“The title was King's Disease before this craziness happened,” Nas tells Zane Lowe about his 13th studio album. “Watching all the terror happening all over the country, I just felt the knee on my neck and I felt the knee on our people and I felt like I needed a pride moment. I needed a moment to be happy about our existence, to have made it so far, and all the things that we have done as a people.” The MC who once went by Escobar was talking specifically about “Ultra Black,” the lead single from King's Disease that serves as equal parts call to action and celebration of Black American resilience. “I box it all out and I think about, 'This is my message.' I hope everybody's okay. I hope they get it and feel what I'm saying,” Nas says. “And not just the words, but the vibration, the energy I'm on with myself and how I want to give that back to people. It's just a feeling and it's not against anybody else. It's about inspiring one to have love of self regardless of what's happening around you, to you.” In conversation with Zane, Nas is as thoughtful as ever, breaking down key tracks and also going deep on working with producer Hit-Boy, his 2018 NASIR album with Kanye West, the reunion of his old supergroup The Firm, and the new superstars of New York rap, A$AP Ferg and Fivio Foreign.