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Arts & Entertainment

'Nasir,' the new CD from Nas, features a scene from 1988 South Dallas as the cover art

The cover art for pop culture icon Nas' latest CD, previously shrouded in secrecy, put Dallas in the spotlight Thursday night.

The rapper's twelfth studio album features a photo that accompanied a 1988 Texas Monthly article about South Dallas with the headline "The War Zone." Jim Atkinson was the writer.

Award-winning photojournalist Mary Ellen Mark took the photo that features five young boys, lined up along a brick wall. Two of the boys are facing the wall, one holding a toy robot while the other is holding what is hopefully a toy gun. The other three have their hands up in the air, with one of them holding what is (hopefully) another toy gun.

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Information about the release of Nasir started trickling out slowly this week. Executive producer Kanye West tweeted the tracklist on Tuesday, June 12. And the title, Nasir, came right after. (The rapper's name is Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones.) The album release party streamed live on YouTube on Thursday night.

The album is out Friday, June 15. It follows Nas' last effort in 2012, Life Is Good.

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H/T: Complex

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