Nas keeps leaking songs from his upcoming Life is Good record. And this time it’s another duet with his fallen friend, Amy Winehouse.
The song emerges just about a year since Winehouse’s death, and it’s absolutely bitter sweet. The two friends collaborated on a few songs before Winehouse’s death, most notably ‘Like Smoke’, but ‘Cherry Wine’ is quite poignant.
Not just is the pair singing and rapping about Winehouse’s biggest vice, but then there is Nas’s repeating “Life is good, life is good, no matter what, life is good”.
It’s all really sad, but the song is still a lovely blend of jazz and hip hop music, without becoming a desperate attempt at ‘fusion’. The two just naturally have all these genres come to them naturally, truly musical artists.