In an interview on the music television show 106 & Park, while promoting his untitled 2008 album, Nas said that he chose "Hip Hop Is Dead" as the title of the album in order to engender excitement and a reaction among hip hop artists. Another video, Hustlers, featuring The Game, followed. Ī music video for " Can't Forget About You" premiered on February 5, 2007, the song featuring Chrisette Michele and sampling Nat King Cole's song " Unforgettable". It was, however, released as a bonus track on the Japanese import version of the album. It contained a sample from Nas' " Made You Look", but it did not make the final cut for Hip Hop Is Dead. Ī promo single, "Where Y'all At", was released in June 2006 and produced by Salaam Remi. We are our own politicians, our own government, we have something to say. I think hip-hop could help rebuild America, once hip-hoppers own hip-hop. If we don't change, we gonna disappear like Rome. what I mean by 'hip-hop is dead' is we're at a vulnerable state. It's like a slingshot, where you throw the muthafucka back and it starts losing speed and is about to fall down. Everything in this society has been done. Our way of thinking is dead, our commerce is dead. When I say 'hip-hop is dead', basically America is dead. In another interview for MTV.com, Nas discussed the concept of the album title and the social atmosphere and condition of the music industry that inspired it, stating: In a late September interview on English DJ Tim Westwood's Radio show, Nas said, "Hip-hop is dead because we as artists no longer have the power." He went on to say, "Could you imagine what 50 Cent could be doing, Nas, Jay, Eminem, if we were the Jimmy Iovines? Could you imagine the power we'd have? I think that's where we're headed." He has described the album as a mixture of "street" records, "political" records and collaborations. Nas announced the album's title after a performance on May 18, 2006. Hip Hop Is Dead was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, ultimately losing to Kanye West's Graduation at the 50th Grammy Awards. Upon its release, Hip Hop Is Dead received generally positive reviews from most music critics. number-one album, it had sold 941,000 copies by November 2008, eventually over time it went platinum by the RIAA.
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Billboard 200 chart, selling 355,880 copies in its first week. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. The album features appearances from Nas’ then wife Kelis, Kanye West, Jay-Z, will.i.am, Snoop Dogg, The Game and Chrisette Michele, among others. The album's title was inspired by Nas's view of the music industry and the state of hip hop music at the time. His first album for the label, it was co-financed by Nas's previous label, Columbia Records, which once distributed for Def Jam. Hip Hop Is Dead is the eighth studio album by American rapper Nas, released Decemon Def Jam Recordings.