King’s Disease III

Nas Reflects On “King’s Disease III,” Says Hip-Hop Is His “Therapist”

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Nas says that hip-hop has become his “therapist.” The legendary New York rapper discussed his career, working with Hit-Boy on King’s Disease III, and more during a new interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Saturday. Nas explained that, at some points during the recording process, Hit-Boy would ask him to re-use flows from his older songs.

“Sometimes I’d be like, ‘But I did that, I did that already.’ And he’d say, ‘I know you, you’re going to go into a new cadence on it. Can you, please, just do this flow right here? I promise you’,” Nas told WSJ. Of King’s Disease III, he added that he was pessimistic he’d ever make the record. “In my head, I said, ‘There’s never going to be a KD3,” Nas confessed. “Why did I say this? I’m tired.’”

Read More: Nas & Hit-Boy’s ‘King’s Disease III’ Album Review

Nas & Hit-Boy Ahead Of The Grammys

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 02: Nas and Hit-Boy attend the Pre-Grammy Brunch & Surf Club Label Launch Celebrating Hit-Boy at the Lavo Restaurant at The Palazzo Las Vegas on April 02, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

Nas released the first iteration of King’s Disease back in 2020. The album went on to win “Best Rap Album” at the Grammys. The follow-up, King’s Disease II, was nominated in the “Best Rap Album” category but lost out to Tyler, The Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost. Nas dropped King’s Disease III back in November.

Further in the interview, the soon-to-be 50-year-old reflected on his relationship with hip-hop. “It’s become my therapist, my friend,” Nas said. “It’s not always the happiest place, sometimes I want to do other things. But I feel compelled to be there. In this day and time, it’s all about the studio.” The Wall Street Journal piece comes days after Nas teamed up with Tobe Nwigwe and Jacob Banks for the new single, “On My Soul,” off of the soundtrack for Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts. The full film, along with the soundtrack, will be releasing on June 9.

Read More: Nas & Hit-Boy’s “King Disease III” First-Week Sales Projections Are In

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Nas Lets His Longevity Do The Talking In His Simplistic ’30’ Video

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Nas finally played his hometown Madison Square Garden last Friday, February 24. The one-night-only event celebrated Nas’ collaborative King’s Disease trilogy with Hit-Boy, and the New York legend is keeping King’s Disease III top of mind. The album arrived last November, but “30” received the video treatment today, March 1.

Directed by Sarah McColgan, Nas’ “30” video is poignantly simplistic. Shot in black-and-white, Nas enters an empty warehouse alone. It’s dark, except for light shining through the slightly cracked door. Nas lets his longevity do the talking — melodically running through everything he’s overcome (“I’m done with star chicks, I survived divorces”) and asserting his resiliency (“I’m wild for keepin’ it so timeless / Almost half a century with a crispy lineup”).

“Goin’ on thirty summers,” Nas raps. “We been movin’ how you f*ck n****s want / And my ’30 for 30′ highlights doin’ numbers.” (Of course, his iconic debut album, Illmatic, dropped in 1994.)

Last week, Nas visited The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and explained that, to him, King’s Disease encompasses “over-indulgence” and detailed how he’s navigated its potential pitfalls over the years.

“I read about a lot of artists that came up in our time or before our time, and some of them were wild people. And I learned a lot from them, and it kind of gave me some of the guidelines in this business,” he said, adding that the only way to cure the King’s Disease is to “kill the ego” and “make it about the music, make it about the art, and live your life.”

That approach paid off. King’s Disease peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in 2020, followed by King’s Disease II at No. 3 in 2021 and King’s Disease III at No. 10 last year. The first of the bunch earned Nas his first-ever Grammy by claiming Best Rap Album at the 2021 Grammys.

And while it’s billed as a King’s Disease trilogy for now, 50 Cent hinted at King’s Disease IV.

Watch the “30” video above.

Sheek Louch “Can’t Accept” That Quentin Miller Wrote Lyrics For Nas

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Sheek Louch “can’t accept” that Quentin Miller has writing credits on Nas’s “The Pressure” off of King’s Disease II. Moreover, that project was one of the best of 2021 from one of the best rappers ever, and The Lox member can’t accept he got help with his verses. During a conversation with VladTV, he reacted to Vlad’s comment about Miller writing for the legendary MC.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 03: Sheek Louch of The Lox performs with The Roots onstage during the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture at the Louisiana Superdome on July 3, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Essence)

“When you say ‘wrote for him,’” Louch asked. “Like, wrote his lyrics, or came up with the hook? ‘Cause you know that s**t matters. Like, say you did a hook for me, I’m cool with that. You can write a hook for me, hell yeah. If you say ‘I wrote those lyrics that people said was amazing,’ then it’s different.”

Moreover, Vlad and Louch discussed ghostwriting in the industry, which Miller infamously did for Drake. For example, they talked about how Kanye West doesn’t face these criticisms because he’s open about having writers help him. However, in the case of a seasoned MC like Nas, that accusation could mean a death sentence on your respectability in the game.

Before getting into Sheek’s thoughts more in detail, VladTV played an interview clip with Miller explaining his involvement in “The Pressure.”

“So just to clear it up,” Vlad asked Quentin, “what exactly did you do on the song ‘The Pressure’?”

“Man, I was just a part of it,” he expressed “I don’t even want to do all that. I was a part of the song though, man, and people gon’ have to live with it. People are hurt, people still comment at me like ‘You lying.’ Yes, man, I did. I’m not saying it to hurt Nas’s legacy, I’m only a part of one song. I worked with Nas, I’m gonna leave it at that. That’s the only song I worked on with Nas that came out.”

Overall, Miller hesitated when it came to details, but also made it clear that people shouldn’t take this too seriously. Still, Sheek said that he “can’t accept” that Quentin helped Nas with his verse, and said that he probably helped with the chorus instead.

While Vlad made the argument that Nas is successful and accomplished enough to not require the artistic credibility, Louch disagreed. Moreover, he said he understands why producers and rappers work alone, because when people get creative together, they demand recognition. “Whoever write your rhymes might as well hold your microphone,” the hip-hop veteran concluded. During their conversation, they also discussed the YSL case and the dangers of snitching.

Still, what do you think of Sheek Louch refusing to believe that Quentin Miller helped Nas write his verses? Whatever the case, let us know in the comments and check out the full clip down below. Also, as always, come back to HNHH for the latest insights, stories, rumors, and upheld traditions in the hip-hop game.