Regrettably, only a few cuts demarcate where the two artists have agreed to defer to one another. But still there’s an element of contrivance amiss in songs like “Strong Will Continue” where Damian’s melodious patois and Nas’s street corner linguistics exist in separate realms despite being on the same track. K’Naan’s verse in particular, stirs up a gourd of conscious gumbo that remixes Mandela, conflict diamonds, and Black Dalai Lamas over an ethnic chorus and drums that could have come directly from the Serengeti. “Tribal War” grants access to a fraternity of progressive thinkers as Nas and Damian invite fellow Pan-africanist K’Naan to lyrically renew Africa’s cultural contribution to the world. Let’s not get it twisted, the album’s uncurbed afrocentricity for all its self-righteous didacticism, is downright cleansing.
Look at it this way, do we expect or even think it’s possible for Nas and Marley to develop in one LP what it took Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton years to cultivate? At the very base level, some awkward blind-datishness is unavoidable. Logically speaking, Distant Relatives, the duo’s collaboration project may be all but destined for mediocrity. They can’t help but ask themselves if Nas and Damian Marley, arguably the Kobe and Lebron of the conscious black aesthetic, can reconcile their respective spheres of dominance and produce one shared effort. This general truth swims in the mind of even the most optimistic critics. The point is when two breadwinners get to together to do a joint album, there is a certain management-or mismanagement-of egos required. Oh and let’s not forget all the prima donna mid-performance walk-offs in between. Then came the paranoid illusions of gun-toting concertgoers and the infamous pepper spray incident. They were scathing radio interviews and subpoenas. Their two collaboration albums, criticized for being uninspired and redundant, sat in shelf dust while the two bickered over tour profits. In addition to announcing tour dates, Nas and Damian have released the official album cover (featured here), which was shot by Nabil Elderkin and designed by Nesta Garrick.By the end of the Best of Both Worlds Tour in November 2004, Jay-Z and R. Opening for Nas and Damian during their landmark tour is Nigerian-born singer-songwriter Nneka, who recently introduced her sound to the America earlier this year through her US debut release, Concrete Jungle. They will also make one more special performance on May 2nd at West Palm Beach, FL’s SUNFEST before kicking off the tour. The pair recently performed at the annual music festival SXSW in Austin, TX, as well as WMC's Ultra Music Festival in Miami this past weekend. The tour will follow the May 18th release of their highly-anticipated collaborative studio album, Distant Relatives (Universal Republic), and will include performances at Bonnaroo, June 11th and Gathering of The Vibes, August 1st. Gong" Marley have announced the official tour dates for their groundbreaking "Distant Relatives Tour," set to kick off May 21st in Arcata, CA.
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