Nas was just 20 years old when he released his debut, Illmatic, one of the greatest rap albums of all time, on April 19, 1994. That means that today is officially the 30th anniversary of its release. And to celebrate the milestone, Nas has reunited with DJ Premier, who produced several tracks on "Illmatic," for a new song called "Define My Name."
"At 20, I said I'd better quit by 30 / Then by 30, I thought by 40 rapping is corny / How wrong was I?" Nas raps on the track over a classic boom-bap beat from DJ Premier. "Never would have thought at 50, new songs by Nas would be hard and live."
Listen to "Define My Name" below.
The longtime collaborators have been promising to make a full-length collaborative album together for ages now.
"We talked about doing an album together, and some of the listeners want to rush the s--t — I wanna rush it, too — but I just want to pull pieces from all kinds of different people for this next puzzle because a lot of people think s--t got easy, that I quit," Nas told the now-defunct Scratch Magazine in 2006.
After decades of anticipation, the duo's long-awaited joint album is finally set to arrive later this year.
"I got the rhymes, you got the beats / Thirty years later, we back in the streets, we back in the lab / It's time, it's album time, yeah," Nas declares in the "Define My Name" outro. "Premier album still gon' happen!" Preem adds.
The Preem link-up isn't the only way that Nas is celebrating Illmatic's big birthday.
The rapper has also announced an Illmatic 30th anniversary tour with dates across the UK and Europe, which will kick off in Finland in October and conclude with a show at London's Royal Albert Hall in November.
Check out those tour dates below, along with some previously announced dates and festival appearances in the US, UK, and Europe.
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May 4 Las Vegas, NV — Lovers & Friends
June 1 Philadelphia, PA — Roots Picnic
June 30 Morrison, CO — Red Rocks Amphitheatre
July 12 London, Ontario — Harris Park
July 19 Albany, NY — Palace Theatre
July 21 Vienna, VA — Filene Center at Wolf Trap
August 10 Nidau, Switzerland — Strandbad Biel
August 12 Locorotondo, Italy — Masseria Ferragnano
August 16 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands — Lowlands Festival
August 17 London, England — Victoria Park
October 22 Helsinki, Finland — House of Culture
October 24 Stockholm, Sweden — B-K
October 25 Copenhagen, Denmark — Kb Hallen
October 27 Cologne, Germany — Palladium
October 30 Milan, Italy — Fabrique
October 31 Zurich, Switzerland — Halle 622
November 2 Vienna, Austria — Gasometer
November 3 Berlin, Germany — Uber Eats Music Hall
November 5 Amsterdam, Netherlands — AFAS Live
November 7 Paris, France — Le Zenith
November 8 Offenbach, Germany — Stadthalle Offenbach
November 10 Manchester, UK — Victoria Warehouse
November 11 Edinburgh, UK — Usher Hall
November 14 Wolverhampton, UK — Civic Hall
November 15 London, UK — Royal Albert Hall
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