With his new album, AZ hopes to bring some old fashioned nostalgia back into the game of hip-hop with his new album, Aziatic. On the album, which is already getting favorable early buzz, he features Nas, whith whom he hopes to release a group collaboration. On the cut “The Essence,” the two go back and forth similar to 1994, when they first rapped together. “Yo, it’s sorta like Portier and Bill Cosby (in the movie “Let’s Do it Again”). Let’s do it again, a beautiful blend, lets do to it win,” he said.
On the song, Nas and AZ rhyme back and forth where the scene is set at an old school Denise Williams concert. The rhymes are as follows:
Nas: Son, who laced you with the ill haircut?
AZ: Lenny. He blessed me with the sharp blade, that n####’s paid.
Nas: He make a pretty penny.
AZ: Yo, you hurt ’em with them new Pradas. Check mines, they royal blue.
Nas: My s#### is baby blue.
AZ: They powder blue.
Nas: Yo, your s#### is hotter.
AZ: You hidin’ with them frames on!
Nas: N####, you James Bond!
Continuing with the old school street theme is the street hit “Re-Birth,” which uses a loop from John Sebastian’s “Welcome Back Kotter.” Ironically, Onyx’s “Welcome Back” uses the exacts same sample for their forthcoming album, “Bacdafucup II.” AZ also hopes to captivate the clubs with songs like “Take It Off,” “Take Care Of Me,” the first single “Hands In The Air.”
Still, AZ’s latest looks to reclaim the timeless magic from Nas’s “Life’s A B####,” his own gold selling Sugar Hill LP and eventually his self-bootlegged classic S.O.S.A. (“Save Our Streets AZ”). The result of S.O.S.A. was his current deal with Motown and the subsequent album 9 Lives. And although label drama and lack of commerical success have plagued his still promising career, AZ looks to position himself as one of rap’s elite. “We got a game plan, but unfortunately it’s not a game to us. Cause we ain’t got the luxury of losing,” he said.
Of his work ethic, he said, “”No more Cristal and Dom P – straight Gatorade.”