Wait...Take That Back?

I may have spoken too soon about that Game being album of the year after seeing another tracklist. I'm not the biggest fan of Termanology, but this production lineup is absurd.

1. Its Time (Produced by Easy Mo Bee)

2. Watch How It Go Down (Produced by DJ Premier)

3. Respect My Walk (Produced by Buckwild)

4. Hood Shit f/ Prodigy of Mobb Deep (Produced by The Alchemist)

5. Float (Produced by Nottz)

6. Please Don’t Go (Produced by Nottz)

7. How We Rock f/ Bun B of UGK (Produced by DJ Premier)

8. Drugs Crime & Gorillaz f/ Sheek Louch & Freeway (Produced by Nottz)

9. In The Streets f/Lil Fame of M.O.P. (produced by Hi-Tek)

10. So Amazing (Produced by DJ Premier)

11. Sorry I Lied (Produced by Large Professor)

12. We Killin Ourselves (Produced by Pete Rock)

13. The Chosen (Resurrecting The Game) (Produced by Havoc)

Whoa. Other than "Watch How It Go Down" those Premo tracks are nothing special, but it's hard not to be optimistic with those names involved.

Early Tracklisting for the Album of the Year

According to Nahright/ OnSmash:

01. Intro (Feat. DMX)
02. LAX Files (Produced By ???)
03. State of Emergency (Feat. Ice Cube) (Produced By Jonathan “J.R.” Rothem)
04. Bulletproof Diaries (Feat. Raekwon) (Produced By Jelly Roll)
05. My Life (Feat. Lil Wayne) (Produced By Cool & Dre)
06. Money (Produced By ???)
07. Cali Sunshine (Feat. Bilal) (Produced By Nottz)
08. Ya Heard (Feat. Ludacris) (Produced By Nottz)
09. Hard Liquor (Interlude)
10. House Of Pain (Produced By DJ Toomp)
11. Gentleman’s Affair (Feat. Ne-Yo) (Produced By Jonathan “J.R.” Rothem)
12. Let Us Live (Feat. Chrisette Michelle) (Produced By Scott Storch)
13. Touchdown (Feat. Raheem DaVaughn) (Produced By Nottz)
14. Angel (Feat. Common) (Produced By Kanye West)
15. Never Can Say Goodbye (Feat. Latoiya Williams) (Produced By ???)
16. Dope Boys (Feat. Travis Barker) (Produced By 1500 or Nothin’)
17. Game’s Pain (Feat. Keyshia Cole) (Produced By Knobody)
18. Letter to the King (Feat. Nas) (Produced By Hi-Tek)
19. Outro (Feat. DMX)

Update: I made the corrections based on another tracklisting which is floating out there now. This one has Nas on it so I assume it's official or at least more so than the first. I assume where it says (Produced By ???), ??? is either Just Blaze or Timbaland.

Nas is Officially the Biggest Tease in Rap

After last week's preachy and underwhelming release, I announced that I would never get excited over a Nas album again. And then this:

"I want to do an all-Dr. Dre album," he told MTV News. "A whole thing with Dre and a whole thing with Premier, and drop 'em on the same day. That's the real thing. All right, I said it. That's what I really wanna do.""I'm doing my
dream," he continued. "If you could, wouldn't you do it? What else would you do?
Every time I do something, it's, 'Oh, he's doing it because this and that.'
Since my first album, everybody has an explanation of why. What am I supposed to
be doing here? So I wanna drop the Dre album and the Premier album on the same
day. That's what I'm thinking."

So it looks like I have no choice to look foward to this, though I know I'll be let down when it's a double disc joint venture between Salaam Remi and Stargate featuring The Bravehearts.

Album Battlegrounds 2: Black Moon's "Enta Da Stage" vs. Smif-N-Wessun's "Dah Shinin'"

The other day I was listening to Black Moon's classic debut album "Enta Da Stage" and thought about the debates I've seen (on the internets of course) over which Boot Camp Clik album is the best ever. When bumping it I thought it was crazy that anyone would pick another album, but today when I popped in "Dah Shinin,", I was reminded immediately by the first snare on "Timz N Hood Chek" why this topic is so debatable.

Both albums greatly benefit from the grimey basslines, hard hitting drums, and amazing samples provided by Da Beatminerz. While Buckshot's presence in Black Moon gives them a lyrical advantage, the tag team, "P.N.C." element is unique to Smif-N-Wessun.

So which one was better? Obviously I can't decide so I'm interested in what my highly opinionated readership has to say of the matter. I've provided a few tracks and then a poll in which you can make your preference known.

Black Moon "Buck 'Em Down"


Smif-N-Wessun "Shinin'"


Black Moon "I Gotcha Opin"


Smif-N Wessun "Stand Strong"


Black Moon "Who Got Da Props?"


Smif-N-Wessun "Bucktown"

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Notable New Hip Hop

Not much is going on in terms of albums recently except that Nas, but over the past couple days some interesting stuff has leaked out.

Download

First is this new Jadakiss track "Don't Start Nothin'". I don't know if this is a Roc-A-Fella single, but it would make sense seeing as its produced by Sean C. & LV who handled most of Jay's last album.

Download

This next song comes from the legendary Mad Scientist, Large Professor. This is "The Intro" of his upcoming solo Main Source. This would be his first real (not instrumental) album since 2001's "1st Class" which I still bump regularly.

Download

Lastly its my second favorite duo who will never put out an album, Bishop Lamont and Dr. Dre with "Grow Up". This is supposed to be the first single off The Reformation, but I doubt it.

Album Review: Nas- Untitled

Nas is my favorite rapper easily. It is my stance that he has the most impressive catalogue in the history of rap between his solo joints, guest features, unreleased material, mixtape shit etc. However, his solo albums have been spotty pretty much since It Was Written, and I thought that his last album, the critically acclaimed Hip Hop Is Dead, was only mediocre. This album has generated some buzz because it was going to be called the N word but it wasn't until I heard "Hero" that I realized that this may be a good album and not just Nas' latest attempt to stay contreversial. Is it though?

1. Queens Get The Money

So this album is obviously going to be full of contreversial, racial statements and whatnot so I'm just hoping for some good beats and concepts not just slavery references and name drops of Civil Rights activists. I wonder if Jay Electronica would have put drums on this had he never met Erykah Badu.

2. You Can't Stop Us Now (Feat. Eban Thomas)

Salaam Remi is only one of many to use this sample, but its worse in this instance because The RZA flipped it just this year and in the same exact way. I guess this is Nas' theory of how "N words" have evolved through history. It's anyone's guess really, not that its all that important anyway.

3. Breathe

This is that smooth shit I love to hear Nas over. This sounds more like The Hitmen than the mid 90's Trackmasters but I'll take what I can get. There's really not much rapping on this track or the last one necessarily which is worth pointing out.

4. Make The World Go Round (Feat. Chris Brown & The Game)

This beat is better suited for Nas' wife then the man himself. Kind of like a Chris Brown track featuring Nas and The Game. Very wack.

5. Hero (Feat. Keri Hilson)

Just some great verses over an epic banger from Polow Da Don. One of the best tracks in years.

6. America

This is basically the story of Nas' career recently. This beat is so boring and ametuerish and the hook is so god damn annoying that the greatest verse evar could be spit over it and the outcome would still be wack.

7. Sly Fox

Rock inspired hip hop songs usually are skipped but the metal guitar kind of fits the revolutionary tone of the song. Not that the beat is anything special though. This one's about Fox, as in the news network and their political agenda.

8. Testify

This is honestly one of the most boring peices of music I've heard in some time.

9. N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave And The Master)

This reminds me alot of the song Toomp did for Jay-Z on American Gangster in that the beat is technically good, but there are no drums to make it bang and maybe the sample isn't all that good for rappin over.

10. Louis Farrakhan

Nas compares himself to Louis Farrakhan as far as I can tell. Not a standout by any means.

11. Fried Chicken

It's kind of sad that the best producer on a Nas album is Mark Ronson but this beat is pretty good. Nas and Busta rap about how much they love fried chicken but I guess the message is that black people are unhealthy. Or maybe they just really love fried chicken.

12. Project Roach

Nas rhymes from the perspective of a roach over a another (pretty good) beat with no drums what the hell is that about.

13. Y'all My Ni***s

This beat is more interesting than most of the others but it still sorta sucks.

14. We're Not Alone

A certified snoozefest

15. Black President

Of all the songs from that Green Lantern mixtape this is probably the one I would have least preferred to make the album. It's not a terrible track but the beat is mediocre and the indie rock white guy on the chorus is nearing the AutoTune in the annoying fad department.

Overall:

This was just a huge letdown. I'm sure Nas is aware of the "wack beats" criticism he gets, yet, aside from Polow and Toomp who I guess are "hot" right now, he continues to reach out to the worst producers for the worst beats. I've stopped hoping for Premier and Large Professor, but least his last album had Kanye West and Dr. Dre, even if not on top of their games. He even left that heater from DJ Khalil ("What It Is" or "Esco Let's Go") off the album for no good reason. This is the last time I am getting excited for a Nas album.

Best Tracks: "Hero", "Breathe", "Fried Chicken"