The highly anticipated collaborative album between Nas and DJ Premier is officially set to release, with fans eagerly awaiting its arrival.
On Tuesday, November 25, the iconic hip-hop duo announced the title, release date, and cover art for their forthcoming project.
Titled Light-Years, the album will be released on December 12 through Mass Appeal Records.
Below is the cover art for the album:
Light-Years will serve as the seventh and final entry in the Legend Has It… series, which has showcased new albums from several prominent figures in New York hip-hop throughout 2025.
The series began with Slick Rick’s comeback album Victory in June, followed by releases from Raekwon (The Emperor’s New Clothes), Ghostface Killah (Supreme Clientele 2), Mobb Deep (Infinite), the late Big L (Harlem’s Finest: Return of the King), and De La Soul (Cabin in the Sky).
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Nas, who co-owns Mass Appeal Records, reflected on the series, stating, “It’s 1995 all over again. Sometimes I feel like 2025 has that feeling. It’s not going backwards; it’s going forward. It’s that feeling of urgency, that vibration, the celebration of life and these songs and these albums, what they meant 30 years ago. It’s still thriving right now.”
He continued, “Even from younger people, they’re all derivatives of that early sound. And these artists here, from Slick Rick — he is the reason that all of us even have a pen in our hands. You look at him and you think of Mobb Deep, and you think of Raekwon and Ghostface, De La Soul; it’s some of the most different, brave, bold, intelligent hip-hop music ever made.”
Nas emphasized the importance of honoring those who have passed, stating, “And of course, we lost some of our brothers along the way, but we’re still representing for them and they’re still representing themselves through the series. It’s a celebration of a great impact, a standard that they set that we could never forget because it keeps us aiming higher.”
He added, “This series is to encourage and inspire hip-hop and remind us all of the pureness of hip-hop. I hope that we all can do this together.”
Light-Years also marks the culmination of a legendary partnership between Nas and DJ Premier, who have collaborated on numerous hip-hop classics over the years, including tracks from Nas’s acclaimed album Illmatic such as “N.Y. State of Mind” and “Represent,” as well as “Nas is Like” and “2nd Childhood.”
Speculation about a full-length album from the duo had circulated for years until they confirmed their plans last year, releasing the lead single “Define My Name.”
Nas recently shared that Light-Years will feature not only new tracks but also several older songs that were recorded during initial discussions about the album.
“I’m going to say at least two of those ideas happened on this album,” he explained to Rolling Stone. “We didn’t get a chance to do ’em when we were talking about ’em, but we finally got a chance to put those recordings together this year.”
He concluded, “I can’t wait for people to finally hear it. I don’t know about anybody else, but for me and him, it was personally a long time coming for us to do it.”
