Nas has admitted that he would have burned Kelis‘ wedding dress had he chosen not to pose with it on his new album cover.
The cover art for ‘Life Is Good’ – due for release on July 17 – shows the rapper looking pensive as he sits with his ex-wife’s marital gown draped across his knee. Recalling the creative process behind the image, he told The Guardian: “I found [the dress] in my house and thought, it’s going somewhere. Either on the cover of my album, or burning in a garbage can.”
He also suggested that the image symbolises his residual feelings about the breakdown of his marriage to Kelis, which ended in 2009 shortly after the birth of their son Knight Jones. Discussing her wedding dress, Nas recalled: “I was angry when I first found it. Hurt and angry – but I don’t think she left it deliberately to hurt me. It’s just part of the dress, so I don’t know where the rest of it is. But it made all the sense in the world for me to… hold on to that. I guess that’s just my personality.”
However, Nas declined to criticise his ex-wife and insisted that his abiding memories of their time together are positive. He added: “My wedding and my marriage was, for the the most part, some of the most amazing times of my life. She’s an incredible woman. It just ended really publicly, it seemed real bad.”
Last month (June 25), Kelis refused to pour scorn on Nas‘s album cover, insisting that her personal reaction to the provocative image is irrelevant. Talking to NME at Isle of Wight festival, she said: “For someone in hip-hop to really be genuine and honest, whatever the honesty is about, I think it’s awesome. My feelings about it aren’t necessarily valid, but as an artist I can respect that he wears his feelings on his sleeve. I like that.”