Nas and Gary Clark Jr. provide soundtrack for our NFL Draft telecast

The soundtrack for ESPN’s 2012 NFL Draft coverage promises to be a crowd pleaser.

It was announced today that Nas, hip-hop’s most influential MC, and popular Texas guitar virtuoso Gary Clark, Jr. are collaborating on the music for ESPN’s three-day draft telecast, April 26-28.

A pair of new Nas songs — Train and The Don, from his upcoming Def Jam Recordings album — and Clark’s hit song Bright Lights from the Warner Bros. label will be used coming in and out of commercial breaks and in highlight packages. Nas will also add a few lyrics of his own to Bright Lights that embody the vibe of the athlete and rising to the top, in this case, realizing the dream of playing professional football.

The gallery above has some behind-the-scenes photos from recent shoots with Nas (in New York) and Clark (in Austin, Texas), and the promo video below started airing this week.  

“The NFL Draft is set in New York in primetime, so we were looking at music that is central to that theme, and both Nas, who is from New York, and Gary Clark Jr. have that feel,” said ESPN music director Kevin Wilson. 

“Our department loves this kind of project, when we can identify great songs to enhance our on-air presentation and find talented artists who want to work with ESPN in this way.”  

Nas’ first new studio album in four years is scheduled to be released later this year. The Don, the album’s new advance track, premiered earlier this month and is already receiving rave reviews.

The Bright Lights EP is available now and includes Bright Lights. Clark’s new album will be available later this year.