Art by Daniel Arsham
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
Hip-hop icon Nas –esteemed for a quarter-century as one of the undisputed greatest MC’s of all time – fulfills a long-standing promise to himself and his loyal fans with the July 19 release of THE LOST TAPES 2 via Mass Appeal/Def Jam Recordings.
THE LOST TAPES 2 compiles selected unreleased tracks from Nas’ last four albums that he has released – Hip-Hop is Dead (2006), Untitled (2008), Life is Good (2012), and his most recent Nasir (2018).
The Instagram video clip that Nas posted on June 11 teasing THE LOST TAPES 2 has received millions views to date. Nas also revealed his exclusive The Lost Tapes 2 merch collaboration with Aimé Leon Dore today. All merch items are available now at shop.nasirjones.com. Also, Nas unveiled the trailer featuring a snippet of “Lost Freestyle” produced by Statik Selektah.
On July 11, co-headliners Nas and Mary J. Blige will commence their first tour together, at the South Florida Fairgrounds Coral Sky Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach. The North American “Royalty Tour” will run through September (Please see complete itinerary below). Prior to the tour, Nas will be headlining the 25th Anniversary Of Essence Festival, taking place July 5-7 in New Orleans.
More than a decade and a half has passed since 2002, when Nas first compiled the original volume of The Lost Tapes. That collection likewise focused on unreleased tracks that didn’t make it onto previous albums, namely I Am… (1999) and Stillmatic (2001). When Nas announced that he had a similar project in mind encompassing unreleased tracks from the past 15 years, fans rejoiced. THE LOST TAPES 2 has turned those fans’ dreams into reality.
Nas (Nasir Jones) first reached an international audience when his track “Halftime” was tapped by producer MC Serch as the opening cut on 1992’s Zebrahead movie soundtrack. Signed to Columbia Records, the first full-length album by poet and rhyme-master Nas arrived in 1994, Illmatic. The RIAA platinum hip-hop landmark featured “It Ain’t Hard To Tell,” “The World Is Yours,” and “One.” 1996 brought the breakthrough double-platinum It Was Written (#1 R&B for 7 weeks, #1 pop for 4 weeks), with his first major crossover singles “Sweet Dreams” and “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That).” Success continued with the double-platinum I Am in 1999 (again #1 pop and #1 R&B), with the chart singles “Nas Is Like,” “Hate Me Now” (feat. Puff Daddy), and “You Won’t See Me Tonight” (feat. Aaliyah).
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