Life Is Good

Lore & Background

Life Is Good was written after Nas's divorce from singer Kelis, whose original green wedding dress was featured in the cover photo. Nas has compared the album to Marvin Gaye's 1978 divorce-inspired album Here, My Dear. In 2010, Nas released Distant Relatives, a collaboration with Damian Marley that reinvigorated the rapper creatively. He soon became distracted by tax problems and an expensive, highly publicized divorce from his wife Kelis months before their son's birth, events that influenced his direction for Life Is Good. His songwriting on the album was also influenced by adjusting back to life as a single man. Nas also wanted to write more original subject matter rather than another album 'about how you came up in the hood and how you had to make it out of the hood.' For the album cover, a photo was taken of Nas in a polished white suit, sitting in a night club's VIP lounge, appearing forlorn, and holding over his knee Kelis' actual green wedding dress, which he said was the only item she left him. When writing the album, Nas also reflected on aging and maturation, fatherhood, and his 20-year experience in hip-hop music. Nas discussed the album's personal subject matter in an interview for Billboard: 'When I started working on the record, I tried to avoid it. The timing was just calling for me to not avoid all the shit that was going on out there. It was like a 10,000-ton gorilla in the room watching me. This is the way I got it off of my chest. This album talks about life, love and money. It talks about the fact that marriage is expensive. Life Is Good represents the most beautiful, dramatic and heavy moments in my life.'

Reader's Guide

Life Is Good received widespread critical acclaim and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, reaching 354,000 copies sold by 2013. It also reached the top 10 of record charts in Canada, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Three singles were released in its promotion – 'Nasty', 'The Don', and 'Daughters' – along with five music videos, while Nas toured in further support of the album from June to December 2012. In 2020, the Recording Industry Association of America awarded Life Is Good a gold certification. The album was promoted by Nas' concert performances and television appearances on The Colbert Report, Late Show with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and 106 & Park.

Did You Know?

• The song 'Cherry Wine' features Amy Winehouse's final guest appearance on a Nas album; it was titled after her guitar, which she called 'cherry'.
• A track recorded with Frank Ocean and producer Hit-Boy called 'No Such Thing as White Jesus' was misplaced and never included on the album.
• Producer Salaam Remi said he wanted his production 'to be something that a mumble-mouth rapper can't rap on. You better have something to say and be speaking up.'