Nasir is the twelfth studio album by Nas, released through Mass Appeal Records and Def Jam Recordings. It succeeds Nas' album Life Is Good, released six years prior in 2012. The album features an appearance from executive producer Kanye West, as well as Puff Daddy, 070 Shake, Tony Williams, and The-Dream. When it was announced that Nas would be releasing an album entirely produced by Kanye West, I said I wasn't sure if I was going to listen to it, because Kanye West is a musical genius who trades in f#ckery and I'm not here for it. I skipped the livestream of the premiere in the Queensbridge Projects & kept my head down when people discussed the album, but ultimately I clicked play. It was better than I thought, but not better than it should have been. The vocals from Nas didn't sit in a familiar pocket, which makes me wonder if it was remixed, phoned in or they just didn't sit in on the sessions together. It's been a mixed response, some people do love it, so I'm reserving the right to revisit it, but I suspect this will come and go, with Nas announcing new material shortly. Unrelated, I wanna send a congrats out to Nas for all his recent success with upstarts and investments ... the culture doesn't report enough on that, but keep shining brother.