Move Over Coldest Winter – Here’s a Book That’s Even Colder…

Before there was a thing called Hip-Hop, there was written word. There were stories that would captivate you from the first line and hold you in a trance until the last period (period) So it was only right for the Renaissance Era of Urban Lit to start in a Hip-Hop landmark. In this case, that place would be QUEENSBRIDGE – New York City’s INFAMOUS Housing Projects. 

The 1st time I ever heard this man’s production with the catchy phrase… “Hello World”… I was hooked! Years later, in celebration of the 19th anniversary of the release of Illmatic by iconic rapper Nas, eclectic producer Dilemma put together a mash up project from Illmatic and Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City  to create illKid-MaticCity.

Nas started off the new year strong, earning a “greatest” title from CNN and revealed that he’s in the process of recording a new album, but things weren’t good this week, because he was hospitalized on Friday.

Rap veteran Nas recently came clean on making headlines for owing millions of dollars to the government and said despite Uncle Sam digging into his pockets he has no regrets. Rather than make up excuses or downplay the question, Nasty Nas accepted his money woes mistakes and called them learning experiences:

In August Hit-Boy took to twitter to tell his fans that he had produced a song for Nas‘s album Life Is Good. The track featured none other than artist Frank Ocean who has made his mark heavy in the R&B game.  The song was called “No Such Thing as White Jesus” and had accidentaly been lost.

Yesterday, an ad from Nas and his father’s Love Comes in Every Shade Gap holiday campaign circulated the blogosphere.  Today, a brand new Gap commercial featuring the father/son duo has been released. Talk about “Bridging the Gap!”  Watch & enjoy the video above, and check out the RUN DMC “Throwback Thursday” Gap commercial after the jump!  @Hala_Berry

Can you spot our very own Jack Thriller’s cameo appearance in this video?  Our president is black, again!

Last month we got to see a trailer for Nas‘ track “Cherry Wine,” featuring the late Amy Winehouse. The official video is finally here.

The two music geniuses are gearing up for a much appreciated tour.  Nas will be headlining the huge event, though Lauren will only perform in select cities.  Maybe they will be coming to your town, check out the dates below.