In over two decades, Nas has blessed fans with many pivotal albums and moments in hip-hop. Illmatic is undisputedly the best work of his career but in the years that followed, Nas failed to receive the same type of critical praise until the early 2000s when he was at war with Jay-Z. Following the release of Stillmatic, he dropped off a compilation project called The Lost Tapes -- an album filled with songs that were previously leaked online and recorded in between the release of 1999's I Am and Stillmatic.
September 23rd marked the 17 year anniversary of the release of The Lost Tapes. Over the years, many have continued to champion the project as some of Nas' best work. He took to Instagram today to reflect on the project's release and some of the songs that made their way onto the project.
"The Lost Tapes. ILL Will Records/@columbiarecords Sept. •23• 2002. #purple #myway#drunkbymyself was one of the hardest joints on there. #doorags#noideasoriginal #poppawasaplayerand more 17 Years Ago this was the first time Hip Hop witnessed [an] artist release an entire album of lost songs. #blazea50 tells a mean story," he wrote.
The rapper released the long-awaited sequel to the compilation project earlier this year. To commemorate the anniversary, he dropped off the visual for "War Against Love" from The Lost Tapes 2. Watch it below.
