On July 4 of last year, Carol City, Fla. rapper Nell was released from jail after serving a year and a half behind bars for possession of a semi-automatic Mac 11 and fraudulent activity. Now, his long-awaited album Year of the Youth is finally on the way, and today XXL is proud to premiere a new song off the project called "While I'm Up" produced by Ronny J. Watch the visual, directed by James Periera, below.

"Being home from prison has humbled me to the point where I know how to think for others as well as myself," Nell tells XXL. "Coming from a place of wickedness and common violence you tend to value your freedom and family. Year Of The Youth was inspired to show the generations under ours that there's nothing wrong with being educated. With a little bit of power, we as human beings have the ability to change lives just by the things we say. So please enjoy my choice of words."

If you aren't familiar with Nell, you've probably seen him hanging around fellow Carol City rapper and former XXL freshman Denzel Curry. If you like Curry's hyper-lyrical strain of music, Nell is for you.

Watch his new video for "While I'm Up" below and get ready for Year of the Youth to drop later this year. You can also cop the song on iTunes. Plus, check out the breakdown we did of all the members in Curry's C9 collective.

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