Tapes 2 and more.I Am.The Autobiography was intended as a concept double-album, with one disc recounting his life from birth to death by suicide and the second dedicated to his afterlife. Should you subscribe to or purchase music, it helps Celebrity Myxer monetize from recommendation of quality content. – “Learn You” (Single)ĭisclaimer: there are some affiliate links to music in this article. Akay the Pharaoh – “Summer Of 02′” (Single).Joyner Lucas featuring Timbaland – “10 Bands” (Single).Conway The Machine featuring Eminem – “Bang” (Single).Julian Love Music – “Blacked” ( Single).Freddie Gibbs & Madlib featuring Pusha T & Killer Mike – “Palmolive” ( Single).Rick Ross featuring Swizz Beatz – “Big Tyme” ( Single).Wale featuring Jeremih “On Chill” (Single).Queen Naija – “Away From You” (Single) Exclusive Live Performance.

Queen Naija Performs “Away From You” At 2019 BET Awards Experience In an interview with Trevor Noah the emcee says, “You kinda gotta guess like, what year did he make this one?” Nas further elaborates, “Some of the songs are like 10 years old, 12 years old, and some of them are as early as a year-and-a-half ago.” The lyricist’s phenomenal story-teller flow doesn’t identify a time period. When you try to guess which year they were made you really can’t. There are no rapper features… just Nasir assisted by the vocals of others on select tracks. You can stream it or purchase the album here. Nas has beat production from some of music’s heavy-hitters including Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz, No I.D, Pete Rock, The Alchemist, Hit-Boy and more! Music editor Tkaey says about the album, “as far as the production- it might be one of his best works yet.” Sample it above. The new project features unreleased songs from Hip-Hop Is Dead, Untitled, Life Is Good, and Nasir. Nas The Lost Tapes 2 album has released and it’s dope as we expected! Similar to The Lost Tapes compilation album from 2002, this joint features sixteen tracks that didn’t make their final albums.

Nas the lost tapes 2 songs