FEATURE:
A Buyer's Guide
Part Sixty-Eight: Nas
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AS his new album…
King's Disease II came out this month and has received some incredible reviews, I thought it would be a good time to include Nas in A Buyer’s Guide. Before coming to the albums of his that you need to own, here is some biography from Wikipedia:
“Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (/nɑːˈsɪər/; born September 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Nas (/nɑːz/), is an American rapper, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Rooted in the New York hip hop scene, he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. Nas has released twelve studio albums since 1994, seven of which are certified platinum and multi-platinum in the U.S.
The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Jones's musical career began in 1989 as he adopted the moniker of "Nasty Nas" and recorded demos for Large Professor. He was a featured artist on Main Source's "Live at the Barbeque" (1991), also produced by Large Professor. Nas's debut album Illmatic (1994) received universal acclaim upon release, and is considered to be one of the greatest hip hop albums of all-time; in 2021, the album was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry.[8] His second album It Was Written (1996) debuted atop the Billboard 200 and charted for four consecutive weeks; the album, along with its single "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill), catapulted Nas into international success. Nas's albums I Am (1998) and Nastradamus (1999) were criticized as inconsistent and too commercially oriented, and critics and fans feared that his output was declining in quality.
From 2001 to 2005, Nas was involved in a highly publicized feud with Jay-Z, popularized by the diss track "Ether". It was this feud, along with Nas's albums Stillmatic (2001), God's Son (2002), and the double album Street's Disciple (2004), that helped restore his critical standing. After quashing the feud, Nas signed to Jay-Z's Def Jam Recordings in 2006 and went in a more provocative, politicized direction with the albums Hip Hop Is Dead (2006) and his untitled 9th studio album (2008). In 2010, Nas released Distant Relatives, a collaboration album with Damian Marley, donating all royalties to charities active in Africa. His 11th studio album, Life Is Good (2012), was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. After receiving thirteen nominations, his 13th studio album, King's Disease (2020), won him his first Grammy for Best Rap Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
In 2006, MTV ranked Nas fifth on their list of "The Greatest MCs of All Time". In 2012, The Source ranked him second on their list of the "Top 50 Lyricists of All Time". In 2013, Nas was ranked 4th on MTV's "Hottest MCs in the Game" list. About.com ranked him first on their list of the "50 Greatest MCs of All Time" in 2014, and a year later, Nas was featured on the "10 Best Rappers of All Time" list by Billboard. He is also an entrepreneur through his own record label; he serves as associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine and the co-founder of Mass Appeal Records”.
If you need a guide to the Nas albums that you should buy, then I have recommend the four essential ones. I have suggested an underrated album that is worth checking out, his latest studio album, in addition to a book that makes for useful accompaniment. Here is A Buyer’s Guide dedicated to…
THE wonderful Nas.
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The Four Essential Albums
Illmatic
Release Date: 19th April, 1994
Label: Columbia
Producers: DJ Premier/Faith N./Large Professor/L.E.S./Nas/Pete Rock/Q-Tip
Standout Tracks: N.Y. State of Mind/The World Is Yours/One Love (ft. Q-Tip)
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/nas/illmatic
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3kEtdS2pH6hKcMU9Wioob1?si=fbaRVi5qTS-HoGZw05XyFA&dl_branch=1
Review:
“Illmatic is imprisoned within itself. The power is targeted in the narrow scope of its worldview. There are six desperate and savage blocks and there is nowhere else. Nas captures the feeling of being young and trapped. You see his struggle and you see his ghosts.
The more I listen to Illmatic, the more haunted it feels. When you're younger, it clubs you with its hail of words and the skeletal beauty of its beats. But the older I get, the more it strikes me as a teenaged requiem for those still living. "Old Soul" is the sort of stock phrase used by yoga teachers and amateur psychics, but it always fit Nas. He's 20 and prematurely nostalgic, struck by memories of park jams and watching "CHiPS.", when Shante dissed the real Roxanne, and how much he misses Mr. Magic.
There is no narrative about Ill Will, but you hear the name over and over. Will was his best friend and first music partner who lived on the 6th floor with turntables and a mic. He was shot to death in Queensbridge over a drunken argument. You don't hear how Nas and his wounded brother Jungle rushed Will to the hospital, got static from emergency room officials, and watched him die. But the sense of grievous loss shadows almost every bar, especially "Memory Lane" and "One Love".
If you listen to it enough names start to pop out: Fatcat, Alpo, Grand Wizard, Mayo, the foul cop who shot Garcia, Jerome's niece, Little Rob, Herb, Ice, and Bullet. The entirety of "Represent". You start to wonder where they are now, or if they are. The album's lone guest AZ, lays it down flat: he's destined to live the dream for all the peeps who never made it.
But Nas uses Illmatic as more than a vehicle to escape. The styles and stories that formed him fuse into something that withstands outdated slang and popular taste: it is a story of a gifted writer born into squalor, trying to claw his way out of the trap. It's somewhere between The Basketball Diaries and Native Son, but Jim Carroll and Richard Wright couldn't rap like Nas.
That's why 19 years later, Get On Down is re-issuing a box set with a vinyl, gold CD, and an ersatz cherry wood case featuring a 48-page book with The Source article that originally crowned him-- even if Illmatic was the archetypal cassette album (along with the purple tape). It's best heard by ignoring the dogma, culture wars, Nas clones, and would-be saviors that have accreted since April of 1994. Who cares whether it's the greatest rap album of all-time or not? It's an example of how great rap can be, but not necessarily the way it should be.
There was no real follow-up to Illmatic because Nas understood that he'd tapped into a moment that could only come once and in one place. This is what things had been building towards. A little over a decade later, Nas claimed that hip-hop was dead, but this world that was his was already starting to vanish on Illmatic. But you can still summon it from the first rumble of the train. This is what happened when the doors opened” – Pitchfork (https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17497-illmatic/)
Choice Cut: Life's a Bitch (ft. AZ & Olu Dara)
It Was Written
Release Date: 2nd July, 1996
Label: Columbia
Producers: DJ Premier/Dr. Dre/Havoc/Rashad Smith/L.E.S./Live Squad/Trackmasters
Standout Tracks: Street Dreams/I Gave You Power/If I Ruled the World (Imagine That) (ft. Lauryn Hill)
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/298151
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/78Fgb88MY0ECc4GVMejqTg?si=qWtFvNQjQLOBCxKwEol5Hw&dl_branch=1
Review:
“For his second album, It Was Written, Nas hired a bunch of hip-hop's biggest producers -- including Dr. Dre, DJ Premier, Stretch, and Trackmasters -- to help him create the musical bed for his daring, groundbreaking rhymes. Although that rhyme style isn't as startling on It Was Written as it was on his debut, Illmatic, Nas has deepened his talents, creating a complex series of rhymes that not only flow, but manage to tell coherent stories as well. Furthermore, Nas often concentrates on creating vignettes about life in the ghetto that never are apolitical or ambivalent. This time around, the production is more detailed and elaborate, which gives the music a wider appeal. Sometimes this is a detriment -- Nas sounds better when he tries to keep it street-level -- but usually, his lyrical force cuts through the commercial sheen. Combined with the spare but deep grooves, his rhymes have a resonance unmatched by most of his mid-'90s contemporaries. Because, no matter how deep his lyrics are, his grooves are just as deep and those bottomless funk and spare beats are what make It Was Written so compulsively listenable” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: The Message
God's Son
Release Date: 13th December, 2002
Labels: Ill Will/Columbia
Producers: Nas (also exec./)Steve Stoute (exec.)/Agile/The Alchemist/Alicia Keys/Chucky Thompson/Eminem/Ron Browz/Salaam Remi
Standout Tracks: Get Down/The Cross/I Can
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=20252&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3rV1aPkrWyMs6YTvTpSbIY?si=MYEQw-GnR1W9YOmuCydgXA&dl_branch=1
Review:
“In keeping with the current hip-hop penchant for acknowledging old-school ways and mores, ‘Get Down’ starts proceedings with a sleekly funky James Brown loop and a lyrically visual and detailed portrait of some heavy courtroom drama. Nothing if not known for his arrogance, which comes with the territory, Nas then declares he carries ‘The Cross’ for rappers on the song of that title produced by Eminem, over hazy, string-laden beats. Normally, thinking you’re Jesus means you’ve lost your tiny mind, but there’s nothing wrong with being a child of God, and he doesn’t stray too far into blasphemous territory.
The excellent ‘Made You Look’ follows, with monk-like chanting and sampled gunshots on the beat. And there’s also something to be said for the way ‘The Last Real Nigga Alive’ gives the real deal lowdown about the last decade in hip-hop New York City – and it’s the only song to elude to Jay-Z with an offhand dismissal of ‘The Gift And The Curse’.
Which doesn’t mean there aren’t moments of respite from the seriousness on show, as ‘Hey Nas’ attests, with rumoured beau Kelis along for the chorus ride. But Nas is nothing if not for the kids, who are, afterall, the future. The jaunty ‘I Can’ has a playground singalong accompaniment, as well as a black history lesson and a mantra for empowerment and self-improvement. Nas tells kids they can be whatever they wanna be. He’s also typically innovative with the structure of ‘Book Of Rhymes’: the verses double as discarded pages of his rhyme book.
By ‘Warrior Song’ and ‘Revolutionary Warfare’, an air of militancy has crept in, that stems from an interest in the ’60s Black Panthers. Yet, this is, in turn, offset by the penultimate ‘Dance’ and the closing ‘Heaven’- two genuinely moving tunes that touch on the death of his mother, the former in detail, the latter doubling as a ‘what are we doing to ourselves?’ call to the streets.
Truly, ‘God’s Son’ is the work of a man in his prime” – NME
Choice Cut: Made You Look
Life Is Good
Release Date: 13th July, 2012
Label: Def Jam
Producers: 40/Al Shux/Buckwild/Da Internz/DJ Hot Day/Heavy DJ.U.S.T.I.C.E. League/No I.D./Rodney Jerkins/Salaam Remi/Swizz Beatz
Standout Tracks: A Queens Story/Daughters/Cherry Wine (ft. Amy Winehouse)
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=456220&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4tpG2K3nqcrFNGBikX3dc0?si=6VBnPW63TSOJygq12FkTJQ&dl_branch=1
Review:
“Given that the cover of Life Is Good pictures Nas alone, clutching his ex-wife’s wedding dress—apparently the only item she left behind after their ugly divorce—listeners could be forgiven for reading sarcasm into the title. The rapper’s 10th album really does find the Queens legend in a good place, though, taking stock of his accomplishments and giving thanks for how far he’s come since his days as a hungry kid living on free school lunches and small crimes. And if his verses are to be believed, whatever bitterness his divorce left him with has since passed. He opens the album with a sincere dedication to his ex-wife and fellow artist Kelis, and on the closer, “Bye Baby,” he frames their marriage as a valiant effort: “At least I can say I tried, plus enjoyed the ride / Plus we got our little boy, my little joy and pride.”
Nas doesn’t claim that life is perfect, though. As he nears middle age, he struggles to reconcile his growing distance from the streets—“I been rich longer than I been broke,” he confesses on “Loco-Motive”—and on “Daughters” he worries that his criminal past undermines his parental authority. He never oversells these concerns or plays them for false drama. They’re just minor anxieties, beautifully expressed in a plainspoken, thought-a-second flow that has relaxed with age. Nas rhymes so fluently that rap now feels like his first language. It’s easy to imagine him conducting all of his day-to-day conversations in verse, speaking in elaborate streams of internal rhyme and poetic wordplay as he orders a pizza or changes cell-phone providers.
But great verses have always come easy to Nas, even during the lowest hours of his up-and-down career. Unlike his overambitious, unevenly produced recent albums Hip Hop Is Dead and Untitled, though, Life Is Good fits Nas with beats that are as thoughtful as his prose. Primary producers Salaam Remi and No I.D. stuff their tracks with callbacks to golden-age rap: boom-bap drums, lush keyboards, smooth saxophones, and the occasional Run-D.M.C. and MC Shan sample—tasteful accents that celebrate hip-hop’s glory years without fetishizing them. Only the thoroughly out-of-place Swizz Beatz club thumper “Summer On Smash” breaks the album’s beatific spell; otherwise, Life Is Good leaves Nas in his comfort zone, where the vital music of his youth proves a rousing platform for commenting on matters of middle age” – The A.V. Club
Choice Cut: The Don
The Underrated Gem
I Am...
Release Date: 6th April, 1999
Label: Columbia
Producers: Nas (exec.)/Steve Stoute (exec./)L.E.S./DJ Premier/Trackmasters/Timbaland/Alvin West/Dame Grease/Nashiem Myrick/Carlos ‘Six July’ Broady
Standout Tracks: N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II/Hate Me Now (ft. Puff Daddy)/You Won't See Me Tonight (ft. Aaliyah)
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/nas/i-am
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4UhEjfIRx4tE1XRY21vwNa?si=aAPEW06aSymaI0KNR6Vaqg&dl_branch=1
Review:
“I’m at the Gambling spot/My hands on a knot/New York Yankees cap cover my eyes/Stand in one spot/ I take a nigga’s dough/Send him home to his shoe box/You lost that, nigga/I’ll put your dollar in a jukebox, Nas raps on “N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II.” Since his much-heralded arrival, in 1994, Nasir Jones has raised the stakes for urban elocutionists with mood-setting lines like this scenario of a cool criminal scheming on a vic. But within these glam-meets-ghetto days of hip-hop, the best MCs are those who can pass off their tragic dichotomies as cool: Rage against the machine and subscribe to the Robb Report; fuck the world but respect her in the morning. “Dime’s givin’ fellatio/Siete zeros/Bet my nine spit for the pesos/But what’s it all worth?/Can’t take it with you under this earth/Rich men died and tried/But none of it worked/They just rob your grave/I’d rather be alive and paid,” he observes on “Nas Is Like,” from I Am . . ., his third disc, jumping from the virtues of getting head, seven-figure lifestyles and busting guns to existentialism and back again, all in seconds. By comparison, it usually takes KRS-One at least two songs to refute himself so thoroughly.
Despite his years in the game, Nas is still a diamond in the rough — perhaps the rawest lyrical talent of his day but lacking the guidance and vision to create a complete album. He’s at his best on “Small World” and “Undying Love”: Sedative strings and twinkling keys back up winding narratives ripe with Shakespearean calamity. When biting song templates from the late Notorious B.I.G. — the Puffy-assisted tirade “Hate Me Now,” the sex manual “Dr. Knockboot” — he’s full of danceable, grooving entertainment, but the sentimental “We Will Survive” is a mediocre elegy to the souls of B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. When Timbaland and Aaliyah pop up on the thumping “You Won’t See Me Tonight,” Nas makes double infidelity sound like something to strive for; but “K-I-SS-I-N-G,” an eloquent tale of courtship and the difficulties of married life, is bogged down by a hook as corny as Mike and Carol Brady. Similarly, his quixotic attempts at social activism, “I Want to Talk to You” and “Ghetto Prisoners,” sound hokey. When he sings “I wanna talk to the mayor/To the governor/To the motherfuckin’ president/I wanna talk to the FBI/And the CIA/And the motherfuckin’ congressmen,” you figure that if singing this bad can’t get them to stop their ills, nothing will. But what I Am . . . lacks in content, it makes up for in lyrical acumen; the album doesn’t deliver the introspection its title implies, but it compensates for it in storytelling and craftsmanship. I Am . . . offers tantalizing hints of promise tethered by a need for pop acceptance — in a way it is what Nas is, warts and all” – Rolling Stone
Choice Cut: Nas Is Like
The Latest Album
King's Disease II
Release Date: 6th August, 2021
Label: Mass Appeal
Producers: B. Carr/Brian Alexander Morgan/Corbett/Eminem/Ezreaux/Hit-Boy/Jansport J/Rogét
Standout Tracks: The Pressure/Rare/Moments
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6CM5qhYBvpgYNek5kYwuOJ?si=Wsq6XDVTSfKogY9LA3JApA&dl_branch=1
Review:
“Last year’s King’s Disease, then, was intended as his triumphant, chest-thumping return. In some respects, it was: linking up with the likes of Hit-Boy for an album-length affair led to a cohesive product, and its highs were among the best material he’d released in years. Yet, despite picking up the Grammy for the year’s best hip hop album, its broad sense of nostalgia felt almost defensive, too comfortably snug to Nas’ nature.
All this makes King’s Disease II among the greatest surprises in music thus far this year. A course correction as sequel, the album finds Nas once again paired up with Hit-Boy - who brings the beats arguably more than ever before - and the two clearly did a supremely honest assessment of just what needed adjusting from their first offering.
Exactly how they pulled this off is initially something of a mystery. After all, the album still largely draws its narrative from mining nostalgia, yet, this time around, the album finds Nas acting as something a frank historian - from the regretful chronicle of East/West Coast beef that is “Death Row East” to the misty eyed, genuine stroll down memory lane of “Moments” (Nastalgia, anyone?).
King’s Disease II also finds strength in its storied guests. “EPMD 2” finds Nas, beyond having the legendary duo themselves playing support, finally linking up on the mic (discounting leaked reference tracks) with Eminem. To be sure, you already know what his verse sounds like: he attacks it with technical ability and flows as if his life depended on it, and while it finds him oddly keen on Christmas references (“That's a lot of bucks flyin' when I'm makin' it rain, dear” doesn’t at least amuse you, just know, you’re a registered hater), a tribute to the recent fallen, from DMX to MF DOOM, is welcome and bracing. Yet, even stronger still is Lauryn Hill’s turn on “Nobody”. Glancing at the tracklist before release, it was all too easy to assume Ms. Hill would simply drop by for a flawless hook, instead, she graces us with a supremely memorable verse. It’s as essential a moment in hip hop as any in 2021. On both tracks, a gracious Nas is more than willing to take a backseat to his guests, displaying just what shines through on King’s Disease II: his confidence that he’d nailed it this time around.
Indeed, seemingly sick of all the nitpicking he’s endured for decades now, Nas has crafted an album designated the only would it could be to escape such criticism: an impenetrable one. There’s not an ounce of fat, not a wasted moment, not a single beat that doesn’t suit its purpose to the letter. It’s a monolithic testament to a rapper tired of being treated as both the victor and the underdog at once. It’s undeniably clear just which one he is here. King’s Disease II is a victory lap that nonetheless never lets up its pace” – The Line of Best Fit
Choice Cut: Nobody (ft. Ms. Lauryn Hill)
The Nas Book
Nas's Illmatic - 33 1/3
Author: Matthew Gasteier
Publication Date: 1st June, 2009
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Synopsis:
“This title explores a key hip hop album marking the cross over point where the streets and the charts collided. Contradiction the simultaneous existence of two competing realities and larger than life persona are at the core of "Nas' Illmatic". Yet Nas' identity - as an inner-city youth, a child of hip hop and a Black American - predicts those philosophical quandaries as much as it does its brazen ambition. The artistic impact of Illmatic was massive. The record finds its place in the greatest transition in hip hop up to that point. Along with the Wu Tang Clan's debut from the previous year, Illmatic put New York back on the map after a long period of West coast, G-funk dominance. Nas also mapped out the laid-back lyrical style that would usher in the modern era of hip hop. "33 1/3" is a series of short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from James Brown to the Beastie Boys. Launched in September 2003, the series now contains over 50 titles and is acclaimed and loved by fans, musicians and scholars alike” – Waterstones
Order: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/matthew-gasteier/nas-s-illmatic