Nas and Hit-Boy have released their highly anticipated new album, King’s Disease III.
The Hip-Hop icon began teasing the third installment of the King’s Disease series late last year. He hinted at the arrival on his surprise album Magic, also produced by Hit-Boy. On “Ugly’ Nas raps: “I’m on offense every day until I see the love/KD3 on the way, this just to feed the buzz.”
The pair shared the King’s Disease III cover art last month before dropping the tracklist on Thursday. Unlike both predecessors, the 17-track record features no guest appearances and clocks in at around 50 minutes.
Nas scored his first Grammy Award for King’s Disease, winning Best Rap Album in 2021. The follow-up album was also nominated but Call Me If You Get Lost by Tyler, the Creator, collected the win.
After releasing King’s Disease II, Nas said that the duo tries to outdo themselves on each new song.
“I feel like every song we make, without even consciously doing it, we’re trying to make it better than the last,” Nas explained to Complex. “It’s just already embedded in us to do that. I feel like as long as we keep taking that approach, it’s going to get crazier and crazier, and that’s what happened.”
The NYC legend said he had an instant chemistry with Hit-Boy, making magic together from the first song they recorded.
“I keep seeing every day like, ‘Damn, how would y’all top KD1 that y’all won a Grammy for? This is even better.’ That’s a good feeling, and it lets me know that the chemistry is legit. I feel like we caught it quick. Like, the first day we came through, we recorded ‘All Bad,’ and that made KD1.” Stream King’s Disease III below.