Nas released his latest collaboration with Hit-Boy, Magic 2 on July 21. It's the iconic rapper's 16th studio album and follows November 2022's King's Disease III. Once an almost guaranteed top-5 hitmaker, Nas has seen his stature drop with his last handful of releases. Magic (December 2021) peaked at #27, his worst-ever performance for a solo album. Meanwhile, King's Disease III peaked at #10. It's the first time that Nas has had back-to-back albums fail to peak in the top five.
Now you'd think that after just releasing an album, you'd take a break and collect yourself. However, Nas is not like most people. To that point, Nas literally used a track on Magic 2 to hint at what he's currently working on. Turns out, he's hard at work producing another album with Hit-Boy. If true, the upcoming project would mark their sixth collaboration.
Nas Reportedly Halfway Through Next Album
The hint to Nas' next project comes on the track "Abracadabra". The second verse of the track explicitly points to Nas already working on album number 17. “I’m a magician, you should listen, it’s never the same tricks/ 2020 when we did the first one, five-album run, not a cursed one, it’s a blessed one/ By the time y’all hear this, we be halfway through the next one/ Bless up, all the rappers we lost, I’m hopin’ they rest up." So yeah, if the song is to be believed, Nase is already halfway through creating his next album. However, it's unclear whether it will be Magic 3, King's Disease IV, or something new entirely.
However, Abracadabra is an interesting track for a number of reasons. Earlier in the song, Nas also took aim at the music media industry, especially when it came to end-of-year listicles. “Y’all should be ashamed of your list (A plus), I put some pain into this/ I put my veins, blood, bones, soul, I put my brain into this/ Y’all movin’ brainless, anything to be famous." Some have taken this as a shot at B. Dot at Rap Radar. The veteran journalist left Nas off his 2022 rappers list but had King's Disease III as a top-ten album of the year.
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