Nas has released the video for “Sitting With My Thoughts” from Magic 3 that came out on his 50th birthday (September 14th) last year. The video is a career retrospective with footage from his show in Las Vegas with the Wu-Tang Clan. He recently shared the video for “I Love This Feeling.” Nas is on tour this summer.

Nas’ Magic 3 is the last in a trilogy and was released on his 50th birthday (September 14th). Magic 2 came out earlier this summer; this is the second year he has two new albums. In 2021, King’s Disease II and the first Magic album came out. M3 is his 17th album, making his discography even more distinct beyond his palpable rhymes due to its unusual length. He confronts his next decade by opening the album with the undauntable energy of “Fever,” which embraces his new status as an official OG. Nas reminisces on his past life as most people do around their birthdays but he has plenty of joie de vivre for the future. The charmed life of a rap prodigy who was named a future rap king as an ’80s teen now rapping about life at half a century is fascinating. Rap music still suffers from ageism and only a few Gen X male rappers are still making interesting music. Magic 3 shares the rare air that Nas breathes with Hit-Boy’s soul-steeped beats that are chopped up dramatically enough to mimic the movement of a film score. Some of the most striking moments are when he remembers being 19 years old with a child on the way in “Sitting In My Thoughts.” There is no longing to return to his youth, and he reflects on how the responsibility of fatherhood drove him in the pursuit of success. Nas’ grown-man rap is new territory for the genre because music company executives, some rappers, and many fans never expected anything outside of youth culture. 

However, all of the songs are not about the sober parts of getting older because Nas still enjoys  the spoils of being a rap superstar on the romantically fickle “Blue Bentley.” “Japanese Soul Bar” is a direct admission that it is probably time for his first biopic as he wonders who could portray him.  Lil Wayne is the only guest on Magic 3, and he drops 24 giddy verses in his unmistakable nasally flow on “Never Die.” Nas is clear that reaching his fifth decade will be approached with the same coolness as his previous ones and he also says that he heard the ’50s are when you get “really rich in all ways.” 

The sum of seven consuming albums in the past four years has set a new paradigm for rap as it gets older. It feels symbolic that as Nas has turned 50 so has the genre and he still has something to say. He recently challenged his Gen X peers to follow him by creating music from the heart instead of following trends. LL Cool J, Q-Tip, KRS-One, Mount Westmore, and Shabazz Palaces already agree with him but it remains to be seen who else will add to rap’s 50-plus legacy.

Chuck D is working with MLB as a music ambassador and content originator to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. The Public Enemy co-founder and frontman will be MLB’s special correspondent at the Hip Hop 50 Live At Yankee Stadium concert on Friday. He is collaborating with MLB throughout the year to create content, stories and music. The programming includes MLB’s social, MLB Network and videos centered on the relationship between hip-hop and baseball. Chuck D expressed his gratitude for the partnership in a press release. “As a longtime baseball fanatic, I am beyond honored to be the first Hip Hop artist to work with Major League Baseball in this exciting new way – connecting sound and culture to the stories of the game. Thank you to MLB for adding me to the lineup…and the pitch is on the way.” MLB launches its yearlong partnership with Mass Appeal’s Hip Hop 50 this Friday, August 11 with Hip Hop 50 Live At Yankee Stadium. The location is an acknowledgment of hip-hop’s beginnings in the Bronx. Chuck D’s coverage of the event will be for all of MLB’s platforms including @MLB, @MLBLife social handles, MLB.com, MLB.TV and MLB Network. MLB will also have merchandise and giveaways through 2024. Earlier this year Chuck D was the executive producer and developer of Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World. The four-part series aired on PBS. 

Nas continues his King’s Disease series with producer Hit-Boy by dropping the third installment. They released the first one in 2020, and then in 2021, they came back with King’s Disease II and Magic. Nas won the Grammy for Best Rap Album for King’s Disease. Nas is having a rebirth that started with KD revealing a prolificness not found amongst most of his peers and rappers in general. Hit-Boy’s sonic chemistry with Nas turns his poetry into vivid audio street vignettes. Nas shared a clip of them in the studio earlier this week and he just completed the NY State Of Mind Tour with the Wu-Tang Clan and Busta Rhymes. King’s Disease III is available via Mass Appeal Records.