Nas opens up about Kelis wedding dress cover

Rapper Nas decided to feature his ex-wife Kelis' wedding dress on the cover of his new album after feeling "hurt and angry" upon discovering it abandoned at his home.

The rapper poses thoughtfully with the green gown his former bride wore on their 2005 wedding day draped over his lap for his Life Is Good album.

He admits he was upset when he found it at home after their split and channelled his feelings into his latest release, which he likens to Marvin Gaye's 1978 album Here, My Dear, about the soul singer's ill-fated marriage to Anna Gordy.

Nas tells Britain's Guardian, "I found it in my house and thought, it's going somewhere! Either on the cover of my album, or burning in a garbage can. I was angry when I first found it. Hurt and angry - but I don't think she left it deliberately to hurt me. It's just part of the dress, so I don't know where the rest of it is. But it made all the sense in the world for me to... hold on to that. I guess that's just my personality.

"My wedding and my marriage was, for the most part, some of the most amazing times of my life. She's an incredible woman. It just ended really publicly, it seemed real bad. I guess this is my Here, My Dear album, that Marvin Gaye made. It might not be quite so much about the marriage or the divorce, but it's still that kind of record for me."