Rap legend Nas has confirmed plans to create a follow-up to 2002’s Lost Tapes, which consisted of the Queens emcee’s previously unreleased tracks.
Nas said in a recent interview with MTV that his new compilation will be released on December 14th.
“I’m unloading records I want the streets to hear,” the Queens rapper said in an e-mail. “Cleaning out my hard drives. Gonna do this [Lost Tapes 2], then start fresh. I’m dropping my solo LP before the summer of 2011. I love the energy the world has been giving me over the last two years. But now it’s time to focus on owning the streets again.”
The original compilation disc dropped on September 24, 2002.
Several of the tracks touch on many personal issues as I Am… was supposed to be an autobiography. Examples include “Poppa Was a Playa” a song which was ghost-produced by a young Kanye West for then-mentor Deric Angelettie. It’s a record where Nas recounts childhood memories of his father Olu Dara‘s self-indulgent lifestyle. Another personal track is “Fetus” where Nas recounts his experience while inside his mother’s womb before birth. Other notable songs include the social commentaries “Purple”, “Black Zombie” and “Drunk By Myself”—a song that ventures into the tragic mind of an alcoholic. The Lost Tapes, along with Stillmatic, and to a lesser extent, God’s Son, revived the underground credibility that Nas seemed to have lost over the years while breaking into the mainstream. Gaining notable critical acclaim upon its release, the album is said to have some of his most artistically developed work ever.
