Over a year ago, we reported that Nas would be dropping his highly-anticipated The Lost Tapes 2 record on Mass Appeal Records...at some point, and now that some point appears to lie on the 2016 calendar. In a new interview with Drip, MA's CEO Peter Bittenbender all but sealed the deal on the drop.
Drip: Speaking of Nas -- and I know you’re probably sick of talking about this -- but are we ever going to see Lost Tapes 2?Bittenbender: Actually, I love talking about it, because every time I talk about it, I feel like I’m helping bring it to life. Nas is working to deliver this next record to Def Jam, which will be his last [for them]. I haven’t been too involved in that, so I can’t tell you when it’s coming. Once that’s out, then Lost Tapes will follow shortly after. It’ll definitely be a 2016 release, hopefully earlier in the year than later. The music’s amazing. It carries on what he built with the first Lost Tapes. The fans are gonna love it.
There you have it. We're anywhere from three to fifteen months away from The Lost Tapes 2, which, considering how long it's been already...doesn't seem so bad at all. Nas has also himself been teasing that he'll be dropping an entirely new record before the year is out, but he's recently gone quiet on that.
The entire Drip interview, which also includes comments from Mass Appeal Creative Director Sacha Jenkins, is a fascinating read full of tidbits on El-P's role at the label and the effort it takes to run a quality hip-hop print operation in the modern era. Read it here.
