Nas Focus' On Peace & Love For New Album

Even though he's in the middle of putting the finishing touches on his "Distant Relatives" collaboration with Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, the Queensbridge rapper Nasir "Nas" Jones is looking towards a followup to his 2008 album "Untitled."

Nas told Billboard.com that he'll start working on his album once he's done with the Marley project. The album's direction is still germinating, Nas says. "Untitled," of course, came out meeting great controversy over its initial title of "N*gger". Now this new albumm will come out while Nas and soon to be ex-wife Kelis are in the middle of a messy divorce and the impending birth of their son.

"It's funny- drama is something that definitely kicks a fire underneath artists," Nas says. "But I try not to make that my focus. I'm trying to have peace and love. My shit right now is age-appropriate for myself. I love everything, most of the things that are going on musically. But my music will talk about what I see, how I see it, and it should be interesting. My last things were about what I felt about hip-hop and what I felt about race matters. This new thing will be a natural thing. I have a few things that I feel like doing, but who knows what it will be."

Nas is currently touring with Marley as part of this year's Rock The Bells package and will also finish "Distant Relatives" after the tour. They also plan to tour extensively following its release, and Nas is feeling both that album and his next release will be part of a hip-hop scene he finds more potent than it's been in recent years.

"I think it is headed in a good direction," he says. "Everybody is trying to beat the life back into it. People are forced to beat the life back into it because it's either that or, if hip-hop dies completely, then it's our fault. So no one wants that on their shoulders. No one wants that on their brain. We have a responsibility to keep this shit crunchy. That means a lot to fans and people, and we should care more about the music."