Nas is showing no signs of slowing down the magic, revealing that he’s already “halfway through” recording his next album with Hit-Boy.
On Friday (July 21), Escobar and Hit-Boy dropped their fifth joint project,Magic 2, and on the second verse of track “Abracadabra,” Nas explains that he’s already hard at work putting the finishing touches to his next project.
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“I’m a magician, you should listen, it’s never the same tricks/ 2020 when we did the first one, five-album run, not a cursed one, it’s a blessed one/ By the time y’all hear this, we be halfway through the next one/ Bless up, all the rappers we lost, I’m hopin’ they rest up,” Nas raps on the track.
It’s unclear if God’s Son is plotting a third installment in the Magic series, a fourth installment of the Grammy-winning King’s Disease, or going in a completely new direction entirely. But whatever he decides to do, he’s in the midst of an impressive run.
Listen to “Abracadabra” below:
Earlier in Nas’ second verse on “Abracadabra,” he takes aim at those making end of year rap lists and the Queensbridge icon is demanding his respect.
“Y’all should be ashamed of your list (A plus), I put some pain into this/ I put my veins, blood, bones, soul, I put my brain into this/ Y’all movin’ brainless, anything to be famous,” he testifies.
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This could possibly be a shot at Rap Radar‘s Brian “B. Dot” Miller who left Nas completely off his Best Rappers of 2022 list but did have King’s Disease 3 at No. 7 on the Best Rap Albums of 2022 list.
Nas uncorked Magic 2 alongside Hit-Boy on Friday (July 21) after a series of secretive teasers; it includes features from 50 Cent and 21 Savage.
The last time fans saw both 50 and Nas on the same record was on 50 Cent’s 2002 mixtape Guess Who’s Back? on the tracks “Too Hot” and “Who U Rep With.”
50 spoke highly of Nas in a recent interview with XXL where he reflected on witnessing the Illmatic rapper’s intellect when they toured together back in the day. “He was ahead of us,” Fif said. “What he had, and I was looking at it going, ‘You gotta be careful’ because he was smarter than the music he was releasing.
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“He was smarter than things he was saying on the records because what he said on the records matched how things felt in the environment not who he was actually [in his head]. We’d be on the tour bus, and he’d be reading books and stuff.”
