Learn me about Nas

I started listening to that last night. Evidently that album is considered one of the best rap albums of all time.

All of his albums are short

I'm a big Jay Z fan (really from reasonable doubt to the black album) but Nas is awesome. Ether and Takeover are my fav battle songs. The live versions of these songs are cool to watch from Summer Jam.
Illmatic is one of the greatest rap albums. He has other great ones too. Funny to see them 2 make songs together after that. Check out Success & Black Republican. They are actually good together on a track.

Damn, that song is hard to follow. Good thing? I'm so confused, I can't decide

quote:

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Damn, that song is hard to follow. Good thing? I'm so confused, I can't decide

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It's quite a lyrical feat. I had listen to it a few times to figure it all out.

I saw Nas at the HOB in NOLA in 2002. He HELD a mostly southern rap audience for the whole show. It was fantastic and when he performed "One Mic", I had never seen so many people absolutely growl with satisfaction and adrenaline-induced understanding.

It was Written is fantastic -- no doubt. I guess through no fault of his own, Nas just sounds less raw and more civilized on IWW compared to Illmatic. I mean, damn...he got Lauryn Hill to make an epic track with him...and Foxy Brown and AZ were all over it. It sounded more like an album of great songs as opposed to a story. Contrary, he portrayed himself too often as a Colombian kingpin or something...the whole "Escobar" thing was a bit much...then a song like "Black Girl Lost" comes in and you're like "huh?"

Dre, Capri, and Premier were all over that album, too, as far as mixing and production. It definitely had a LOUD production sound to it -- typical of the school of Dre and Premier. Premier was, however on his first album along with Large Professor and Q-Tip and Petey Rock. Illmatic drew heavily from albums like The Low End Theory. IWW drew heavily from The Chronic and BIG's 2nd album...at least I think so.


I admit IWW has some of the best hooks/choruses of any rap album...Street Dreams, The Set Up, and Shootouts have incredible hooks -- power hooks. No matter, Illmatic will always be the more revered album.

"Rappers, I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm I be kickin'
Musician, inflictin' composition of pain
I'm like Scarface sniffin' cocaine"

-- first lyrics on NY State of Mind.

That's uncanny and maybe only GZA could match that type of verbal usage and skill. It's one thing to rap and do it quickly (Bizzy Bone) or deliver it so smoothly (Rakim), but Nas just absolutely embraces the dictionary and he is chck full of literary devices.

Good catch, Hammertime. You are learning.

It does not get any better, lyrically, than this...along with just a kick arse mix:

Memory Lane



[Intro]
Aight, frick that shite! Word, word
frick that other shite, y'know what I'm sayin'?
We gonna do a lil somethin' like this
Y'know what I'm sayin'?
(Y'all doing that other shite)
Keep it on and on and on and on and
Know'm sayin'? Big Nas, Grand Wizard, what is it?
(It's like…) Haha, you know what I'm sayin'?
Yo, go ahead and rip that shite, dun!

[Verse 1]
I rap for listeners, bluntheads, fly ladies, and prisoners
Henessey-holders and old-school ****s
Then I be dissing a unofficial that smoke Woolie Thai
I dropped out of Cooley High
Gassed up by a cokehead cutie pie
Jungle survivor, frick who's the live-er
My man put the battery in my back
A difference from Energizer
Sentence begins indented with formality
My duration's infinite, moneywise or physiology
Poetry, that's a part of me, retardedly bop
I drop the ancient manifested hip-hop straight off the block
I reminisce on park jams
My man was shot for his sheep coat
Chocolate incense make me see him drop in my weed smoke
It's real, grew up in trife life, did times or white lines
The hype pipes, murderous nighttimes
And knife fights and blight crimes
Chill on the block with Cognac, hold strap
With my peeps that's into drug money market into rap
No sign of the beast in the blue Chrysler
I guess that means peace
For ****s, no sheisty vice to just snipe ya
Start off the dice-rolling mats for craps to cee-lo
With side-bets, I roll a deuce, nothing below
(Peace God!) Peace God – now the shite is explained
I'm taking ****s on a trip straight through memory lane
It's like that y'all…

[Hook]
"Now let me take a trip down memory lane"
"Coming outta Queensbridge"

[Verse 2]
One for the money, two for pussy and foreign cars
Three for Alizé, ****s deceased or behind bars
I rap divine, God; check the prognosis: is it real or showbiz?
My window faces shootouts, drug overdoses
Live amongst no roses, only the drama
For real, a nickel-plate is my fate, my medicine is the ganja
Here's my basis, my razor embraces, many faces
You're telephone blown, black, stitches or fat shoelaces
Peoples are petro, dramatic automatic .44 I let blow
And back down po-po when I'm vexed so
My pen taps the paper then my brain's blank
I see dark streets, hustlin' brothers who keep the same rank
Pumpin' for somethin', some'll prosper, some fail
Judges hanging ****s, uncorrect bails for direct sales
My intellect prevails from a hanging cross with nails
I reinforce the frail, with lyrics that's real
Word to Christ, a disciple of streets, trifle on beats
I decipher prophecies through a mic and say "Peace."
I hung around the older crews
While they sling smack to dingbats
They spoke of Fat Cat; that ****'s name made bell rings, black
Some fiends scream, about Supreme Team
A Jamaica Queens thing
Uptown was Alpo, son, heard he was kingpin
Yo, frick "rap is real", watch the herbs stand still
Never talking to snakes, ‘cause the words of man kill
True in the game, as long as blood is blue in my veins
I pour my Heineken brew to my deceased crew on memory lane

[Hook]
"Now let me take a trip down memory lane"
"Coming outta Queensbridge"
"Now let me take a trip down memory lane"
"Coming outta Queensbridge"

[Outro: DJ Premier scracthing]
"Coming out of Queensbridge"


HOLY shite HIS SECOND VERSE!!!

For me, there are 3 perfect hip hop albums, gza's liquid swords and both atlienz and aquemini by outkast

Yeah, AZ is the only guest performer on Illmaty.

Speaking of guest performances, Nas' verse on Raekwon's Verbal Intercourse is one of the best guest spots ever. Verbal Intercourse

I've outgrown my love of rap as I've gotten older. But damn if the early 90s weren't the damn best. I'll still go back every now and then and listen to my favorites.