The legendary rapper and producer duo Nas and Hit-Boy shared a special surprise for fans Thursday night, when they dropped their new nine-track album, Magic, that was announced just a few hours before its release.
This marks the MC’s second new album of 2021, following the release of King’s Disease II in August, which in turn followed up 2020’s King’s Disease.
“MAGIC is in the air,” the rapper wrote on Instagram as he shared the record’s artwork and back sleeve. “Midnight ET brand new music to vibe to.”
The back sleeve revealed the tracklist for the record, compromising nine new tracks, including ‘Wave Gods’, a collaboration with A$AP Rocky and DJ Premier. The image also confirmed that he was collaborating again with Hit-Boy, who he had worked with on the King’s Disease albums Nas himself also holds an executive producing credit on the album, his fourteenth overall.
Nas had previously spoken about making a third album with Hit-Boy, who he has referred to as his “Quincy Jones”, shortly after the release of King’s Disease II. At the time, he had said that while they had no plans to collaborate again, he wouldn’t rule it out if the time and the idea was right. “I feel like the next thing I do, if I was to work with Hit-Boy on the next thing I do, I think that we might do something that was going to be magical,” he commented.
“I think what we have is magic. And I think the next thing we do would have to be the next page. And that, to me, excites me, that possibility […] I think if we do another one, I’m excited about that idea, but you know, we’re celebrating this one now.”
The duo had also collaborated on the standalone single ‘Big Nas’, which was released as a preview for Nas’ MasterClass series on hip-hop storytelling.
King’s Disease II has been nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2022 Grammy Awards, with “Bath Salts” also nominated for Best Rap Song. King’s Disease won Best Rap Album at this year’s edition of the prestigious music awards.