Nas has signed a deal with publisher HarperCollins to pen his first book with journalist Toure chronicling his life story and 20 years in Hip-Hop.
Titled It Ain’t Too Hard to Tell, the book will be Toure’s second memoir attempt with a legendary rapper. In the late 90s, he traveled with extensively with KRS-One before the Bronx emcee decided to cancel the project. As a contributing Rolling Stone editor for over 10 years, Toure’s music journalism has been primarily focused on Hip-Hop with notable features on Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z and Beyonce.
Toure’s latest book, Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness, hits stores today. Nas is currently putting the finishing touches on his 10th studio album Life Is Good.
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This is the best news I’ve heard so far this week. Nas is one of, if not the best lyricist ever to come out of Hip-Hop culture. While various scholars attempted to analyze the impact and meaning behind Illmatic a few years ago in Michael Eric Dyson’s Born to Use Mics, there’s never been a proper tome with Nas himself explaining the motivations behind his words. When you think about the fact his official on-wax career started in 1991 and here in 2011 he’s still dropping tracks like “Nasty” and “Ghetto Dreams,” it makes you truly appreciate and respect this man’s talent. For all his outside ventures, Toure, like Dream Hampton, loves Hip-Hop culture. I expect he’ll help do justice to Nas’s story the same way she did with Jay-Z’s Decoded last year.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 