NAS’ 10th STUDIO ALBUM, LIFE IS GOOD, DEBUTS AT #1 ON THE BILLBOARD 200; HIS 3rd CONSECUTIVE #1 DEBUT ON DEF JAM RECORDINGS !
“‘Life Is Good’ gives Hip Hop a fresh breathe with the old school flava with a new sound. Nas has Done it again” – TRUE Magazine
“‘Life Is Good’ would probably have been among the best hip-hop albums of 1993 and, as it happens, is likely to be one of the best hip-hop albums of 2012.”- New York Times
“A coherent necklace made of discreet gems. Old mixes with new, noir enters the flow and the lyrics are tinged with both vulnerability and brutality. Nas is the same master wordsmith as he was when he first bowled over critics with his 1994 debut “Illmatic.”- Associated Press
“On his return-to-form 10th solo album…Life is good, indeed…a thoughtful, fierce, honest and — most important — heavy-duty work…Nas not only still has it, but has vast quantities of it. Luckily for us, he’s still inspired…” – Los Angeles Times
“Nearly 20 years after he arrived as a lyrical prodigy, Nasir Jones has grown into one of hip-hop’s sage elders sharing hard-earned wisdom…Life is full of lessons, and Nas is up for new challenges.”- USA Today
“’Life is Good’ might be the most cathartic album of the year.”- Atlanta Journal Constitution
“A mix of the philosophical, the nostalgic and the inspired. Nas’ new lyrics feature some of the densest, smartest rhymes in a career full of them… the star’s most encompassing verbal flourish since his masterpiece, ‘Illmatic’…a richly orchestrated work whose grandeur never undercuts its stone-cold funk…’Life Is Good’ will make fans feel great.”- NY Daily News
(July 25, 2012 – New York, NY) Legendary, mega-platinum Def Jam Recordings artist Nas captures his third consecutive #1 Soundscan debut, as LIFE IS GOOD (released July 17th) arrives at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart this week, boosted by an onslaught of television appearances on CBS’s The Late Show with David Letterman (July 16th) Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report (July 17th), last night’s performance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, VH1’s top-rated “Behind The Music,” BET’s 106 & Park, and a performance on ESPN’s ESPY Awards.
Since joining the Def Jam family in 2006, all three of Nas’s albums have debuted at #1 Soundscan: the RIAA platinum, Grammy®-nominated Hip-Hop Is Dead (December 2006), the RIAA gold, Grammy®-nominated untitled album (July 2008), and now LIFE IS GOOD, his overall 10th studio album.
LIFE IS GOOD saw the release of singles “The Don” and “Daughters,” and has been met with a flurry of critical praise. From outlets like The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone to the website Pitchfork – which awarded LIFE IS GOOD its coveted ‘Best New Music’ tag – critics have agreed that Nas’ latest is a ‘return to form’ and possibly his most sonically concise, lyrically sharp and best effort since his classic debut.
LIFE IS GOOD is the long-awaited successor to the untitled album, which featured the iconic closing track “N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave and The Master),” produced by DJ Toomp. The track contained the provocative lyric, “They say we N-I-double-G-E-R/ We are, much more/ But still we choose to ignore the obvious/ Man, this history don’t acknowledge us/ We were scholars way before colleges…” The album contained collaborations with producers Polow Da Don (“Hero”), DJ Green Lantern (“Black President”), 2007’s Grammy Award®-winning Producer Of The Year, Mark Ronson (“Fried Chicken” featuring Busta Rhymes), as well as Stic.Man from Dead Prez, Jay Electronica, Stargate, DJ Cool & Dre, and others.
Prior to the untitled album, came Hip-Hop Is Dead, whose title tune “Hip-Hop Is Dead,” produced and co-written by and featuring will.i.am. of Black Eyed Peas, was a solid Top 40 pop/R&B/rap crossover hit. The follow-up hit, “Can’t Forget About You,” featuring fellow Def Jam artist Chrisette Michelle, was a jazz inspired Top 10 Rap track also produced by will.i.am, riffing on a sample from the classic “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole.
Time Out New York stepped out early in January 2007, and picked Hip-Hop Is Dead as “rap record of the year.” Pitchfork’s reviewer called it “the album I’ll give to people in 20 years when they ask who Nas was.” The album release set up the “One Man, One Mic, One Night” 26-city North American tour, one of the biggest ever by Nas, from March through May 2007.
Nas (Nasir Jones) first reached an international audience when his track “Halftime” was tapped by producer MC Serch as the opening cut on 1992’s Zebrahead movie soundtrack. Signed to Columbia Records, the first full-length album by poet and rhyme-master Nas arrived in 1994, the RIAA platinum Illmatic, featuring the singles “It Ain’t Hard To Tell,” “The World Is Yours,” and “One.” 1996 brought the breakthrough double-platinum It Was Written (#1 R&B for 7 weeks, #1 pop for 4 weeks), with his first major crossover singles “Sweet Dreams” and “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That).” The streak continued with the double-platinum I Am in 1999 (again #1 pop and #1 R&B), containing the chart singles “Nas Is Like,” “Hate Me Now” (featuring Puff Daddy), and “You Won’t See Me Tonight” (featuring Aaliyah).
Subsequent albums by Nas included: the RIAA platinum Nastradamus (1999, #2 R&B, #7 pop, with “Nastradamus” and “You Owe Me,” featuring Ginuwine); the platinum Stillmatic (2001, #1 R&B, #5 pop, with “Got Ur Self A…,” “Ether,” “One Mic,” and “Rule”); the platinum God’s Son (2002, #1 R&B, with huge R&B/pop crossover hits “Made You Look” and “I Can”); and the platinum double-CD Street’s Disciple (2004, #2 R&B, #5 pop, with “Bridging the Gap” and “Just a Moment”).
Over the years, Nas has also been the featured guest on a number of crossover hits by other artists, among them: Allure (“Head Over Heels,” 1997); R. Kelly (“Did You Ever Think,” 1999); Missy Elliott (the #1 “Hot Boyz,” 1999); fellow Queensbridge rapper Mobb Deep (“It’s Mine,” 1999); Nature (“The Ultimate High,” 2000); Jagged Edge (“I Got It 2,” 2002); J-Lo (“I’m Gonna Be Alright,” 2002); Kelis (“In Public,” 2003, and “Blindfold Me,” 2006); Kanye West (“Classic (Better Than I’ve Ever Been),” 2006); and others.
