Nas is giving fans hope that his long-awaited joint album with DJ Premier may finally be in the works.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday (April 17), the legendary Queensbridge MC shared a throwback photo of him and Preemo together in the 90s with the caption: “Then v.s Now. What if…”
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The comments were flooded with excitement as people speculated about the post being his roundabout way of confirming that their LP is on the way.
“Don’t play with my emotions like this,” one person wrote, while another added: “Preem & esco album, maybe? Probably? Hope fully lol?”
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Another comment read: “Here we gooooo!!!!!!!”
Word of a collaborative project by Nas and DJ Premier first made the rounds after the two mentioned teaming up for a full-length album during a 2007 interview with Scratch. Years went by, but nothing materialized besides the legendary producer repeatedly promising that it would come out some day.
Both veterans began working together after the scratch master heard Esco’s “Halftime” track for the first time. He loved the record so much that he wasted no time hopping on the MC’s debut album Illmatic to handle production alongside Large Professor, Q-Tip, Pete Rock and more.
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The songs released as part of that LP are still among Nas’ most revered work, namely joints such as “N.Y. State of Mind,” “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)” and “Represent.” The duo would continue to work with each other on songs such as “Nas Is Like” and “N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II” in subsequent years, but never on an entire album.
Despite not giving fans much of an update on the teased collaboration, Nas and Preemo reunited in 2022 when they joined forces on “Beat Breaks” off the producer’s Hip Hop 50: Vol. 1 EP. Later that year, the MC snuck a line in about the joint effort on his King’s Disease 3 album with Hit-Boy.
“Doesn’t matter this is sheer relief, I feel the breeze this is/ Superhero material, rap star status/ Premier album still might happen,” he raps on the track.
Meanwhile, his aforementioned debut is about to turn 30 years old, and the New York City native recently celebrated the milestone by paying tribute to those who helped him along the way.
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Taking to his Instagram in mid April, he noted that the well-worn nature of the throwback photos he shared was a sign of the times.
“Grainy pictures for grainy times. I had a dream I could get my favorite producers to produce on my debut album,” he wrote in the caption. “I knew exactly what I wanted and how it should be. But I didn’t know anyone except for Paul, so I asked him would he connect me to them all.”
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He continued: “The cool soul brother that he is helped me line it up. On April 19th we smashed shit. Even tho the album leaked months before the release date we still are apart of music history.
“Thank you Large Professor (Paul) and Dj Premier who drove into the projects to pick me up a time or two. Qtip , Pete Rock , and my man from The Bridge DJ LES, and my guy AZ who was just coming up himself. And thank you to everyone involved. Friday is the albums 30th. 2 The Listeners- ONE LOVE”
