As Nas readies his 10th LP, Life Is Good, the Queens emcee reflects on the latest release from the album, “The Don .”

“When Salaam [Remi] played me the beat for it, I said, ‘That’s the single — do this and do that and we’re golden.’ So he started flipping it around,” said Nas of the cut in an interview with MTV News.

Nas recalled how the passing of Heavy D, one of the song’s producers along with Salaam Remi and Da Internz, coincided with the development of the song. “When we heard that Heavy D died, of course we were messed up, and Salaam called me and told me, ‘You know your record “The Don?” You know who gave me that, right?’:

“He’s like, ‘Heavy D gave me that. He liked what we did with the other single, “Nasty ,” and he sent me this record.’ And the rest is history,” Nas continued. “So rest in peace, Heavy D.”

Watch the interview below:

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