Albums Black Thought x Salaam Remi - Stream of Thought 2 (Discussion Thread)

[TheDarceKnight]

Dope as fukk. I'm liking this better than Vol 1.
Salaam Remi did his thing, he needs to stop being overlooked, this and his work on LIG really show that he is one hell of a producer.

I used to be one of the ones that slept on Salaam and thought he was part of the issue, but I think he held things down on most of the beats he's done for Nas. I went back and checked the credits and most of Nas' weaker beats have been from other producers. I think because Salaam has been the one producer to consistently work with Nas for so long that people put some of the heat onto him.

Also God's Son was the Nas album where this idea of Nas picking sub-par beats really came about the most. The internet was taking off, and a lot of people remixed that album, most famously 9th Wonder. Zone Out is probably the worst beat on that album, and Salaam did it, and Hey Nas isn't that great either. I Can is dope as a song, but I don't think the beat blew anyone away. Mad You Look is absolutely fire though. The beats on that album that most people seem to like are the beats that Alchemist did (especially Book of Rhymes and Revolutionary Warfare), and Get Down, which I think Nas produced himself. And obviously everyone loves the Made You Look beat that Remi did.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

But we know Nas ain’t pick the beats on Nasir. Kanye did. That album was off cause artist and producer weren’t in the studio together

I didn't know that. Daps on the info. But to play devil's advocate, there have been great records made between producers and rappers that weren't in the studio together. It's not super common but it does happen.

Your info actually flies in the face of what I was hoping for. I have been saying for a few years that I'd be really interested in having a producer pick a plate full of beats for Nas so that Nas would have to just stick to those beats. But it sounds like that's what Kanye did here.

Although then we go down another rabbit hole where I think Kanye is one of the worst producers in terms of who I'd pick to be the guy for that type of project, so I'm not surprised that it turned out to be such an average project.

 

[tremonthustler1]

Except Kanye sent the beats to Nas days before the album and he wrote to what he was given

Meanwhile him and Salaam are in the studio together when making their records and are usually good, it’s the other joints that are the problem

I’m actually not sure if he’s exec produced a whole Nas album and done the arrangements

He’d be probably good at it like No ID did on Life is Good or how Hip Hop was probably gonna be on the shelved 2016 album

Executive produce doesn't mean you produced every beat. It just means you oversaw the entire project.

Nas ain't some new artist though. An artist like him who was taking 6 years to make a follow up shouldn't be subjected to taking what's given to him. If it doesn't feel right, don't pick it. Otherwise, why take your time to then rush out something? Nas is an artist that probably gets flooded with beats or requests to rap over beats by every producer alive. Pusha T scrapped what he was working on and we get DAYTONA. Nas... we get NASIR. Mistakes were made.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Fentanyl and Streets

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Executive produce doesn't mean you produced every beat. It just means you oversaw the entire project.

Nas ain't some new artist though. An artist like him who was taking 6 years to make a follow up shouldn't be subjected to taking what's given to him. If it doesn't feel right, don't pick it. Otherwise, why take your time to then rush out something? Nas is an artist that probably gets flooded with beats or requests to rap over beats by every producer alive. Pusha T scrapped what he was working on and we get DAYTONA. Nas... we get NASIR. Mistakes were made.

No doubt. You can executive produce an album and not make a single beat, hit a single pad, or touch a single instrument.

You're exactly right. Nas can get anything he wants. I think Nas should find a producer without even trying to make an album. To tie it back to this thread and this project, do what Black Thought is doing here with 9th Wonder, Salaam Remi, and Bink, etc. Have Nas link up with a producer just on some let's hang out and make music type shyt, but no pressure for it to even be a part of an album. Like how Alchemist has his rap camp at his house/how 9th Wonder does at Bright Lady. People just come through and make music, and if it turns out dope then they make a project out of it later. It seems to me like Nas maybe overthinks it a bit.

In regards to the rest of your post I think Pusha is just better at picking beats than Nas. Dude had the best batch out of everything Kanye dropped this year, and most of his solo material has had at least above-average production, and obviously all of the stuff he rapped over on the Clipse albums was good. Pharrell has said several times that Pusha and Malice chose a lot of beats that other A-list rappers skipped over. And if Push didn't have a say on Daytona than Kanye had a better ear for him than he did for Nas.

 

[BUSINESS AS USUAL]

Son this shyt is flames

 

[Cadillac]

pretty good project, went by fast as hell. pressed play and before I knew I was done

 

[prophecypro]

Executive produce doesn't mean you produced every beat. It just means you oversaw the entire project.

Nas ain't some new artist though. An artist like him who was taking 6 years to make a follow up shouldn't be subjected to taking what's given to him. If it doesn't feel right, don't pick it. Otherwise, why take your time to then rush out something? Nas is an artist that probably gets flooded with beats or requests to rap over beats by every producer alive. Pusha T scrapped what he was working on and we get DAYTONA. Nas... we get NASIR. Mistakes were made.

Which Salaam hasnt really done. I know No ID did with life is good and Kanye with nasir though

You gotta remember though this Nasir album aint really his album though, it was part of a Kanye rollout. Now I have no idea why Nas sat on the 2016 Nas album done project or whatever he was recording back then, especially when Echo came from that time I believe and he was rapping well, Im guessing he didnt believe people wanted to just hear him without a subject or hook to the album like before.

I always tell people to look at that video of Kanye in the studio after he went to TMZ, all the albums except his and Nas were written out and appeared to be done, whereas both his and Nas he did the week of release, I mean they were mixing the album on the day it was supposed to drop

So thats what went wrong

 

[prophecypro]

I didn't know that. Daps on the info. But to play devil's advocate, there have been great records made between producers and rappers that weren't in the studio together. It's not super common but it does happen.

Your info actually flies in the face of what I was hoping for. I have been saying for a few years that I'd be really interested in having a producer pick a plate full of beats for Nas so that Nas would have to just stick to those beats. But it sounds like that's what Kanye did here.

Although then we go down another rabbit hole where I think Kanye is one of the worst producers in terms of who I'd pick to be the guy for that type of project, so I'm not surprised that it turned out to be such an average project.

Every artist and producer work different man just like every rapper puts his rhymes together different

Jay can go in and just ask the producer to give him a beat tape and he then takes stuff from his head (although i do think he, big and wayne write, theres only so much you can commit to memory) and go form there

Then theres other artists who write their stuff and listen as the producer is putting the track together and they have an idea of how it flows. And thats Nas, its probably way more collaborative

 

[prophecypro]

No doubt. You can executive produce an album and not make a single beat, hit a single pad, or touch a single instrument.

You're exactly right. Nas can get anything he wants. I think Nas should find a producer without even trying to make an album. To tie it back to this thread and this project, do what Black Thought is doing here with 9th Wonder, Salaam Remi, and Bink, etc. Have Nas link up with a producer just on some let's hang out and make music type shyt, but no pressure for it to even be a part of an album. Like how Alchemist has his rap camp at his house/how 9th Wonder does at Bright Lady. People just come through and make music, and if it turns out dope then they make a project out of it later. It seems to me like Nas maybe overthinks it a bit.

In regards to the rest of your post I think Pusha is just better at picking beats than Nas. Dude had the best batch out of everything Kanye dropped this year, and most of his solo material has had at least above-average production, and obviously all of the stuff he rapped over on the Clipse albums was good. Pharrell has said several times that Pusha and Malice chose a lot of beats that other A-list rappers skipped over. And if Push didn't have a say on Daytona than Kanye had a better ear for him than he did for Nas.

Thats how Distant Relatives was conceived and actually how Illmatic was to a certain extent. Large started the album but then brought other producers in
And thats how Kanye and the Wyoming sessions in theory was but one he committed to the idea of 5 albums in 5 weeks, Kanye scrapped and redid stuff and left stuff out and devoted time to others etc. Wild chaotic

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Thats how Distant Relatives was conceived and actually how Illmatic was to a certain extent. Large started the album but then brought other producers in
And thats how Kanye and the Wyoming sessions in theory was but one he committed to the idea of 5 albums in 5 weeks, Kanye scrapped and redid stuff and left stuff out and devoted time to others etc. Wild chaotic

Exactly. Illmatic was basically the first hip-hop album with the superproducer concept via Large Pro bringing all those heavyweights together.

I think we're on the same page.

 

[prophecypro]

Exactly. Illmatic was basically the first hip-hop album with the superproducer concept via Large Pro bringing all those heavyweights together.

I think we're on the same page.

I mean it all depends on Nas and if he wanna do that too. Like I would say in any case, have the producers there when he records.

 

[mr x]

Watching rap radar right now with styles p.

He just said black thought is the most dangerous mc right now.

He also mentioned royce.

 

[ThirtyPlus]

Top 5 Dead or Alive.

 

[TheDarceKnight]