Just days before Melanie Fiona‘s album release The MF Life, a single off the LP leaked. The soulful “Running,” which features Nas, is a slow burning jam that showcases Fiona’s powerful vocals. With a throwback R&B feel and Nas‘ impressive raps, “Running” is a fitting introduction to the March 20 release.

While The MF Life boasts appearances by J. Cole, B.o.B. and John Legend, Fiona confessed Nas was a special treat.

“My favorite collaboration on the album is the feature from Nas,” she told CBS Local. “Nas, hip-hop royalty, came out on his own. We’ve actually known each other, lost contact but have always spoke about doing something together. He was down. Then Salaam [Remi] hit us up and was like, ‘Yo, Nas jumped on the record.’ He’s so poetic on the record. It’s great!”

Of The MF Life, Fiona said it was important to feature other artists, unlike her debut in which was devoid of guest appearances.

“I knew I wanted to have features. Now, being a new-ish artist I’ve met some really cool people and have worked with some really cool artists and I’m fans of some of these people,” she said.

While J. Cole and Fiona are both from the Roc Nation family, Fiona explained how she reached out to Cole and all the artists featured on her sophomore LP.

“He’s hot and I really felt like he could bring a great energy to the album,” she said of their collaboration on the album’s first track, “This Time.”

“B.o.B, I loved his music from the minute he came out and we’ve been friends so it was cool to be able to reach out to him to collaborate,” she said. “I thought that he would bring a really great energy to the song ‘Change the Record’ because ‘Change the Record’ has that rock, hip-hop kind of thing going on and he does that so well.”

Having worked with John Legend in the past, Fiona was happy to work with him again.

“John Legend and I wrote ‘L.O.V.E.’ together. That was a really cool one because we had just come off of doing ‘Wake Up Everybody’ for his album. So, to be able to get in and write another socially conscious record together, which I think is so important, was really a dream collaboration of mine.”

Yesterday (March 15) Melanie Fiona released the catchy “Gone (La Dada Di).” The iTunes exclusive track features slick raps by Snoop Dogg.

- Annie Reuter CBS Local

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