Nas King’s Disease Turns 5 Years Old Today

Nas is my favorite rapper alive. In 1994, he released the iconic Illmatic album, and it has been called one of the greatest hip hop albums ever. Two years later, It Was Written was dropped and this is probably my favorite Nas album. Less than three years later, he released his third album, and it was called I Am. I Am was originally a double album, but it was leaked online, and it became a single disc joint. In the same year, Nas dropped the Nastradamus project, and it wasn’t well received. About two years later, Nas came back strongly with his Stillmatic project. Before Stillmatic, Nas and Jay-Z had begun their legendary beef. Stillmatic earned five mics from the Source and it’s one of my top 5 albums from Nas. Within the next year, Nas released his Lost Tapes album, which is a classic and his God’s Son joint.

Street’s Disciple, Hip Hop is Dead, Untitled, Distant Relatives with Damian Marley and Life is Good dropped between 2004-2012. Nas didn’t release an album until 2018 when he teamed up with Kanye to drop the Nasir project. The following year, the Lost Tapes 2 project was released. The following year, Nas would release his King’s Disease album to begin a legendary six album run. King’s Disease turns 5 years old today. This began Nas releasing three installments of King’s Disease and three for Magic. King’s Disease was a collaboration between Nas and Hit Boy. King’s Disease was a much better album than the Nasir one. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, becoming Nas’ first Grammy. Ultra Black was the only single released from the album. Ultra Black pays homage to all things black and even took a shot at Doja Cat.

In May 2020, Doja Cat (who is of Zulu South African and American Jewish heritage) had been accused of racism and association with white supremacists, though she denied the allegations. Ultra Black was a decent track and one that got people talking. Nas dropped videos for Spicy featuring Fivio Foreign and ASAP Ferg. Nas also released a video for Replace Me featuring Big Sean and Don Toliver. King’s Disease was well received by fans and critics alike. Nowadays, Nas and his Mass Appeal label is releasing albums from legends. Raekwon, Ghostface is dropping on Friday, and the new Mobb Deep album are all through Nas. Below are my top 5 tracks from King’s Disease. After that, check out the track listing for the King’s Disease album.