Nas Drafts Kanye, will.i.am, Marley For New 'Hip-Hop'

[Damien J.]

New York rapper Nas is close to putting the finishing touches on his Def Jam debut, "Hip-Hop Is Dead ... The N," due Dec. 19. The album features collaborations with Kanye West, Dr. Dre, the Game, Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley and the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am, who produced the Iron Butterfly-sampling title track.

On that song, Nas claims to be "on my second marriage / hip-hop's my first wife," and also cleverly references his new home: "Like my girl Foxy, a n**** went Def." The cut lifts the immortal riff from Iron Butterfly's "Inna Gadda Davida."

Another track, "White Man's Paper," is pounding, reggae-influenced cut with a thick, dubby bassline, while "Still Dreamin'" finds Nas trading verses with West. "QB True G" boasts the talents of the Game on the mic and Dr. Dre behind the boards.

"Hip-Hop Is Dead" will be the follow-up to 2004's "Streets Disciple," which peaked at No. 5 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 699,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The disc will be one of two albums to be jointly marketed by Def Jam and Columbia, Nas' previous label.

This report is provided by Billboard.com

[J Bananas]

On that song, Nas claims to be "on my second marriage / hip-hop's my first wife," and also cleverly references his new home: "Like my girl Foxy, a n**** went Def." The cut lifts the immortal riff from Iron Butterfly's "Inna Gadda Davida."

am i trippin or did he not already use that for his last single

[MontrealCity's Most]

youre trippin......................................na jkus playing i dont eve know wtf that song is.

[everlast1986]

do they really need to post the same news about the album every week?

[WestCoasta]

sounds like the makings of a potential piece of shit

[Matty]

when premo was gonna handle most/all of the album with some dre and quik too it sounded like it would be dope but now its another bog standard release with your standard list of multiple producers. can't see it being a great overall cd although will prolly be some really nice tracks.

[Nutty]

sounds like the makings of a potential piece of shit

lol. Be interesting how the album turns out.

[Tha G In Deee]

On that song, Nas claims to be "on my second marriage / hip-hop's my first wife," and also cleverly references his new home: "Like my girl Foxy, a n**** went Def." The cut lifts the immortal riff from Iron Butterfly's "Inna Gadda Davida."

am i trippin or did he not already use that for his last single

^Nope, not trippin', he used it on "Thief's Theme" from his last album...

[teecee]

Somehow this cd i think is gonna be dope, probably some sketchy songs, but i'm betting on some amazing ones as well.  Its shaping up to be more IWW than Illmatic, which is fine with me.................

And I'm not a fan of WIll I Am by any means, but dude is more versatile than peeps think.  He did Ordinary People and Save Room for John Legend, and you'd never guess compared to the other shit he's done.

[everlast1986]

^^how could he have done "Ordinary People" if its just John Legend playing the piano the whole song?

[teecee]

Its called PRODUCING man, that doesn't always mean making beats and shit, it also involves how to sing/rap, when to say certain shit, etc.............
Anyway, Will I Am came up with the melody and concept of the song; John played the piano and they wrote the song together. 

[urbanchaos]

10 bucks hip hop is dead is gonna flop real bad