Nas & Erykah Badu – “This Bitter Land”

Monica Morgan/Getty Images

Nas & Erykah Badu – “This Bitter Land”

Monica Morgan/Getty Images

The forthcoming movie The Land is an independent drama about skateboarder kids in Cleveland. Erykah Badu acts in the movie, and Nas is among its executive producers. (We posted a trailer a few months ago.) So it’s not a surprise to hear Badu and Nas team up on “This Bitter Land,” a song from the movie’s soundtrack. But it is very cool. The song doesn’t have a beat, per se; the only backing is a mournful, slow-swelling string section. Badu lets her voice float sadly over it, while Nas digs into the rhythmic eddies he finds, and the two speak about desperation. It’s a genuinely beautiful song, and you can listen to it below, via Rolling Stone.

The Land and its soundtrack album are both out 7/29.

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