Damian Marley - Contributed

Hip-hop icon and 11-time Grammy nominee Nas and the youngest son of Reggae legend Bob Marley, Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley, yesterday announced the release of their highly-anticipated collaborative studio album, Distant Relatives.

Featuring the signature instrumentation and musicianship of Marley with the hard-hitting beats of hip-hop-lyricist Nas, the album title refers not only to the bond that has been formed between the two artistes, but the connection to their African ancestry, which inspired the album's creation.

previous collaborations

In comparison to other previous collaborations between Jamaican and American artistes, Distant Relatives is neither a remix nor a featured guest spot on a single track, but instead, it is a fully collaborative album compilation that has opened the avenues of musical expression.

It is said that Distant Relatives traces the direct line from dancehall, reggae's breakthrough moment 40 years ago, to the rise of hip hop several years later - from Run D.M.C.

This album was created by two iconic artistes to explore and celebrate the correlations and deep-rooted connections between the reggae and hip-hop genres, tracing both sounds back to the African motherland.

musical history

Marley, garnered his own place in musical history when he became the first ever reggae artiste to win a Grammy Award outside of the Reggae category, taking home an award for Best Urban/Alternative performance for his 2005 hit single Welcome To Jamrock. He also won a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. He is joined by Nas, an Ambassador for hip-hop culture throughout the globe who has released eight solo albums and three compilation albums that have garnered and certified either double-platinum, platinum or gold.

The sound of Distant Relatives features live musicians as well as studio production by Damian Marley and brother Stephen.

middle ground

According to Marley, "I didn't want it to sound like something that would be typical of me, neither typical of Nas, but something where you can still see how there's a middle ground in the music where you can still hear something that is reminiscent of either of us, its been really fun, cause we've been going in the booth together."

"The whole process is gonna be fun," Nas adds. "I think we can have fun helping people. When I think about things we wanna do with this album, it's just limitless."

Nas went on to further explain, "When we first started working, I was thinking about what direction we should go in, cause it's all kinda like the same reggae, rap. But it went to its own thing. We had a few concepts. All basically around empowerment in a way, cause if we're talking about Distant Relatives, we're talking about the human family."

Nas and Jr Gong plan to hit the road following the release of their album, with stops at Bonnaroo and the Heineken Opener Festival in Poland. Prelude to the tour which began at SXSW on March 17 and was followed by two performances in South Florida at ULTRA on March 27 and SUNFEST on May 2.