Life Is Good is the tenth studio album by American rapper Nas, released on July 13, 2012, by Def Jam Recordings.

[nb 1] The album was recorded at various studios in New York and California, with guest appearances from rappers Large Professor and Rick Ross, and singers Mary J. Blige, Miguel, and, posthumously, Amy Winehouse, among others.

and Salaam Remi incorporated orchestral elements and musical references to both contemporary and golden age hip hop, including boom bap beats and old school samples.

Nas wanted to draw on 1980s hip hop influences in order to complement the nostalgic tone of his lyrics, which he used to vent personal feelings and address moments in his life and rapping career, lending it themes of nostalgia and adulthood.

Three singles were released in its promotion – "Nasty", "The Don", and "Daughters" – along with five music videos, while Nas toured in further support of the album from June to December 2012.

[3] He soon became distracted by tax problems and an expensive, highly publicized divorce from his wife Kelis months before their son's birth, events that influenced his direction for Life Is Good.

[7] For Life Is Good's album cover, a photo was taken of Nas in a polished white suit, sitting in a night club's VIP lounge, appearing forlorn, and holding over his knee Kelis' actual green wedding dress,[4] which he said was the only item she left him.

[8] Nas worked with several musicians, including Amy Winehouse, Mary J. Blige, James Poyser, Anthony Hamilton, Miguel, Large Professor, and Hal Ritson, among others.

[10] Life Is Good leaves Nas in his comfort zone, where the vital music of his youth proves a rousing platform for commenting on matters of middle age.

[14] Nas' rapping is characterized by internal rhymes, a relaxed, plainspoken flow,[11] and transparent lyrics addressing moments in his life, including his youth and the personal events leading up to the album.

"[12] David Dennis of The Village Voice writes that his lyrics address hip hop's "golden era" and "the trials and tribulations of adult relationships".

[26] The song's subject matter ranges from lifestyle boats to revolutionary ideals: "Hood forever, I just act like I’m civilized / Really what’s in my mind is organizing a billion Black muthafuckas / To take over JP and Morgan Goldman and Sachs / And teach the world facts and give Saudi they oil back".

[5] "Accident Murderers" incorporates pipe organ in its production,[26] and its lyrics addresses senseless violence with a rags to riches narrative by Rick Ross.

[12][21] According to No Ripcord's James McKenna, "Stay" mixes soul and jazz elements, "bringing to mind Low End Theory era A Tribe Called Quest and Tupac's Me Against the World, and lyrics "questioning the line between love and hate".

[5][12] The album was promoted by Nas' concert performances and television appearances on The Colbert Report, Late Show with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and 106 & Park.

[32] A music video for "Nasty" was filmed by director Jason Goldwatch in Queensbridge, Nas' hometown in New York,[33] and released virally on October 11, 2011.

[36] A video promoting "Bye Baby" was released on August 20, 2012, featuring scenes of Nas in an empty home, at his divorce proceedings, and in a setting that revisits the cover image of Life Is Good.

[40] Life Is Good was released by Def Jam Recordings,[41] first on July 13, 2012, in Germany,[1] where it reached number 24 on the Media Control Charts.

[49] Reviewing the album in NME, Kevin EG Perry called it "a grimy, back-to-basics return to form",[52] while Pitchfork's Jayson Greene said Nas had "settled gracefully into strengths".

Club deemed Nas' lyrics "beautifully expressed" and the music just "as thoughtful",[11] while Slant Magazine's Manan Desai believed the rapper sounded "inspired" and praised the album's "narrative unity" as "a wide-angle look of the artist as a grown man.

"[51] In the opinion of Randall Roberts from the Los Angeles Times, the "thoughtful, fierce, honest and – most important – heavy-duty work" showed "Nas has gotten better at rolling with the punches – and you can hear it in every verse".

[54] Carl Chery from XXL hailed it as "arguably Nas' best LP since Stillmatic" and proof that "at this juncture—21 years and 10 solo albums in—no other MC has ever rhymed at such a high level this deep into their career.

[55] AllMusic's David Jeffries regarded the album as an inevitably "puff-chested bitch session", "acting as a clearing house for all venom and bile, plus some gloss that doesn't fit but needed to go as well.

"[19] According to New York Times critic Jon Caramanica, the narratives were "sometimes distractingly fanciful" and Nas' lyrics occasionally "overstuffed", even though the record possessed "a simulacrum of the sound that made him legendary".