Nas and DJ Premier are closing a 20-year loop with Light-Years, their mythic collab finally beaming down December 12 via Mass Appeal Records, and “My Life Is Real” opens the floodgates like a dusty vinyl spin—gritty truths over golden-age scratches that hit different in 2025.
This lead single, teased in snippets during Premier’s fall tour stops, is pure Illmatic DNA reloaded: Nas’s surgical flows dissecting fame’s facade, street scars, and that unfiltered Queens pulse, all backed by Preem’s signature dusty samples and razor kicks. It’s boom-bap purism with a modern edge—think orchestral stabs nodding to their shared history, no Auto-Tune crutches, just raw bars on legacy (“From the cradle to the grave, it’s realer than the reel”). Thematically, it’s Nas unpacking the weight of survival: dodging industry snakes, fatherhood flips, and the grind that forged a god MC, delivered with that half-whisper menace that makes you lean in. No features here; it’s the duo’s chemistry front and center, self-produced in Premier’s NYC lab over marathon sessions that started as ’06 whispers and bloomed into this.
Light-Years caps Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It… series—the seventh and final jewel in a six-month hip-hop crown of reissues and rarities—clocking 15 tracks of uncompromised artistry. The concept? A cosmic return to roots: Nas revisiting Illmatic’s blueprint with Pt. 3 of “NY State of Mind,” reflective cuts like “Sons (Young Kings)” and “3rd Childhood,” plus a lone guest spot from AZ on “My Story Your Story.” Standouts tease the sprawl—“Git Ready” for the urgency, “Shine Together” for the uplift—proving this ain’t nostalgia porn; it’s evolution etched in wax. Announced live at a Bristol gig on November 19, with artwork dropping via Insta on the 25th, it’s got fans geeking over the “Define My Name” lead single from Illmatic’s 30th last April.
Nas, at 52, is untouchable—fresh off Magic 3’s chart siege and that Kings Disease Oscar nod still echoing—while Premier, the beat surgeon behind Gang Starr and half of rap’s holy grails, keeps carving classics with collabs like his Roc Marciano tape this year. Together? It’s elder statesmen schooling the timeline, blending wisdom with that timeless spark that birthed the genre.
Dive into the My Life Is Real lyrics below and unpack its raw narrative. Don’t miss other Light-Years tracks for more of Nas & DJ Premier’s timeless boom-bap mastery.
| Lead Vocals | Nas & DJ Premier |
| Songwriter | Nas & DJ Premier |
| Music Producer | DJ Premier |
| Label | Mass Appeal Records |
| Release Date | December 12, 2025 |
| Song Language | English |
| Copyright © | Mass Appeal Records |
Lyrics of My Life Is Real by Nas & DJ Premier
[Intro: Nas & Benny the Butcher]
What a Life
It’s True That They Underestimate You
My Life Is Real
So I’m Fronting on ‘Em Every Chance I Get, to Be Honest
[Verse 1: Nas]
Wavy Hair, Mystique, Up in This B**ch, Deep
Chain With Some Sick Feet, Corner of 10th Street
Scoop Me in a MPV, I’m Holdin’ Big Heat
Soloist Vocalist, Maestro, This Fish Grease, Rest in Peace Polo
He See Us, My Wishes With [?], Just Like [?], Me and Preem, This History
Young Ones, Abuelas, Jesus Candles, Bodegas
Hallways Playing Some Gang Starr, Who Is That? They Gon’ Say, “Nah”
Look at Us Now, De La, Live, [?], Ghost, and Rick
Big Up Big L, Prodigy, Trugoy, They Live
Martyrs, if You Will, and Legend Has It, Cartel
I’m on Jets With Giants, I’m Bill Parcellsm
Ptsd, Project Trauma Still Dwells
Happiness Gotta Be in You, Money Can’t Help
So, Salute to the Men That, Never Hit the Pen Black
We Go to the Bread and Still Live to Spend That
[Chorus: Nas]
What a Life, I’m a Man, I’ma Die About It
Feel a Pain, but I’m Not Gon’ Cry About It
Tell the Truth, ‘Cause There’s No Reason to Lie About It
Invisible Fingers Playin’ Chords on My Haunted Piano
I’m a Man, I’ma Die About It
Feel a Pain, but I’m Not Gon’ Cry About It
Tell the Truth, ‘Cause There’s No Reason to Lie About It
Invisible Fingers Playin’ Chords–
[Verse 2: Nas]
Already Classic Before You Heard It, the Spoiler Was All My Feature Verses
I Lined It Up Kinda Perfect and Then I Hurled It
Rhymes in My Mind Like Pearls and Oysters
Boss of Bosses, Morpheus on My Bullshit
the Illest Style Right Here, ‘Til I Got White Hair
Gettin’ Fouled, [?], We Ahead, Light Years
We Come Out, the Ship Starts, So Let the Fifth Spark
Turn the Light Switch Off, Drive a Block, Switch Cars
Toss Our Facemask and Glove, Damn, I Just Caught a Buzz
Pulled Another Hit on a Beat, Guess Who the Victim Was?
Guess Who Just Got Reconfigured? the Whole Industry Does
Premier, You My Nigga Because We Became the Men Our Mothers Prayed for
Maybe Even Exceeded They Expectations, or
Maybe They Always Knew, While Tyin’ Up Our Baby Shoes
What Was Waitin’, That Brew in the Souls of a Chosen Few
This Ain’t Just Talk, It’s True
[Chorus: Nas]
What a Life, I’m a Man, I’ma Die About It
Feel a Pain, but I’m Not Gon’ Cry About It
Tell the Truth, ‘Cause There’s No Reason to Lie About It
Invisible Fingers Playin’ Chords on My Haunted Piano
I’m a Man, I’ma Die About It
Feel a Pain, but I’m Not Gon’ Cry About It
Tell the Truth, ‘Cause There’s No Reason to Lie About It
Invisible Fingers Playin’ Chords–
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