God's Son Duets: A History Of Nas Collabo Albums

The Queens rapper keeps promising to release collaborative albums with other famous rappers. Chances are you won't ever hear these dream LPs.

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Image via Complex Original
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God's Son searches the Harlem crowd for a rapper he hasn't promised to do an album with.

Besides Dr. Dre'sDetox, there's nothing more elusive in the world of hip-hop than the collaboration album. Rappers (not named Plies) have a hard enough time putting out one album, yet they keep promising to collaborate with other high-profile MCs on duet albums. 99% of the time, it ain't happenin'.

But what about a reggae artist? It was reported today that Nas is going to record an album with Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley about "the 'hood and Africa." Whether or not this is a good idea is beside the point, because the album probably won't come out. In fact, this isn't the first time Nas has promised to collaborate with another artist for a full-length LP. Check out our history of Nas' ill-fated collaboration albums...

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COLLABORATOR: AZ
• POTENTIAL ALBUM TITLE:Life's Still A Bitch (We Didn't Die!)
• CHANCE OF ACTUAL RELEASE: 0%
Ever since AZ wrecked shop as the sole guest rapper on Nas' Illmatic, there's been talk of a collaborative project between the two. As the years went on, however, it seems AZ was the only one trying to make this happen,voicing his desire to work with the Nasty one anywhere he could: radio interviews, magazine interviews, live shows. Dude, maybe he's just not that into you.

CLICK NEXT TO SEE NAS's ALBUMS WITH JAY-Z, RAKIM, DJ PREMIER AND MORE!

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COLLABORATOR: JAY Z
• POTENTIAL ALBUM TITLE:Bromance: Frenimies 4 Life
• CHANCE OF ACTUAL RELEASE: 20%
When Nasir swallowed his pride and signed with Def Jam in '06, everyone thought the former rivals would hop in a booth together and bless us with a collaborative album. But when no one but Funk Flex cared about the under-whelming "Black Republicans" track from Nas' Hip Hop is Dead album, talks simmered down, only to re-ignite last year when Jay hinted at the two recording an album for his new record label.
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COLLABORATOR: RAKIM
• POTENTIAL ALBUM TITLE:Stuntin' Like My Daddy
• CHANCE OF ACTUAL RELEASE: 0%
Nas hearts Rakim. So much so that he recorded an "unauthorized autobiography" of the legendary Queens rapper on his Streets Disciple album. During a joint interview, The God proposed the idea of a collabo album to the God's Son. They exchanged numbers and vowed to get together (pause) after they wrapped up their projects, saying it was a long time coming (pause). We guess the effort will take even longer to come (pause), as we haven't heard anything about it since then.
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COLLABORATOR: DR. DRE
• POTENTIAL ALBUM TITLE:The Firm 2: Another Fiasco
• CHANCE OF ACTUAL RELEASE: 0%
A few weeks ago, Nas told Billboard that not only is he going to appear on the fabled Detox album, but that he still wants to record a full LP with the Doc. Clearly they've both forgotten the epic fail that was The Firm.
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COLLABORATOR: DJ PREMIER
• POTENTIAL ALBUM TITLE:Alzheimer's State Of Mind
• CHANCE OF ACTUAL RELEASE: 0%
Feeling elated that his Untitled album was actually gonna hit the shelves, Nas got on his Kevin Garnett, "Anything is possible!" steez and told MTV that he wanted to link with DJ Premier for an entire disc, a possiblity that has long been discussed. Talk about Street Dreams. Although we would love Nas to let a real producer guide his next project, he probably has a better chance of going to a party and seeing someone who hasn't left a condom in his baby seat.

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COLLABORATORS: ICE CUBE x SCARFACE
• POTENTIAL ALBUM TITLE:Grumpy Old Men
• CHANCE OF ACTUAL RELEASE: 0%
Even with all his Hollywood money, Ice Cube still lives this hip hop shit. That's probably he was the only one who was excited at the prospect of doing an album with Nas and Scarface. Truth be told, this album would be dope.

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