King's Disease

Nas commissioned the cover of King's Disease from Harmonia Rosales, the Afro-Cuban painter known for recasting European religious art with Black figures. She worked digitally, a medium she had only recently taken up, and used the job to test those skills. The brief was loose: the title, and the idea of the "king's disease" as gluttony. Rosales had full creative control and chose not to hear the music first. A job planned for four days took about two weeks of near constant work. "I took like 4 hours on little things like one part of the crown," she said.

The result is dense with symbols on a field of red, which Rosales uses for sacrifice. A cracked stone halo hangs behind a throne marked with African signs of greatness. A machete stands for Ogun and bata drums for Chango, both Orishas. Blank souls pick at a crown, people who want a leader's seat without knowing its cost. Pearls, a snake and a skull trace a life from innocence to knowledge to death, while a dagger drips blood onto a papaya. A boar's head, grapes turning to wine and a wedding ring point to excess and to Nas's own life. "I wanted to incorporate the entire lifecycle just like a king would a leader," she said.

The red and gold scheme carried through the whole King's Disease series. The album won the Grammy for Best Rap Album, the first of Nas's career. It was released on 21 August 2020.