Mass Appeal started out in the '90s as a slick cultural zine named after a great Gang Starr song. The company has been through a bunch of different incarnations since then. In 2013, Nas invested in Mass Appeal and became part-owner. A year later, Mass Appeal became a record label, and its first release was Run The Jewels 2 -- a pretty good start. In the past decade-plus, Mass Appeal has become a multi-media company that's involved in movie and TV productions, digital campaigns, promotions, and other hazily defined edges of the entertainment business. But Mass Appeal is still a record label, too, and it's put out music from people like Nas, Boldy James, and Jay Electronica. Now, Mass Appeal is introducing a new plan to release seven albums from a bunch of big-name rap veterans.
As Okayplayer reports, Mass Appeal teased its grand-scale Legend Has It... series in a cryptic Twitter post last week, promising seven albums from seven iconic rap artists. Today, the label revealed (most of) the artists participating in this campaign. One of the is the team of Nas and DJ Premier, which goes back all the way to Illmatic.
People have been wanting a collaborative album from Nas and Premier for decades, and they finally announced it last year, on the 30th anniversary of Illmatic, and dropped the single "Define My Name." Then they stopped talking about it, and I figured that would be the end of that tease. Instead, a new billboard claims that Nas and Premier's album will be part of a slate that'll also include new full-lengths from De La Soul, Mobb Deep, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and the late Big L. It also promises "the epic return of..." without letting us know who's on other end of those ellipses. So: Pete Rock & CL Smooth? Big Daddy Kane? It's can't be Jay-Z, can it?
This will obviously be complicated, since some of those artists aren't with us anymore. Big L was murdered in 1999, and his name has already been on four posthumous albums -- three more than he released during his lifetime. De La Soul member Dave, otherwise known as Trugoy The Dove, passed away in 2023. Prodigy, one half of Mobb Deep, died in 2017, though late-period Mobb collaborator Alchemist recently mentioned that he's working on a new project from the group. But apparently, it's happening, even if we don't know the details here. Here's what Mass Appeal has to say about the series in a press release:
Legend Has It... is dedicated to celebrating and spotlighting some of the most important and influential hip-hop artists of all time; trailblazers who’ve been instrumental in building and shaping the music and culture, and have taken it from the streets of New York City to the wider world, leaving an indelible mar. This unparalleled series of Legend Has It... releases features rap icon and Mass Appeal Records co-founder Nas and super-producer DJ Premier’s reprisal of their groundbreaking partnership; Ghostface Killah’s long-rumoured Supreme Clientele 2 sequel to his 2000 classic; plus a fresh offering, Emperor’s New Clothes, from fellow Wu-Tang Clan lynchpin Raekwon The Chef.
Sounds great! Tell us more! Here's the trailer for the series.
We don't know when any of these records will be out, but it's an exciting day for middle-aged rap fans like me.
