Hit-Boy and Nas' prolific four-year collaborative run may have never happened without Frank Ocean, according to a story the Grammy Award-winning producer shared with the Rap Radar Podcast.
In the latest episode of the popular podcast show, Hit explained how the Blonde singer introduced him to Esco. It all happened thanks to a demo that the producer made with Ocean that eventually came across Nas' desk.
"We met originally in like 2013. I did a demo with Frank Ocean, and Frank Ocean played it for Nas," said Hit-Boy. "Me and Frank had a session of our own, we were just working on music, and he did a hook. He was like, 'Yo I'm about to go work with Nas. I wanna play this hook for him.' He played it, and Nas was rocking with it."
That song turned out to be "Royalty" off Nas' Lost Tapes 2, with RaVaughn taking over Ocean's part on the track. It also marks the first time Nas and Ocean worked together.
Nas and Hit-Boy joining forces kicked into gear with their first project, King's Disease, which was released in 2020. They followed that up with King's Disease 2, King's Disease 3, Magic 2, and their latest and final release, Magic 3, which arrived last month. In total, that's six albums and two trilogies in three years.
Elsewhere in the Rap Radar interview, Hit-Boy admitted Magic 3 was their favorite collaboration out of the bunch because it was the album that he was trying to create for Nas sonically. He also explained how he prepared to produce for an artist of Nas' caliber while also giving him critiques.
"I feel like the only way I was gonna get to be that producer I really want to be was to just produce him and be honest and give my input," Hit-Boys said. "If I feel like, man, maybe you should try to move the second verse to the first verse, you know, I mean, like just try to shift things around like or just like maybe speed up the flow on this part...it's just it's like not really critiquing him. It's more so just being a producer."
Last month, Nas shared a video of himself and Hit-Boy speaking on Magic 3 on Instagram. One of the biggest takeaways from their conversation was Nas stating there would be no issue getting back in the studio and dropping more trilogies.
"I've been blessed to be able to do that," said of their incredible three-year run. "To be able to do that and have the sixth album and to be complete in that, We can definitely go for more albums, easily."
