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Damian Marley and Nas are gearing up for the release of their upcoming album, Distant Relatives, which will hit stores on May 18th (Preorder). The album features tracks with Stephen Marley, Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne and K’naan. In December the duo teamed up with National Geographic for a concert and panel session which covered issues of African poverty, development, culture and the future of the continent at the Grosvenor Auditorium in Washington DC.

The proceeds from the album will go to an African based charity— probably a project to build schools in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Marley made sure to emphasize the musical strengths of the album along with its humanitarian aspects. “A lot of charity albums come off corny,” says Marley, “we want this to be something you’d play in your car.” Marley, who produced most of the album added, “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.” Nas looks forward to the album’s release, “I think we can have fun helping people,” said the Queensbridge rapper, “when I think about things we wanna do with this album, it’s just limitless.” Nas and Damian Marley will be touring the US and Europe in the summer— view the full list of dates. Several tracks are available to stream and download (Land Of Promise) at distantrelatives.com. Check out the tracklist and listen to a few of my favourites below.

1. As We Enter

2. Tribal War (featuring K’naan)

3. Strong Will Continue

4. Leaders (featuring Stephen Marley)

5. Friends

6. Count Your Blessings

7. Dispear

8. Land Of Promise (feat. Dennis Brown)

9. In His Own Words (feat. Stephen Marley)

10. Nah Mean

11. Patience

12. My Generation (feat. Lil Wayne)

13. Africa Must Wake Up (feat. K’naan)

Preorder Distant Relatives