"This is a record that, right now, I'm scared of making," Nas said of the album. "I don't know what's gonna happen, as far as I don't know what I'm gonna say. I feel like I've put so much of my personal life out there, and I feel like I'm one of the sort of guys you don't really hear about [though] paparazzi or fan magazines all the time. But I just feel like my life is so much out there [now] that it's kind of like — man, I don't even know how to put into words how I feel about putting this record together. I'm a little nervous, to tell you the truth. That's all I can say."