What a better way to start the week than with one of my most anticipated albums in YEARS.  Actually, I have been listening to this album since last week and it has only come out of the tapedeck a couple of times.  With numerous delays, I was starting to get worried that Nas and Damian Marley’s album, Distant Relatives would never see the light of day.  Despite the wait, the album is DEFINITELY worth it.  It’s easy to have incredible expectations when two of music’s greatest voices team up for an entire album.  It’s even easier to be let down by such a pairing however, Distant Relatives managed to bring out the strengths in both artists and minimizing the awkward collabs of mashing together two genres of music.  Fortunately for Nas’ sake, Damian and Stephen handle the production and seem to guide the soundscape of the album.  This allows Distant Relatives to flow nicely.  Nas also brings his A game with his writing.  He touches on many different subjects and sounds just as sharp as ever, even on slower paced, reggae joints.  I don’t want to give away too much because this is a project that people NEED to support.  I will be purchasing my copy tomorrow.  The album isn’t quite perfect but even the weakest songs have great messages and are still pretty solid.  Even Lil Wayne drops some knowledge on My Generation, which happens to be my least favorite song.  In my humble opinion, this is the strongest album of the year to date and will be top 5 for sure.  Not only is the album really dope, it’s in support of Africa and proceeds go to Africa so, PURCHASE the album.  I am sure they will tour again very soon so, make sure you catch Nas and Damian live.  Check out the video for As We Enter below.