In the lead up to his forthcoming album, Nas revealed the inspirations behind the drop’s cover image.

The album art features a picture of Nas, with what appears to be ex-wife, Kelis’s green dress draped over one knee. The album drops on July 17, and Nas spoke to Rap-Up.com about the meaning of the cover image. He revealed that the symbolism of the picture exposes a lot about his life.

“Life, love, joy, anger, celebration. There’s so many things you can see on that album cover,” he said. “You see my life. My life is on that album cover.”

He went on to say that Kelis had not contacted him about the image, as yet. “We just put it out, so it's still way too fresh. [I'll hear from her] eventually at some point.”

Nas went on to explain the thought processes behind the album, revealing that he felt it shows a side of him that fans may not have seen before.

“My mindset was to pull out a side of me that people haven’t heard in a while and give ‘em that feeling that they haven’t felt in a while -- a feeling that I love. And some of that feeling is ’90s-esque, some of that feeling is 2015. It’s just a feeling that I feel to be a timeless sound. So I just let it flow.“

- By Fiona Guest