New York, NY (Top40 Charts) After exciting fans everywhere by teasing new music earlier this week, rap legend Nas - who's career spans over three decades as one of the undisputed greatest MC's of all time - has announced his highly-anticipated forthcoming album King's Disease—out August 21st via Mass Appeal! Today, Nas dropped his explosive new single "Ultra Black" alongside the first batch of his exclusive King's Disease merch. King's Disease marks Nas' first new album in 2 years. The album is entirely produced by Hit-Boy (JAY-Z, Beyoncé,
Travis Scott) and Hit-Boy and Gabriel "G Code" Zardes serve as the albums co-executive producers.
Produced by Hit-Boy, "Ultra Black" is an anthemic, uplifting reminder of the unignorable contributions made by the
Black community. A testament of the times, "Ultra Black" is a statement to being unapologetically Pro-Black, and thus pro-humanity. While the color black often connotes feelings of darkness, Nas reimagines the term to represent its richness, complexity, and profound beauty. An electrifying phrase honoring the
Black community as the life force of culture, the term extends beyond race, class, or creed. It is symbolic of the fortitude, power, legacy, and interconnectedness of all people worldwide. Just as black absorbs all light, "Ultra Black" represents the unification of all people, spotlighting
Black joy and the promising future ahead.
Nas (Nasir Jones) first reached an international audience when his track "
Halftime" was tapped by producer MC Serch as the opening cut on 1992's
Zebrahead movie soundtrack. Signed to Columbia Records, the first full-length album by poet and rhyme-master Nas arrived in 1994, Illmatic. The RIAA platinum hip-hop landmark featured "It Ain't Hard To Tell," "The World Is Yours," and "One." 1996 brought the breakthrough double-platinum It Was Written (#1 R&B for 7 weeks, #1 pop for 4 weeks), with his first major crossover singles "
Sweet Dreams" and "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)." Success continued with the double-platinum I Am in 1999 (again #1 pop and #1 R&B), with the chart singles "Nas Is Like," "Hate Me Now" (featuring Puff Daddy), and "You Won't See Me Tonight" (featuring Aaliyah).
Subsequent albums by Nas included: the RIAA platinum Nastradamus (1999, #2 R&B, #7 pop, with "Nastradamus" and "You Owe Me," featuring Ginuwine); the platinum Stillmatic (2001, #1 R&B, #5 pop, with "Got Ur Self A…," " "One Mic," and "Rule"); the platinum God's Son (2002, #1 R&B, with huge R&B/pop crossover hits "
Made You Look" and "
I Can"); and the platinum double-CD Street's Disciple (2004, #2 R&B, #5 pop, with "Bridging the Gap" and "Just a Moment"). And his 2012 album, Life Is Good earned him 4 Grammy nominations including Rap Album of the Year and is certified RIAA gold.
Over the years, Nas has also been the featured guest on a number of crossover hits by other artists, among them: Allure ("Head Over Heels," 1997);
Missy Elliott (the #1 "Hot Boyz," 1999); fellow Queensbridge rapper
Mobb Deep ("It's Mine," 1999);
Jagged Edge ("I Got It 2," 2002); J-Lo ("I'm Gonna Be Alright," 2002);
Kanye West ("Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)," 2006);
DJ Khaled ("Nas Album Done," 2016); Swizz Beats ("Echo," 2018);
Jhene Aiko ("10K Hours," 2020) and others.
In addition to his successful career in music, Nas has pursued a career in motion pictures that began with his co-starring role (alongside DMX) in 1998's cult classic crime drama Belly, a film by director Hype Williams (with whom Nas has done several music videos). Most recently, he was the executive producer of the 2016 Netflix series The Get Down.
Nas is also the co-founder of Mass Appeal Records.
