Nas has sparked both excitement and confusion among his fans after posting a cryptic teaser on Instagram.
The Queensbridge rap legend quietly cleared his IG page on Wednesday (July 12) before uploading a brief and mysterious video of a storm, sans a caption.
The 10-second clip contains little more than rainfall and thunder sounds, along with flashing lightning that briefly illuminates the cloudy sky to reveal an image of Nas’ giant “N” logo.
With the post lacking any sort of explanation, fans were left to speculate what it might mean — and many seem to think a new Nas album is on the horizon.
“Please tell me another album coming?!?!!” one fan excitedly wrote in the comments section, while another predicted: “Escobar Season begins.”
Hit-Boy, the Grammy-winning producer behind Nas’ last four albums, seemingly hinted that he may be involved in whatever’s coming by commenting: “dark mode” and leaving three fire emojis.
Fans have good reason to believe a new Nas album might be around the corner after it was recently reported that a fourth installment in his acclaimed King’s Disease series is in the works.
The cat was let out of the bag in 50 Cent’s interview with Billboard in February, in which he discussed his impending musical comeback, ever-expanding multimedia empire and the 20th anniversary of his blockbuster debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’, among other topics.
The publication noted that in addition to working on a new solo album with Eminem and Dr. Dre, the G-Unit mogul is set to make a rare appearance on Nas’ forthcoming King’s Disease 4 LP.
If so, it would mark the Queens, New York natives’ first collaboration in over two decades following “Too Hot” and “Who U Rep With” from 50’s 2002 mixtape Guess Who’s Back?
Nas added fuel to the fire last month when he revealed that he’s back in the studio and currently in a “creative growth spurt.”
“I’m in one of these creative growth spurts,” he told Vanity Fair. “It’s something that I’m really excited about, and it surprises me — but I’m not too, too surprised because I was also waiting for the day that I felt like this again, and I knew it would come.”
When asked about his King’s Disease series with Hit-Boy and if he plans to continue adding to it, he shared that he really enjoys the “constant flow” of music and doesn’t “wanna stop it once it’s flowing the way it’s flowing.”
“It feels very free, and I just wanna see what happens as I stick to it,” he explained. “And I’ve been sticking to it, and it’s been my whole life now. Like, if I’m recording, I don’t do anything else, really. It hasn’t been this way for me for probably 20 years.
“I think that’s what I think today, maybe tomorrow I think about, well, actually accurately, seven years, or since I’ve been really in the studio, but when it comes in my head now, it’s been that long — 20 years.”
That momentum has certainly been evident since the release of King’s Disease III last November, with Nas recently making two blockbuster cameos on Metro Boomin’s Across the Spider-Verse cut “Nas Morales” and his “On My Soul” collaboration with Tobe Nwigwe and Jacob Banks, from the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts soundtrack.
The king is back! Where his crown at?! Nah, the king has never left! No other rapper his gar is doing it as well as he’s doing it! In his prime at 49!
cuz I am not tryna hear another kings disease, it’s like most of rap is nothing but sequels nowadays, move onto another idea my g
Drake got something new and exciting for ya bub.
Please no more with hit I wasn’t a fan at All took away from his new York sound
What!!! Have you not heard magic? Thun? And other records…. Some people just love to hear themselves talk
The Truth is the most “New York” sounding track since 1998.
man if you don’t pipe your wannabe hip hop head face a$$ down, Ghost Nas and Black thought are my all time favorite emcees, I’m just over hearing Nas with hitboy and another kings disease. like I said, time for another idea. hitboy is okay but there hasn’t been a classic Nas song out of that union from them even though Nas sounds as good as he did in past albums. but ofc you a cornball and think someone likes drake just bc I say something you lames don’t agree with
I agree. I’ve been listening to Nas since 1994. He’s one of my favorite MCs of all time but I just don’t find those KD albums very listenable. 1 was weak, 2 was ok, 3 was good, Magic was just bad, talk about ugly, that album was ugly. To me Hitboy’s beats sound stiff and kinda corny. Definitely not NY sounding. And Nas just struggles with his flow sometimes and it’s like there’s nobody there to tell him to rewrite the verse or just do it over. I’m glad Nas has hit a creative spurt and I’ll always check for his stuff, he’s a legend, but move on from this Hitboy stuff, it sounds cheap.
Keep em coming, by now Nas has proven more than enough. Even If things get more mediocre overall, which doesn’t have to be the case, there will always be some great tracks from him. As long as he wants to release music he should do it. It’s much appreciated.
PLEASE NO MORE SINGING AND SOUNDING LIKE HE’S IN HIS FEELINGS SONGS FROM DRAKE.. VERY GIRLY.
That Nas n 50 collab would be straight fire. They flows compliment each other. It might turn into something hot enough to drop as a single. It’s about that time. The fans been waiting.
Magic my favorite en kd2.all of em are great.can’t wait for the goat.greatest artist.
Magic my favorite en kd2.all of em are great.can’t wait for the goat.greatest artist.from Zimbabwe