Nas Drops Arresting Video For His Single ‘War Against Love’
Nas gives a history lesson in the newest visual for his single ‘War Against Love’, off his new rarities compilation, ‘The Lost Tapes 2’.
Nas gives a history lesson in the newest visual for his single ‘War Against Love’, off his new rarities compilation, The Lost Tapes 2.
Directed by Jason Goldwatch, the compelling video features the iconic Queens rapper performing the song alongside a video collage of cultural and political events from American history.
The split screen visual juxtaposes positive imagery alongside other nefarious aspects of America’s history.
The cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road is contrasted with images of soldiers, Olympic track star Wilma Rudolph crossed the finish line next to the same Civil Rights-era photo of police chasing two black teenagers from the Roots’ Things Fall Apart album.
Stevie Wonder appears alongside the notorious police sketch of the unabomber Ted Kaczynski. Nelson Mandela triumphantly raises his fist while Hitler gives the Nazi salute.
“With peaceful displays of humankind’s achievements and nature’s beauty paired with difficult scenes of man-made destruction, the message is clear; it is our duty to learn from humanity’s fraught history and move forward in the name of love,” reads the official description for the video.
‘War Against Love’ follows the previous visual for ‘No Bad Energy’ last month. Nas talked about the inspiration behind the track in interview for Mass Appeal back in July.
“I remember I was talking to Miss Lauryn Hill on the phone. We were talking and just shooting sh__t, man. We can get into some conversations that last and she said we were talking about the evil that goes on in the world, right? And she said, “it’s like a war against love” just in conversation and just stayed with me the next day, and the next day, and the next day.
So when I got in the studio and going through the tracks, it came up. Yeah, just from having conversation. That’s how a lot of stuff happen, though. I just talked to people and just a light goes off.”
Nas dropped The Lost Tapes 2 back in July via Mass Appeal and Def Jam, 17 years after the first instalment, which featured unreleased tracks from Nas’ 1999 album I Am… and 2001’s Stillmatic.
The new album collects tracks recorded during the sessions for 2006’s Hip-Hop is Dead, 2008’s Untitled, 2012’s Life Is Good and 2018’s Nasir.
The Lost Tapes 2 can be bought here.
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