Nas and DJ Premier are finally bridging decades of what-ifs with Light-Years, igniting December 12 via Mass Appeal Records, and “Shine Together” seals it like a vow under Queensbridge stars—two icons toasting survival, synergy, and that unbreakable glow we all chase.
This closer clocks in at 2:40 of pure alchemy: Premier’s dusty-fingered scratches and razor-sharp breaks cradling Nas’s velvet baritone, a boom-bap blueprint that nods to Illmatic’s blueprint without chasing ghosts. It’s East Coast gospel laced with jazz horns and soul chops—think Gang Starr’s grit meets Nas’s poetic pulse, no Auto-Tune crutches, just raw rhyme schemes dissecting unity’s quiet power.
Thematically, it’s a luminous gut-check on collective rise: shining not solo but intertwined, through betrayals and breakthroughs, where “together” becomes armor against the fade. Penned in marathon sessions that spanned Nas’s King’s Disease era to Premier’s Gang Starr vault dives, it’s their creative north star—vulnerable flexes on mentorship, legacy handoffs, and outlasting the odds, teased in a November Insta clip where Preem looped a sample that had heads nodding worldwide.
Light-Years? It’s the capstone to Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It… series, a 15-track odyssey closing out ’25 with heavyweights like Slick Rick and Mobb Deep echoes. From opener “My Life Is Real” to AZ’s nod on “My Story Your Story,” it’s stacked with cuts like “NY State of Mind Pt. 3” (that spiritual sequel) and “Nasty Esco Nasir” for the street sermons, all clocking 45 minutes of unfiltered reflection—no fluff, just two GOATs reclaiming hip-hop’s golden age for the now. Announced at a Bristol tour stop last month, it’s got that ’94 fire but wiser, a sonic scrapbook of what hip-hop could still be.
Nas, 52 and untouchable post his Grammy-gilded trilogy, is syncing with Premier—the beat surgeon behind classics from Jeru to Jay—for a full-circle flex that screams evolution. Fresh off Illmatic’s 30th (where “Define My Name” dropped as a taste), they’re not reminiscing; they’re redefining, turning fan prayers into plaques while the game catches up to their blueprint.
Dive into the Shine Together lyrics below and unpack its raw narrative. Don’t miss other Light-Years tracks for more of Nas & DJ Premier’s timeless boom-bap wisdom.
| 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 Shine Together by Nas & DJ Premier
[Refrain]
Rhyme a Few Bars, Ki-Ki-Kick a Few Flows
for Every Word I Spit, I Get Phe-Phe-Phenomenal
and We Might as Well Shine Together
I Made Moves in the Trenches, Lookin’ Over My Shoulders
a Fool and His Riches Would Soon Part, That’s What They Told Us
a School of Fish Follows the Shark to Eat His Leftovers
and When That Shark Is Hungry Again, It Ups the Death Total
Esco in That Maybach Truck, Macallan Scotch in the Cup
Three Hundred Thousand Watchin’ the Stallion That’s Rollin’ Up
a Boss Is One Who Learn to Get Dough, Then He Show You
Keep the Limelight, I Curves Them Photos, I’m Yoda
the Wise One, High Off the Blunt Smoke
Worryin’ About the Next Man Will Stunt Growth
Just Do My Shadow Boxin’ and Jump Rope
I Don’t Front for Attention for Ratchet Sisters
‘Til My Casket Dip, I’ma Want More, Just the Truth Trick
So Many New Chicks, I Wish I Was Born With Two—
Oops, I Take That Line Back
a Devil in a Blue Dress, I Grind That
Body So Crazy, They Asking Where I Find That
Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Is Where I Write My Rhymes at [Refrain]
Rhyme a Few Bars, Ki-Ki-Kick a Few Flows
for Every Word I Spit, I Get Phe-Phe-Phenomenal
and We Might as Well Shine Together [Verse 2]
Like a Baby Baffled, First Time Seein’ His Shadow
People React the Same to What Preem and Nas Will Unravel
Rugged Pistol Holder Slash Government Whistleblower
Repugnant Information, the Public Should Get to Know Us
the Boroughs Into Piscataway Know My Album Dates
a Staggerin’ Rise of Music Comin’ Out, I Calculate
‘Cause When My Name Is Mentioned, It’s Why the Game Be Shiftin’
When You Lames Drop, the People Remain Indifferent
This Is My Dissertation, Displayin’ It at My Leisure
Precious Like Postal Cards Written by Slaves in Secret
Black Preachers Castin’ Spirits Back Into Hell
Hear the Trumpets in the Bible as Joshua Starts to Yell
Easy Money Is Robbery in Broad Day
Might Call Bet to Play My Videos All Day
the Cribs Are Mini-Museums
the Closets Are More Like Small Department Stores, I Drop That Raw
[Refrain]
Rhyme a Few Bars, Ki-Ki-Kick a Few Flows
for Every Word I Spit, I Get Pheno-Phenomenal
and We Might as Well Shine Together
