Light-Years Cassette

After decades of anticipation, LightYears is a 30year working legacy reborn. Nas and DJ Premiers partnership is embedded in the DNA of HipHop. Their origin story began in 1994 with Illmatic, which resulted in hits such as N.Y. State Of Mind, Memory Lane and Represent. Illmatic helped establish Nas as a generational talent and furthered Premiers then burgeoning legacy. Their chemistry deepened over the next decade through classics like I Gave You Power, 2 nd Childhood, Nas Is Like and N.Y. State Of Mind Pt. II. Limited physical product for the Day One fans is available now at shop.massappeal.com and other indie retailers.Spearheaded by Mass Appeals groundbreaking Legend Has It..., a series celebrating and spotlighting some of the most important and influential Hip Hop artists of all time, the series has gifted a year long run of historic releases from culture defining artists including Slick Rick, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Big L ampamp De La Soul. With LightYears, Nas and DJ Premier deliver the grand finale to close out the legendary series where their undeniable synergy remains elusive. In 2006, Nas and DJ Premier appeared on the cover of Scratch Magazine, teasing a joint project that again refueled fan frenzy and two decades worth of anticipation. Last year, Nas and Preem linked up to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Illmatic with the release of a new track, Define My Name, where they first announced their landmark collaborative album. LightYears is a true testament to both artists influence, legacy and the timelessness of the music they create together.About NasNas Nasir Jones first reached an international audience when his track Halftime was tapped by producer MC Serch as the opening cut on 1992s Zebrahead movie soundtrack. Signed to Columbia Records, the first fulllength album by poet and rhymemaster Nas arrived in 1994, Illmatic. The RIAA platinum hiphop landmark featured It Aint Hard To Tell, The World Is Yours, and One. 1996 brought the breakthrough doubleplatinum It Was Written 1 RampampB for 7 weeks, 1 pop for 4 weeks, with his first major crossover singles Street Dreams and If I Ruled the World Imagine That. Success continued with the doubleplatinum I Am in 1999 again 1 pop and 1 RampampB, with the chart singles Nas Is Like, Hate Me Now featuring Puff Daddy, and You Wont See Me Tonight featuring Aaliyah. Subsequent albums by Nas included the RIAA platinum Nastradamus 1999, 2 RampampB, 7 pop, with Nastradamus and You Owe Me, featuring Ginuwine the platinum Stillmatic 2001, 1 RampampB, 5 pop, with Got Ur Self A, One Mic, and Rule the platinum Gods Son 2002, 1 RampampB, with huge RampampBpop crossover hits Made You Look and I Can and the platinum doubleCD Streets Disciple 2004, 2 RampampB, 5 pop, with Bridging the Gap and Just a Moment. And his 2012 album, Life Is Good earned him 4 Grammy nominations including Rap Album of the Year and is certified RIAA gold.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 Missy Elliott the 1 Hot Boyz, 1999 fellow Queensbridge rapper Mobb Deep Its Mine, 1999 Jagged Edge I Got It 2, 2002 JLo Im Gonna Be Alright, 2002 Kanye West Classic Better Than Ive Ever Been, 2006 DJ Khaled Nas Album Done, 2016 Swizz Beats Echo, 2018 Jhene Aiko 10K Hours, 2020 and others. In August 2020, Nas released Kings Disease. Kings Disease marked Nas first new album in 2 years. The album was entirely produced by HitBoy, and Gabriel G Code Zardes serves as the albums coexecutive producer. The album won Best Rap Album at the 2021 GRAMMYs, marking Nas first ever GRAMMY win.In August of 2021, Nas released Kings Disease II, a sequel to the GRAMMY Award winning album. Kings Disease II was executive produced by Nas and HitBoy and features collaborations with Eminem, EPMD, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, YG, Ms. Lauryn Hill, HitBoy ampamp more. Most recently, the album earned a nomination for Best Rap Album at the 64th GRAMMY Awards.In November 2022, Nas released the third installment of the Kings Disease series. With no features, Kings Disease III was produced by HitBoy and executive produced by Nas and HitBoy. In addition to his successful career in music, Nas has pursued a career in motion pictures that began with his costarring role alongside DMX in 1998s cult classic crime drama Belly, a film by director Hype Williams with whom Nas has done several music videos. Most recently, he was the executive producer of the 2016 Netflix series The Get Down.Nas is also the cofounder of Mass Appeal Records.