December 5, 2002 13:03

THANK GOD

'God's Son', which features a track produced by Eminem, now hits stores on December 13...

Nas has brought the release of his new album 'GOD'S SON' forward to combat its leak onto the internet.

The album has been given a UK release date of December 16, and features a track produced by Eminem.

However, the US release has been brought forward to December 13, four days earlier than the original release date of December 17.

A statement reads: "Overwhelming demand for the album has incited internet piracy of the album's tracks while 'burned' CD counterfeit copies of the record have already begun to hit the streets. Rather than risk having fans experience inferior and incomplete versions of his new album, Nas has decided to break the music industry's standard Tuesday release practice and get 'God's Son' into stores as soon as possible.

Nas said: "'God's Son' is my most personal album and I poured my heart and spirit into it. It's important to me that the fans hear my album the way I intended. When you buy a bootleg or pirate a download off the net, you don't get the real thing. The sound sucks, the sequencing is wrong, you're probably missing some tracks, and you don't even get the artwork and CD bonuses."

Almost every major release this year has encountered the problem of internet piracy. Eminem brought forward the release of his album 'The Eminem Show' for similar reasons.