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"
17 comments:
the album was very good imo.. best since stillmatic sorry you didnt like.. i didnt have a problem with the laid back beats but people are always quick to jump on nas for not working with dj premier and large professor hopefully he does on the next album so people will stop complaining about it
you are a white idiot. what's with your grading system, you give this a 3/5 Props (stupid btw), which is the same thing you give every album, but apparently it's a huge let down. Reviews don't really help if you just give everything the same rating. I find it hard to believe every album you've listened to has been the exact same quality
the last 4 reviews I did were G-Unit and Craig G which I gave 1.5/5and the Roots and eMC I gave 3.5/5 but I guess ur right I give everything 3/5. And a 3/5 is a huge letdown for an album by the best rapper ever with a grteat single.
In your most anticipated 5 albums of 08 you said " Nas has gone over my head with this N word message" well it seems like it's still going over your head in Hov's voice "do you listen to music or do you skip through it" which is by far one of the best released that came out this year it's funny that how people can complain about nas beats all the time but love an album that the beats are ill but say absolutely nothing at all. I rather have a strong meaning to lyrics than a bunch of gibberish with an ill sound saying"I don't know what the fuck he's saying but hay who cares you hear this beat son" It's not 1994 nor is it 2001 so i don't expect nas to make another Illmatic but this is just as good as Stillmatic.
you're right I do care much more about beats than lyrics because in the end hip hop is music and the musical part of it is the beat. if I wanted deep lyricism I'd lsiten to slam poetry or something, lyrics are really just icing on the cake for me as far as rap goes. Also, just because Nas says "Aunt jamaima" or "porch monkey" doesn't mean he's saying something deeply profound about racism he pretty much just rambles.
I don't know how you can say your a Nas fan but then base your "review" on his beats and say that "he pretty much just rambles"
...WTF! Your the type of person Nas doesn't want to buy his albums; like Tupac Nas has always been lyrics first beats second. Your favorite rappers should be Diddy and lil' Mama. Please leave HIP-HOP to those that know what they're listening to.
Nas is a great lyricist for his ability to tell stories and create imagery. This album does neither, its just a slew of silly propaganda. There is a difference between a song with meaning and a song with lyrics, obviously you're still unaware of that. Your favorite rappers should be Immortal Technique and Black Ice.
Amazing album.
If our youth would spend more time listening to this... they might spend less time being ignorant asses. There was a time when minorities realized that they had to work twice as hard as white people; and they did. It seems today's youth expects to enjoy the fruits of hard work without work at all. We spend more time with are pants around our knees, listening to "dope beats" without substance. Education, knowledge of self, and a thorough understanding of the past and present predicament are of little of importance.
This is an album to drop gems on a generation that likely wouldn't get them otherwise. If you don't like this album you may be the white kid he addresses in the album when he says he'd rather go gold... Or you may not give a fuck, b/c he's addressing issues that don't directly affect the white masses, or you may just be too stupid to benefit from the the knowledge he's droppin'... Either way, your an idiot to say "I do care much more about beats than lyrics" ...b/c in the end hip hop is not music, its a movement, a message, a story, you don't know dick about hip hop. Check your history.
This is a wake up call, wake the fuck up.
Well J, I'm not gonna blast you like the other comments here, but I will say that I respectfully disagree with you here. You can read my thoughts on the album here: (shameless plug) http://www.album-a-day.com/ , but I think it's interesting that you don't enjoy this album, yet label yourself a Nas fan. I myself have never claimed to be a huge fan of his, mainly for some of the reasons you give for not liking this album (e.g. poor production). However, I think it's ironic that you labeled "Testify" a snoozer, because I think thats the song thats directed at you the most on the disc. I'd say revisit the album with just lyrics in mind and see what you think. After all, if we're gonna call MCs artists, we've gotta actually listen to their part, which is the lyrics.
@ anonymous:
Ok I don't even know where to start with this. First off you obviousley take hip hop way too seriously. If you think that a rap album by a guy with a middle school edcation should be the means of informing minority youths about their struggle than I'd have to say you are the idiot here. I personally prefer historians, books, things of that nature as my source of meaningful information, while I enjoy hip hop for its entertainment value, hence why I value beats over lyrics. Class dismissed.
To the anonymous guy. If you think you know so much about hip-hop, and yet you claim that it's not merely music, but a movement (i presume you mean social, or political) and that to prove it you have to look at the history of the genre, think again. It seems you haven't looked back far enough. The sole pioneer of hip-hop was DJ Kool Herc, who began to loop James Brown and other funk records to emphasise a particular part of the instrumental track. MC'ing was added later on, and even then, MC's merely introduced DJ's. Rapping as a way of conveying a message was a late addition, you imbecile. You think yourself enlightened and yet you call the reviewer a white idiot, for 'A' suppsosedlu being white, and 'B' disagreeing with you. It's seems your not as enlightened as you think. You're the type of person that would've shouted "Burn them" and Witch trials in the 1500's because those people were different, so shut you mouth about ignorance. And to the guy who doesn't understand how you can be a Nas fan and dislike his album - to be a fan doesn't mean you have to be uncritcal of their work. Truth is, Nas has shown he's got the potential to drop amazing albums, but has been inconsistent througout his career, end of. If you disagree with that, your clearly uncritical, bias, and shouldn't attempt to review albums or commment on other people's reviews
I didn't say I didn't understand how you could dislike the album, I merely said that it was interesting, so kindly don't put words in my mouth. Secondly, if you'd read my review of the album (which you clearly haven't) you'd see that I'm extremely critical of Nas' work, and by and large think that (save a few standouts) his work between Illmatic and this album has been wholly underwhelming. Furthermore, I never faulted him for his opinion, I simply expressed mine, so I'd appreciate if you saved your declarations of me being "uncritical" for a situation where it fits. Furthermore, an album review is simply the opinion of the reviewer, will always contain some personal biases, and will never be completely objective, as much as a reviewer might try, because we are indeed human, so fall back. Also, when you're using an adjective, the preferred nomenclature is "biased" not "bias", so get your grammar game together before you try to tell me how dumb I am. Thanks.
you are fucking retarded this album is amazing if you think its boring you are obviously a radio loving soulja boy cock rider.
testify too slow for your nursery rhyme loving brain????
listen to the lyrics and stop being ignorant dumbass
Nas is one of the hottest out there still and ten times better than any bullshit you hear on the radio.
GO listen a bit more and stop being a stupid fuck
^^ Actually "Testify" is too slow for my entertaining music/boom-bap/banger loving self but your right my preference against boring music must make me a Soulja Boi fan. I agree with you about Nas being better than rappers on the radio but I'm being critical because Nas is such a talent and should be making better albums.
This album is just OK. I have mixed feelings about it because I really want to like it but find myself pulling away from it because, at 28, I don't find his meanings to have grown up with me or the world.
I can understand why the anonymous poster in here likes it but dude please don't kid yourself - kids listening to stuff like this keeps them ignorant. Nas is saying exactly the opposite of what Obama is saying but then tries to tie it to his message. It's one thing to talk about American hypocrisy but it's just wrong to advocate that we continue to do it because it was done to us or in the past. I am a big fan of Nas but this album is hard for me to like as much as I would like.
To the reviewer, you should really break down the lyrics more in the songs. I appreciated that you tried to comment on each song but it didn't mean much because you didn't point to lyrics you liked, didn't like, or didn't understand. This is Nas after all.
- Chris (NJ)
Thanks for the constructive criticism Chris. A few people have commented now about how I only go into the beats so I'll try to include a little more about the lyrics too.
"Nas is my favorite rapper easily"
Why is Nas your favourite rapper if you dont hardly care bout lyrics then beats, NaS is all bout wat he spits, None of this poppy money shit, His words are for real whats goin on in the world today an always has been, So i dunno why the fuck you say he is one of your favourite rappers, I dont think you understand hip hop, go crank soulja boi shit noob, Peace
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