For the past few years, rap fans have quietly agitated for a joint album from one of hip-hop’s most elusive duos: Nas and DJ Premier. While their past collaborations have resulted in classic after classic, they’ve kept tantalizingly mum on the subject, even as Nas went on a historic run with Hit-Boy and Premier spearheaded Mass Appeal’s Hip-Hop 50 efforts (that’s Nas’ label, by the way).
But now that both projects are in the rearview, they’ve apparently refocused on that long-rumored project — and completed it. Today, Mass Appeal announced the launch of its Legend Has It… album series, consisting of seven new albums from seven iconic acts. In addition to Nas and Premier’s long-awaited joint project, the initiative includes new albums from the late Big L, De La Soul, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Raekwon, and one other mystery artist, with the campaign calling it an “epic return” (my money’s on Jay-Z).
While only two of the upcoming albums’ titles have been announced (Ghostface’s Supreme Clientele 2 and Raekwon’s Emperor’s New Clothes), just the prospect of new albums from the above-mentioned names will likely be enough to drive hip-hop fans into an album-copping frenzy. Further details on Legend Has It… and each individual album will be announced in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned.