Many Hip Hop devotees have literally been waiting 25 years for the chance to hear a collaborative album created by Nas and Jay-Z. Some rap fans are once again getting their hopes up that the two rap titans will actually make that happen in the near future.
Jay-Z and Nas nearly broke the internet last Friday after their latest collaboration “Sorry Not Sorry” hit DSPs as part of DJ Khaled’s Khaled Khaled album. The three men even filmed a music video for the single.
“Sorry Not Sorry” fueled online conversations about a fantasy musical union involving the two GOAT contenders. Speculation of a Hov/Esco joint project went into overdrive following tweets posted by DJ Khaled and superproducer Hit-Boy.
On May 2, a Twitter user asked, “Can we get a Nas/Jay-Z album totally produced by @Hit_Boy?” The actual Hit-Boy quote-tweeted the person’s question and replied, “Who wanna see it? 🤔💡”
Then a similar interaction happened nearly an hour later on the same platform with DJ Khaled. The Genius Twitter account asked users to share their dream collab albums. Khaled simply responded, “NAS AND JAY-Z.”
Who wanna see it 🤔 💡 https://t.co/iZM8GyNZAX
— Hit-Boy (@Hit_Boy) May 2, 2021
NAS AND JAY Z https://t.co/h06QUUihf3
— DJ KHALED (@djkhaled) May 2, 2021
The timing and similar subject matter could just be a coincidence. However, Hit-Boy and DJ Khaled’s separate tweets instantly stirred up theories that this could be a coordinated tease of what’s to come because both men have specific connections to Nas and Jay-Z.
Hit-Boy produced the entirety of Nas’s 2020 album King’s Disease which earned the Queens-raised spitter the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. DJ Khaled is signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation management.
In addition, both Hit-Boy and DJ Khaled have worked extensively with Nas and Jay throughout their careers. Not only do all four musicians have a history together, but the two emcees have created several respective collaborative albums in the past.
Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter’s catalog includes two studio LPs with R. Kelly as well as Watch The Throne with Kanye West and Everything Is Love with his wife Beyoncé. The Brooklyn-bred billionaire is also an uncredited collaborator on Jay Electronica’s A Written Testimony.
Nas teamed with AZ, Foxy Brown, and Cormega in 1997 for The Firm: The Album. In 2010, the entertainer/entrepreneur born Nasir Jones connected with Damian Marley for the Reggae/Hip Hop fusion project Distant Relatives.
DJ Khaled’s “Sorry Not Sorry” is not the first time Jay-Z and Nas were on the same track. Following their infamous feud in the late 1990s/early 2000s, both New Yorkers linked on songs like “Black Republican,” “Success,” “I Do It For Hip Hop,” and “BBC.”