Nas is back with the brand new Hit-Boy executive-produced album Magic 2, a sequel to his 2021 release.
The record spans 11 tracks, with 50 Cent and 21 Savage credited as guests on "Office Hours" and "One Mic, One Gun," respectively. The tracklist name-checks Emmy nominee Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo, Wu-Tang: An American Saga) and NBA legend Earvin Magic Johnson.
As for those features, 50 took to Instagram to write of his fellow Queens native, "Yal ain’t herd [sic] me in minute, @nas felt like it was time so it’s done."
The 21 Savage link-up arrived last fall as a follow-up to the Her Loss MC taking heat for saying Nas is “not relevant.” 21 raps “when you turn a legend, no such thing as relevance” on their collab, and Nas wrote on Instagram at the time, “Excited to collaborate with my young brother and I hope more artist use turbulent moments and turn them into a time to make new art.”
Hit-Boy shared a studio clip on his Instagram just before Magic 2 hit, showing himself and Nas laughing about the fact they're already on their fifth album.
“I ain’t thought Hit even wanna work in 2019,” Nas confided with a smile.
In his caption, the three-time Grammy-winning superproducer wrote, “Why i feel like we just getting goin?”
December 2021's Magic was the third consecutive Nas project Hit-Boy produced, following August 2020's King's Disease and August 2021's King's Disease II. Boasting nine tracks and appearances from ASAP Rocky and DJ Premier, it debuted at No. 27 on the Billboard 200 with 22,000 album-equivalent units.
Nasty Nas had been teasing the release of Magic 2 since last week with a trio of Instagram posts. The first was a video of rainfall and thunderstorms showing Nas' logo in a cloudy backdrop, while the second showed a vintage clip of Houdini doing an escape trick. Finally, on Thursday, the 49-year-old unveiled the album date and cover art, which puts his younger and older selves beside each other, rocking a pair of headphones.
Magic 2 comes after Nas' King's Disease III, which was released last November. It debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 with 29,000 album-equivalent units, giving Nas his 15th top 10 album and tying him with longtime rival-turned-collaborator Jay-Z.
Stream Nas and Hit-Boy's Magic 2 below.
