Nearly seven months after the release of his Grammy Award-nominated album, "Untitled," Nas says he's just "chilling out" these days, "trying to get myself together creatively [and] just [keeping] my head all straight to figure out what the next move is."

That said, the rapper tells Billboard he's put down a few ideas for new songs on his Blackberry and that he has "a couple of special things up my sleeve that should be unveiled in the next few weeks." That's about all he'll say about them, although he promises that one of the projects "is history."

After guesting on records by Young Jeezy, the Game, DJ Khaled and Keyshia Cole in 2008, he has a couple of other features lined up for the new year -- including a shot on Dr. Dre's "Detox," whenever it comes out.

"I did a joint. I think it's crazy," Nas says of working with Dre. "He's someone I'd love to do a whole album with one day. He's incredible. I think he's the best producer of all time."

Nas is up for two Grammys at the Feb. 8 ceremony in Los Angeles, including best rap album for "Untitled." "In all honestly, the fact that hip-hop is even at that stage now, for a guy like Lil Wayne to even be nominated for the best album Grammy and me to be nominated, it's just a blessing," he says. "Whether I win or lose, I'm happy hip-hop made it that far."

by Gary Graff