While Nas’ collaborations with Hit-Boy have been the primary driver of his successful career Renaissance of late, there remains one producer that fans still want to work with the Queens rap icon. Ever since he heavily contributed to Nas’ groundbreaking 1994 debut Illmatic, fans have clamored for a full Nas project produced by DJ Premier. The two hip-hop pioneers have acknowledged those requests in the past, promising to make rap fans’ dreams come true, but aside from a handful of singles, little has ever come of those assurances.
However, come July 15, that could very well be changing. That’s the date DJ Premier put in a tweet earlier today along with a video from outside a studio control room with what very much sounds like a new Nas song produced by Premo blasting through the doorway. And what else do you see hanging on the wall but the gold sales plaque for Illmatic? The suggestion is clear: that Nas and Premier have joined forces at the successor to the legendary D&D Studios, Kaufman Astoria Studios in Long Island City, Queens.
7/15 @Nas pic.twitter.com/sC3Z0L3dPH
— DJ Premier (@REALDJPREMIER) July 7, 2022
Of course, the duo could just be releasing one standalone single and using the joint album speculation to generate the necessary buzz for it — after all, they’ve done it before. But with Nas’ collaborations with Hit-Boy prompting his career revival (and another on the way), he could have found the necessary creative spark to try out similar experiments with other producers, getting over his former reticence toward working with one beatmaker for a full project. I guess we’ll all find out next Friday, when whatever they’re working on officially hits DSPs — hopefully, with more news about whatever comes next.
