Surrounded by controversy at every stage of his long and influential career as the conscience and often most severe critic of hip-hop, Def Jam Recordings artist Nas has returned to the headlines, declaring that his new 9th album, arriving in stores July 15th, will be untitled. The untitled new album follows-up Nas Def Jam debut, the Grammy nominated Hip-Hop Is Dead, which entered the Soundscan chart at #1 in December 2006, on first week sales of more than 350,000 copies. Its important to me that this album gets to the fans, Nas said of his newest project. Its been a long time coming. I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. Its that important. The streets have been waiting for this for a long time. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it. In advance of the untitled new album, which will be issued on the Def Jam/Jones Experience imprint, the first official single will be Hero, produced by Polow Da Don. Over the past few weeks, two tracks from the album have been leaked: Black President (produced by DJ Green Lantern) and the albums closing track **** (The Slave and The Master) (produced by DJ Toomp), containing the provocative lyric, They say we N-I-double-G-E-R/ We are, much more/ But still we choose to ignore the obvious/ Man, this history dont acknowledge us/ We were scholars way before colleges One of the albums highlights is Fried Chicken featuring Busta Rhymes, produced by the Grammy winner for Producer Of The Year, Mark Ronson. Fried Chicken, finds Nas and Busta in top form, mixing elaborate metaphors over a decidedly throwback Ronson track. When I was young, sitting in my room hammering out beats on my MPC,Nas was one of thosetruly legendary artists that you daydream, One day, I'll get to do a track for..., says Ronson. We finally met Grammy night in LA, and he said he wanted some stuff from me for the album. I started thinking to myself, as a Nas fan, What kind of beats would I love to hear him over? That's how the Dapkings and I came up with the track for Fried Chicken, and I reckon it sounds like a stone cold classic. The untitled new album will also include collaborations with producers Stic.Man from Dead Prez, Jay Electronica, Stargate, DJ Cool & Dre, and others. Hip-Hop Is Dead, the third album by Nas to enter the charts at #1, got started with the lead title track single Hip-Hop Is Dead, produced and co-written by and featuring will.i.am. of Black Eyed Peas. The cut (which sampled 60s hits Apache and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida) made it inside the Top 40 on the Hot 100, Pop 100, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Tracks, and Hot Digital Songs charts. It was followed-up with Cant Forget About You, featuring fellow Def Jam artist Chrisette Michelle, a jazz inspired Top 10 Rap track also produced by will.i.am, that riffed off a sample from the classic Unforgettable by Nat King Cole. Time Out New York stepped out early in January 2007, and picked Hip-Hop Is Dead as rap record of the year. Pitchforks reviewer called it the album Ill give to people in 20 years when they ask who Nas was. The album release set up the One Man, One Mic, One Night 26-city North American tour, one of the biggest ever by Nas, from March through May 2007. * * * An influential hip-hop culture icon since the early 1990s, Nas (Nasir Jones) emerged from the Queensbridge neighborhood of Long Island City, a hotbed of rap artist since the 80s. Son of jazz trumpeter Olu Dara, junior high school drop-out Nas apprenticed with such local crews as the Devastatin Seven (at age nine) and Main Source (Live At the Barbecue, 1991). Nas first reached an international audience when his track Halftime was tapped by producer MC Serch as the opening cut on 1992s Zebrahead movie soundtrack. Signed to Columbia Records, the first full-length album by poet and rhyme-master Nas arrived in 1994, the RIAA platinum Illmatic, featuring the singles It Aint Hard To Tell, The World Is Yours, and One Love. 1996 brought the breakthrough double-platinum It Was Written (#1 R&B for 7 weeks, #1 pop for 4 weeks), with his first major crossover singles Sweet Dreams and If I Ruled the World (Imagine That). The streak continued with the double-platinum I Am in 1999 (again #1 pop and #1 R&B), containing the chart singles Nas Is Like, Hate Me Now (featuring Puff Daddy), and You Wont See Me Tonight (featuring Aaliyah). Subsequent albums by Nas included: the RIAA platinum Nastradamus (1999, #2 R&B, #7 pop, with Nastradamus and You Owe Me, featuring Ginuwine); the platinum Stillmatic (2001, #1 R&B, #5 pop, with Got Ur Self A, Ether, One Mic, and Rule); the platinum Gods Son (2002, #1 R&B, with huge R&B/pop crossover hits Made You Look and I Can); the platinum double-CD Streets Disciple (2004, #2 R&B, #5 pop, with Bridging the Gap and Just a Moment); and Hip-Hop Is Dead in 2006. Over the years, Nas has also been the featured guest on a number of crossover hits by other artists, among them: Allure (Head Over Heels, 1997); R. Kelly (Did You Ever Think, 1999); Missy Elliott (the #1 Hot Boyz, 1999); fellow Queensbridge rapper Mobb Deep (Its Mine, 1999); Nature (The Ultimate High, 2000); Jagged Edge (I Got It 2, 2002); J-Lo (Im Gonna Be Alright, 2002); Kelis (In Public, 2003, and Blindfold Me, 2006); Kanye West (Classic (Better Than Ive Ever Been), 2006); and others. In addition to his successful career in music, Nas has pursued a career in motion pictures that began with his co-starring role (alongside DMX) in 1998s crime drama Belly, a film by director Hype Williams (with whom Nas has done several video clips). Subsequent appearances include Albert Pyuns action crime thriller Ticker (2001, with Tim Sizemore and Steven Seagal); Carl Seatons Sacred Is the Flesh (2001, also co-written by Nas); a cameo as himself in Boaz Yakins comedy Uptown Girls (2003, with Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning); Lawrence Pages Murda Muzik (2004, with Ron Artest and Chinky); and the fictional hip-hop group bio-pic The Vapors (upcoming in 2008, with an all-star cast of Roxanne Shant, Kool G Rap, Marley Marl, Biz Markie, and others).