Escobar season has returned. Nas and Def Jam Recordings took to Twitter this afternoon (July 2) to announce the forthcoming of Lost Tapes 2 later this month — July 19th — a long-awaited sequel to his highly regarded Lost Tapes project released back in 2002.
The original Lost Tapes was compiled together with cuts from previous efforts that didn’t wind up making commercially released albums. With this project, the formula will remain consistent. It’s expected that this project will include work dating back to Nas’s 2006 Hip Hop Is Dead in addition to his most recent Kanye West produced LP “Nasir.”
In a video posted to Def Jam Recordings official Twitter account, a snippet of the album lays over a video of the iconic labeled cassette tape. Towards the end, a juggernaut list of production credits can be found that includes: RZA, Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz, No I.D., The Alchemist, Kanye West, Pete Rock, Statik Selektah, Hit-Boy, and others.
The Lost Tapes 2 tracklist:
1. No Bad Energy [PROD. BY SWIZZ BEATZ]
2. Vernon Family [PROD. BY PHARRELL WILLIAMS]
3. Jarreau of Rap (Skatt Attack) feat. Al Jarreau, Keyon Harrold [PROD. BY EDDIE COLE]
4. Lost Freestyle [PROD. BY STATIK SELEKTAH]
5. Tanasia [PROD. BY RZA]
6. Royalty feat. RaVaughn [PROD. BY HIT-BOY]
7. Who Are You feat. David Ranier [PROD. BY ERIC HUDSON]
8. Adult Film feat. Swizz Beatz [PROD. BY SWIZZ BEATZ]
9. War Against Love [PROD. BY DJ DAHI & DJ KHALIL]
10. The Art of It feat. J. Myers [PROD. BY PETE ROCK]
11. Highly Favored [PROD. BY RZA]
12. Queens Wolf [PROD. BY DJ TOOMP]
13. It Never Ends [PROD. BY THE ALCHEMIST]
14. You Mean The World to Me [PROD. BY KANYE WEST]
15. Queens Bridge Politics [PROD. BY PETE ROCK]
16. Beautiful Life feat. RaVaughn [PROD. BY NO I.D.]
This announcement ironically comes on the same day as the anniversary of Nas’s 1996 masterpiece, “It Was Written.” Will the hip-hop veteran add another classic to his array of impressive works? Be on the lookout for The Lost Tapes 2, dropping this July 19th, 2019.