Nasir (album)

Nasir (stylized in all caps) is the eleventh studio album from American rapper Nas, arriving on June 15, 2018, via Mass Appeal Records and Def Jam Recordings. It was his first album in six years, following *Life Is Good* (2012). Guests include Kanye West, Puff Daddy, 070 Shake, Tony Williams, and The-Dream. West executive produced the album, with additional production from Mike Dean, Andrew Dawson, Dot da Genius, and Cashmere Cat, among others.

The album is the fourth of five seven-track projects West produced during his "Wyoming Sessions," released weekly. It came after Pusha T's *Daytona*, West's *Ye*, and West and Kid Cudi's *Kids See Ghosts*, and before Teyana Taylor's *K.T.S.E.*. *Nasir* peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and number 16 on the UK Albums chart.

The album's background traces to DJ Khaled's 2016 track "Nas Album Done," which signaled the project's completion. That same year, West expressed a desire to produce a Nas album, seemingly promising Barack Obama he would do so. In May 2017, Nas's brother Jungle posted a studio photo on Instagram with the hashtag #NasAlbumAlmostDone.

In April 2018, West announced he was producing Nas's new album, with a June 15 release date. West later shared an incomplete tracklist of his five albums, revealing the Nas track "Everything." On June 12, West posted a full tentative tracklist; the album title and cover art appeared on June 14, one day before release. A listening party took place that same day in Queensbridge, New York City, streamed via Mass Appeal's YouTube channel.

Critical reception was generally mixed. On Metacritic, the album scored 58 out of 100 from 16 reviews. *The A.V. Club*'s Colin McGowan praised West's "lavishly triumphant production" on songs like "White Label" and Nas's political awareness on "Cops Shot the Kid," but noted filler in the "empty empowerment" of "Everything" and the "late-90s jiggy rap" of "Bonjour," calling the album a less-than-definitive experiment. *NME*'s Elizabeth Aubrey wrote that while stylistically strong, the album's contradictions made it "difficult, problematic," praising West's production and Nas's lyrical maturity but criticizing political beliefs that sometimes "ring hollow" and a male gaze at odds with themes of equality, as well as failing to address abuse allegations by Nas's ex-wife Kelis.