full version of "Colors" to be released?

"Colors is THE best track of 2009. Lets end the year showing hiphop is NOT dead. Coming Soon.
about 1 hour ago from web

Nas - Colors (Prod. By Khalil) WOW!
about 1 hour ago from web"

http://twitter.com/Gibzen


prolly will come out next monday night (12/28)

Nas' drummer from the band mulatto

NAS' DRUMMER BEING CALLED OUT!!!! FIGHT!!!!

MulattoMuzikTV
December 21, 2009
(less info)
Nas' drummer Margis Miles of the band "MULATTO" being called out on the kit!!!

........fighting had nothing to do with it. Lol'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWs0rTF4zHI

NAS on rumored tracklist for games new album

1-Intro (Produced by Drumma Boy)
2-Ambulance Feat. Young Jeezy (Produced By Maestro)
3-Fundamental Feat. Scarface (Produced by DJ Premier)
4-Hype (Produced by Dr.Dre)
5-R.E.D Feat. Busta Rhymes & Nas (Produced by The Neptunes)
6-Energy Feat. Justin Timberlake (Produced by The Neptunes & Dr.Dre)
7-I'll Find You (Produced by Kanye west)
8-Save Me Now (Produced by DJ Khalil)
9-White Soft Porn (Produced by 1500&Nothin')
10-Back On That (Produced by 1500'&Nothin')
11-Right Feat. Lupe Fiasco (Produced by Dr.Dre)
12-Blaze! Feat. Ludacris & Xzibit (Produced by The Neptunes & Dr.Dre)
13-Before I Sleep Feat. Nate Dogg (Produced by Hi-Tek)
14-Snap (Produced By Boi-1da)
15-Flame Feat. Rick Ross (Produced by The Inkredibles)
16-Eliminate (Produced By Dr.Dre & Nottz)
17-The Deal (Produced By DJ Khalil)
18-Would I Be Wrong Feat. Akon (Produced By Polow Da Don)
19-Nothing Feat. Nate Dogg (Produced By Dr.Dre)
20-Outro (Produced by Dumma Boy)

http://thisizgame.ning.com/forum/topics/lupe-fiasco-in-the-studio-wit?commentId=2063384:Comment:1407671&xg_source=activity

NPR aticle and audio interview (says DR 2 b released "next summer")

*download interview audio here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121392686&ft=1&f=1039

December 13, 2009

Rap was born in the Bronx, but its roots stretch back to Africa and Jamaica. Now, New York rapper Nas and reggae artist Damian Marley are collaborating on an album that traces those origins.

"Rap is sort of like a form of talking," Nas tells NPR's Guy Raz. "It's like you can hear the slaves doing it, you know, you can hear Africans and Jamaicans doing it as kind of like a rhythmic, poetic conversation."

Another ancestor of today's rap is Jamaican "toasting." "Toasting is basically what you call rapping," explains Marley, the son of reggae legend Bob Marley. "It came off of playing the beats at the parties, however it be. You find a space in the beat, and you have somebody live just basically saying rhymes over the beat."

Distant Relatives is set for release next summer. It's not the first time Nas and Marley have worked together; the two collaborated on a track from Marley's 2005 breakout album, Welcome to Jamrock. This time around, they had the idea to make an EP focusing on Africa, but, Marley says, the project grew into an entire album.

The name of the upcoming album is a nod to what Nas calls the human family. "You, me, Damian, people out there — we're all a human family," he says. "What we're talking about on this record is nothing too new; people know about political corruption in Africa and so many different things going on out there in the continent, but what we do is come together and make music.

"I think the topics can be related to by people in Sweden, by people in Germany, by people in China — because we're all human; we all go through craziness."

Proceeds from Distant Relatives will go to charity projects in Africa. "I want to build whatever we can build," says Nas. "We can build schools, states, hospitals. I mean, we want to give our whole heart."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121392686&ft=1&f=1039

Distant Relatives to come out March 16

announcement made @ the nat geo conference

btw a radio interview with nas and damian will be broadcast tomorrow here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2

nprguyraz just interviewed NAS and Damian Marley. Interviewairs Sunday on All Things Considered.about 4 hours ago from web

Distant Relatives Nat Geo discussion panel

Distant Relatives

Nas and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley explore the African origin of reggae and hip-hop music as they debate and celebrate the culture's global impact with a... (more)

Watch live streaming video from distantrelatives at livestream.com

and heres the washington post article on distant relatives

Bringing 'Distant Relatives' together

By Sarah Godfrey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 11, 2009

The culture and music of reggae and hip-hop have much in common -- weed, sure, but also roots: the similarities between the genres and their shared connection to Africa are explored by hip-hop icon Nas and Jamaican reggae star Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley on the forthcoming album "Distant Relatives." And in case a history lesson on the music of the African diaspora can't be fully absorbed when it's blaring out of a car stereo, "Distant Relatives" is also the subject of a documentary and a discussion panel, which take place Saturday at the National Geographic Society, on the connection between hip-hop and reggae.

"Sixty minutes of audio is not enough to express everything we want to express," Marley says. Nas gives another reason for doing the documentary and the discussion: "A lot of people won't understand why the hell Nas is doing an album with Damian Marley, or why the hell Damian Marley is doing an album with Nas, so they'll get to look at us, hear us explain it," he says.

After the legendary rapper and the renowned reggae artist (the son of reggae great Bob Marley) collaborated on "Road to Zion," a track on Marley's 2005 Grammy-winning album "Welcome to Jamrock," they decided to team up on an EP, which grew into an album. Marley, who produces all but one of the tracks on the new album, worked with the sounds of sub-Saharan Africa -- the music draws influence from everything from soukous to Afrobeat. From there, the album's larger focus emerged.

"We have a common interest in Africa, but it wasn't like we came into it with that in mind," Nas says. "But once we started working on the music, it kinda took on that form."

In "Distant Relatives," the artists top Marley's music with everything from political commentary on Africa ("Africa Must Wake Up") to fiery verbal sparring ("As We Enter"). That the fusion works is not only a testament to the men's skill, but evidence of reggae and hip-hop's sonic and social commonalities.

"Reggae and hip-hop, those are the two soundtracks for young people around the world," says Rob Kenner, reggae writer for VIBE and organizer of Saturday's panel discussion (the event is sold out, but will be streamed live beginning at 7 p.m. at http://www.natgeomusic.net). "Although people segregate them, they're very closely connected -- and they're both distant relatives of Africa." Kenner adds that although reggae and hip-hop artists frequently work together -- a remix here, a guest verse there -- "Distant Relatives" is the first significant, album-length collaboration.

Hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang outlines the intertwined histories of hip-hop and reggae in his book "Can't Stop Won't Stop," which covers everything from the influence of American radio on Jamaican music in the '40s and '50s to the emergence of hip-hop that began with Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc in the early 1970s. Chang believes that for hip-hop and reggae artists to explore their ties to Africa is a natural progression. "Here are two artists interested in pushing the edge to really take it out there," Chang says of "Distant Relatives." "With artists like K'Naan and M.I.A., there's a global context now -- in order for all art forms to move forward, you have to have someone like Nas or Damian Marley to step up and push the edge."

Saturday's discussion will attempt to cover just as much ground as the "Distant Relatives" album itself -- not only the hip-hop/reggae connection, but the link to Africa. The panel includes Daddy U-Roy andKing Jammy, who are often credited as early architects of sounds that would come to define hip-hop, along with Senegalese rapper Waterflow. "We bring the whole circle back," Kenner says of the panel. "The inspiration flows from Africa, from the use of drums to communicate and tell stories as griots would, then it comes to Jamaica and becomes sound systems, then moves to America and becomes hip-hop, and then it moves back to Africa."

Marley says that although he and Nas are the voices of "Distant Relatives," the goal was always to use the project as a way to spark discussion. "When it comes down to the hip-hop/reggae thing, we want to hear from other artists and pioneers," he says. "And when it comes to the Africa part we want to hear from African artists from the ground -- ground zero."

Godfrey is a freelance writer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/10/AR2009121004210_pf.html

Maxwell ft Nas "Help Somebody"

MAXWELL HELP SOMEBODY Featuring NAS
Maxwell’s contribution to (RED)WIRE is an exclusive version of “Help Somebody,” one of the most powerful songs from his highly anticipated new album, BLACKsummers’night. The song is a call to arms, asking “If you see the future, ask it if I’m there.” This version, exclusive to (RED)WIRE, features Nas, who provides a rap at the end of the song about the responsibility to “help the helpless.”

It costs $1

http://joinred.lightmakerusa.com/static/redwire/#

*EDIT: nas comes thru with a great verse