Hip-hop legend assembles the game’s hottest for decades-old song.
Nas released single “Life is Like a Dice Game” featuring Cordae and Freddie Gibbs exclusively on Spotify on Thursday, July 1.
Spotify approached Nas to complete the track to be featured in the series they refer to as Spotify Singles. “Life is Like a Dice Game” originated as a freestyle snippet in 1993 in the sessions for Nas’ classic debut 1994 album Illmatic. In a press release about this song, Nas explained how good of an idea adding Cordae and Gibbs to the old track was.
“Spotify pulled out a leak from the ’90s that I did eons ago, and asked if I could resurrect it,” Nas said. “I can’t remember where I recorded it, or who produced it—maybe Easy Moe Bee, he was killin’ the game at the time! Carl Chery from Spotify suggested we connect with Freddie and Cordae to bring the song new life and I loved it.”
The song became available on all streaming platforms on Friday, July 9. The finished product involved production from Hit-Boy, frequent collaborator with Nas recently, aiding in production on his most recent 2020 album King’s Disease, which won the 2021 Rap Album of the Year Grammy.
With each three of Nas, Cordae and Gibbs giving a verse, the song feels like a complete, all-around effort from the trio. Each hook between the verses sees one of Cordae or Gibbs assisting Nas on the “To maintain the price of fame, life is like a dice game” chorus.
A portion of the final verse from Nas sees him complete a verse he originally recorded in the 90s with new, recent bars.
Big Nas in the house y’all, on the freestyle tip
When I finish this shit, it’s sure to be a hit
This original recording hit the street ’round ’93
Was just a leak, the verse was incomplete, reconstructed the beat
So we can fuck up the street
“Life is Like a Dice Game” — Nas, Cordae & Freddie Gibbs
This song and Nas’ recent Grammy shows he can still hang with hip-hop’s sharpest lyricists in the game. Stream Nas’ fresh single “Life is Like a Dice Game” below.
