On paper, you would think a collab album with Nas and Kanye West would be amazing. Ye’s brand of soul samples with the Queens-bred legend’s strengths in storytelling should theoretically make for a great album. It would especially make for a more dynamic and lively album in the production department.
However, when the pair eventually got together for NASIR in 2018, the result was underwhelming. Both fans and critics alike wondered what happened for the record to feel so flat. However, with Kanye crafting a ton of albums at the same time, there were bound to be some hiccups in the process.
In a 2020 interview with Apple Music, Nas recalled the whirlwind that was the 2018 Wyoming recording sessions with Kanye West. Based on how he describes it, the process was far from intimate and personal.
“This man is cranking out all of these albums, and they’re going to come out every Friday. And so he had to mix albums, finish albums. So I kind of had to wait till the last week before the album dropped to really have him in the room to really have him to be there to get these records done,” he told Zane Lowe.
Nas Explains Why His Collab Album With Kanye West Turned Out Bad
Still, the Illmatic rapper remained grateful for the experience. Although he worked until the last minute, he was glad he got to experience another part of the country he hadn’t seen.
“I never been to Wyoming, you know what I’m saying? I thank him for bringing me out there and to see a different part of America and to be around that energy with all the producers and artists. But I also had my room to the side, so if I wanted to work with them longer, because we only got, honestly, we hung around, we went over ideas, but it really, really got down to the wire, no pun, like at the last week, in the last week,” Nas continued.
Still, he wants to get back in the lab with Kanye one day. In a 2020 interview with The Breakfast Club, the NY legend believed that they could’ve made magic. All they needed was more time together.
“I don’t know what went wrong. I did want to work more with [Kanye],” Nas said. “He was working on a lot. He had [Kid Cudi], he had Teyana Taylor, he had his album, and I was the only one coming in starting fresh. So, I had less time with him. We really did that album the week it was supposed to come out.”
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