The Judas & The Black Messiah soundtrack arrived on Friday (February 12) packed to the gills with high profile features from Nas, JAY-Z, the late Nipsey Hussle, G Herbo and H.E.R., among many others. Produced entirely by Hit-Boy, the 22-track project sheds light on many socio-political issues — past and present — while highlighting the film’s protagonist Fred Hampton, played by Get Out actor Daniel Kaluuya.
Aside from the Hov and Neighborhood Nip collab “What It Feels Like,” Hip Hop fans were eagerly awaiting “EPMD” from Nas, his first offering since 2020’s Grammy Award-nominated King’s Disease album. As part of his first verse, the Illmatic legend condemns the alleged snitching that goes down on various social media platforms, including the latest app du jour Clubhouse.
“Feds holdin’ cameras up and they zoomin’ in/Don’t be surprised when n-ggas show you they true intent,” he raps. “Ruthless, they’ll tie up your wife and kid/While you talkin’ on Clubhouse, the guns out/This ain’t a audio chat, boy, this audio crack/Social media platforms they rattin’ on/Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon/Some say it’s Babylon, took the property over since Hampton gone.”
The Clubhouse app has grown increasingly popular among music industry professionals and artists alike. But depending on the subject matter, things can either stay cool or get incredibly heated, as in the case of Royce Da 5’9 and The Source founder Dave Mays.
Last month, the two found themselves in the same Clubhouse room with Van Lathan, Page Kennedy, Just Blaze, Punch and King Los, among others. The topic of conversation revolved around the alleged beef between Snoop Dogg and Eminem, which took a wrong turn after Mays brought up Slim Shady’s controversial “Foolish Pride” track.
After a brief back-and-forth, Nickle Nine ultimately kicked Mays out of the room, saying, “Enough of Dave Mays. Fuck out of here, muthafucka. Fuck he talking to, I’ll put death on your doorstep. I’m not divided, I’m not one with Dave Mays. Let’s get this shit straight. Ya’ll n-ggas in here acting like this n-gga at the cookout.”
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A VladTV interview was blamed for Casanova’s recent FBI indictment and police often use social media as a way to hunt down suspects. Whatever the case, Nas isn’t down with it.
Check out “EPMD” above.