Nas preferred to produce his new record with his closest musical confidantes.

The hip-hop icon has worked with some of the biggest producers in music throughout his career.

For his upcoming album Life is Good, Nas decided to limit his collaborative efforts to a handful of fellow musicians.

"I wanted to work on a record where it's just not a lot of people," he told RapFix Live. "So it's mostly No I.D., Saalam Remi, Da Internz; those are the ones who basically gave me the music. They knew what I wanted; they sat with me."

Nas felt he needed to establish reliable camaraderie in order to create the sounds he envisioned for this record.

"I needed producers that's gonna be there and get into what I want to get into, have the conversation and start making the records based off of what I'm looking for," he explained.

Nas was elated to have his latest single The Don co-produced by the late Heavy D, although he wasn't aware the legend lent a helping hand until after D's demise.

"I looked up to Heav," Nas said. "He's an icon, a music icon."

Nas has already released two singles from the new record Nasty and The Don.

It is not yet known when the album will be available to buy, but last month the star confirmed he had finished recording all the material.

This is Nas' first record since his untitled 2008 effort.