Hit-Boy Shares Story Behind Lost Nas & Frank Ocean Collaboration

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Hitboy attends the 2013 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom on August 22, 2013 in New York City.
Hit Boy reveals the story behind the lost Nas & Frank Ocean collaboration, "No Such Thing As White Jesus."

Hit-Boy has produced some of the most memorable songs to drop within the past 10 years. He's worked alongside some of the biggest artists in the game including Kanye West, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, among others. In 2014, he produced a Nas and Frank Ocean collaboration, "No Such Thing As White Jesus." Although a snippet surfaced, a full version was never released. In a new interview, Hit-Boy details the backstory about the song that never came to be.

Hit-Boy detailed the story about the Nas and Frank Ocean collaboration, "No Such Thing As White Jesus" to DJBooth. Hit-Boy and Frank Ocean began speaking to each other since roughly 2006. However, after Hit-Boy's success with "N*ggas In Paris, Frank Ocean reached out and asked him for beats for an upcoming studio session. Frank Ocean ended up recording a hook on one of the tracks and titled it, "No Such Thing As White Jesus."

"He named it “No Such Thing As White Jesus,” and from there he told me the next day he had a studio session with Nas and told me he would play it for him. He’s playing it for him, and Nas hopped on it." Hit-Boy said.

Frank Ocean recorded the song around the time Nas was working on Life is Good but it never made the cut. Hit Boy lost the hard drive that the song was on then recovered it before losing it again. 

"After the album came out, I ended up recovering that drive, and I had it for a while, and then I ended up losing it again." He said, "All I have is the original hook from the original session that we did, so I don’t think it’s gonna see the light of day, but the hook is amazing! It’s just classic Frank over some hip-hop shit I produced."

Nas had apparently reached out to get the files but at that point, Hit-Boy couldn't find the hard drive. 


no such thing as white jesus

Hit-Boy Shares Story Behind Lost Nas & Frank Ocean Collaboration
About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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