 In 2010 , Nas released his tenth studio album Distant Relatives , a collaboration with Damian Marley that reinvigorated Nas creatively . 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 . His songwriting on the album was also influenced by adjusting back to life as a single man . Nas also wanted to write more original subject matter rather than another album " about how you came up in the hood and how you had to make it out of the hood " . 
