Closing the recording of the anticipated album, still set to be titled Nigger, Nas is making bold collaborative moves. After already confirming work with Erykah Badu protege Jay Electronica [click to read], Nasir confirmed on video with OnSmash that he’s worked with stic.man of dead prez. “To work with a producer that’s already thinking [what I am] is the perfect blend,” said Nas. “If you ever listen to a dead prez album, where they go with it, it’s music. It’s samples, but they put instrumentation [in too]. stic.man was the perfect go-to guy“
Perhaps the most surprising thing the Queensbridge legend revealed was the he is not only a fan of MF DOOM, but that Nas is seeking the British-born, New York-raised and Atlanta-based producer and emcee. “I’ve also been wanting to get with MF DOOM; I don’t know what that’s gonna take take, trying to get with him before the album is done. [DOOM and Jay Electronica] might be my favorite,” said the Def Jam superstar.
The video, courtesy of OnSmash, can be viewed below:
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Nearly 15 years ago, DOOM, then the leader of rap group KMD, released a racially controversial album in his own right, Black Bastards. The work, featuring would-be classics as “Sweet Premium Wine” and “What A Niggy Know?” After nearly a decade of being shelved by Elektra Records, the release saw light in 2001 through Sub Verse Music, owned and operated by Big Juss of Company Flow fame. In addition to the release’s striking title, the album cover art featured a lynched Sambo character.
MF DOOM and Nas have crossed paths before. DOOM produced records for 3rd Bass and Pete Nice in the early ’90s, simultaneous to MC Serch‘s Serchlite Management of a young Nas.
Recently, DOOM has worked with Def Jam on Ghostface‘s Fishscale [click to read]and More Fish [click to read] albums. Besides production, largely recycled beats from previous independent solo albums, DOOM has not released an album since 2005’s The Mouse and the Mask collaboration with Danger Mouse, although numerous catalogue releases have been reissued.
[Writer’s Note:In a 2003 interview, DOOM told me that he had recalled meeting Nas in a studio when the Queensbridge rapper was a teenager, but the two never became very close. DOOM did say that he respected Nas‘ work. A promotional mixtape was made that year called NastraDOOMus, blending Nas‘ Nastradamus album with instrumentals from MF DOOM‘s Operation Doomsday.]
