Nas and Erykah Badu stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! for a stark performance of their collaboration “This Bitter Land.” The song appears on the soundtrack for the film The Land, about Cleveland teenagers who are part of the Midwestern city’s underground hip-hop scene.
Badu opened the performance singing the chorus in front of a collection of string musicians. Nas joined later to rap his verses, even pulling out cash to illustrate the many white faces on the green paper.
Nas also joined Kimmel for an interview where he discussed why it’s taken him so long to release an album. “I gotta live life. I gotta experience things,” the rapper said of taking his time with his next LP. “Sometimes music can shift society, man. Not even talking about me. When I first started out, I didn’t know this thing would be so global.”
The rapper also spoke with Kimmel about the first song he wrote at age eight, a mural that had recently been erected in his hometown of Queensbridge, New York and his careful investments in technology. He also played a hilarious game of “Name That Famous Celebrity” against Matthew Perry where the pair had to guess which celebrities were being described by an Egyptian handyman who takes a photo with every celebrity he meets.