Magic

While recording *Magic*, the late-December follow-up to August 2021’s *King’s Disease II*, the MC once known as Nasty Nas was clearly in the zone. “I told n\*\*\*as I was in rare form on the last album,” he says on “40-16 Building.” “I ain’t playing out here. It’s not a game.” What that means for *Magic*, then, is Nas sounding as comfortable in the booth as ever, rattling off observations about how ill he *still* is (“Speechless,” “Meet Joe Black”), the perils of street life (“Ugly”), and, in one instance, the snatch-and-grab retail robberies that have been making headlines as of late (“Dedicated”). Nas delivered *Magic* on Christmas Eve as a kind of nine-track stocking stuffer fans could enjoy over their holiday break, should they be so lucky to have one. And those that didn’t? Let them be motivated to grind by the impossibly smooth “Wu for the Children,” or the A$AP Rocky collaboration “Wave Gods,” which plays out like a backstage cipher between the two NYC style giants.

Nas is a pointillist, better at writing couplets than albums, and Magic proves he’s still a transcendent rapper when he allows himself to be.

2020's King's Disease and its 2021 sequel King's Disease II represented a return to form for New York rap legend Nas, teaming with Hit-Boy for a steady drip of excellently crafted new material that took inspiration from early-'90s hip-hop classics but pushed beyond mere nostalgia.

On Christmas Eve, veteran Queens MC Nas dropped his Magic project to an unsuspecting audience. If the Grammy win and nomination for his firs...

What a year it's been for Nasty Nas. After kicking the year off by winning Best Rap Album at the Grammys for his 2020 album 'King's