I think I figured out where Nas goes wrong sometimes

[blankstairz]

(*NOTE: Nas can do party records. Oochie Wally, You Owe Me, Firm biz. He can do those in his sleep while others have to work at it. He just doesn't need to do it. )

Nas really doesn't care. He understands the bigger picture.

Just look at his track record (no pun?).

Rappers usually fall into 2 categories:

Good ear for beats and/or putting an album together with earnest effort.

Bad ear for beats and not good at putting an album together but the effort is at least there when in their mind they made a good album.

Nas is neither. Nas is just Nas. He does Nas.

Nas just doesn't care either way really. It isn't a priority for him. To his credit, he doesn't let Illmatic hold him hostage. If he did, he wouldn't have advanced to where he is today. If he had, he would have been tied to certain producers to be validated by the fans/public.

This is why most of his albums are uneven. Everything from great to good to average to bad to filler.

Even though the diehards begrudge him for not working with Primo, Extra P, alchemist,etc. more, they still accept it because they still get those flows and lyrics.


This is why Nas' new album with Kanye isn't really a big deal. It's like a step back. Nas is not tied to a producer.

Nas stands alone.

 

[Cynic]

I feel where you coming from, it sounds right on paper, but some nikkas have no business experimenting. Some artists are Shaq, we ain't coming to see jumpers and crossovers and ill assists, get in the post and continue being a GOAT at what you do. I don't want to hear Sade out of her element, Sade is the best at her style, I think she would sound off on some Jermaine Dupri, Mariah Carey beats or sumn.

We wouldn’t have It Was Written or Distant Relative if he stuck with illmatic production.

His writing and stories are what matters most. You don’t cop a Nas album for production or melodies.

You are just greedy breh

 

[Pop123]

Popular thug and the flyest are classics

Where??

 

[JayBaldacci]

To grow and expand and also test limits you get a breakthrough?


Let artists cook and stop being so ungrateful.

He's not doing either at this point... and I can't be greatful for a Nas joint thats so uninspired save track 5 and 6.

 

[Pop123]

We wouldn’t have It Was Written or Distant Relative if he stuck with illmatic production.

His writing and stories are what matters most. You don’t cop a Nas album for production or melodies.

You are just greedy breh

I cop a Nas album to hear Nas in his bag, I don't think he was in it on this Kanye shyt, and he usually isn't in it over these grand productions and commercial attempts

 

[Billy Ocean]

I cop a Nas album to hear Nas in his bag, I don't think he was in it on this Kanye shyt, and he usually isn't in it over these grand productions and commercial attempts

You brought Jay up in comparison. How many Jay albums you would say Jay was in his bag?

 

[BiggWebb79]

Nas get put in a box and is held to an unrealistic standard that no other mc or rapper is held to.

 

[jelanitsunami]

He kinda had to step into a more mainstream lane after Illmatic just cause of where the direction where rap was headed. He got carried away and went too far left '99-'01 but found his way back on Sfillmatic. I agree that he's at his best over more simplistic laid back beats where his rhymes can be the main focus.

 

[Cynic]

I cop a Nas album to hear Nas in his bag, I don't think he was in it on this Kanye shyt, and he usually isn't in it over these grand productions and commercial attempts

Like I said, he’s been at it since the early 90s.
It’s not like he hasn’t given you enough material

 

[Ziggiy]

If Nas spent his entire career rapping over Preme/Large Pro/and Pete Rock beats he would’ve had a short career indeed.

Trackmasters
D-Moet
Timbaland
Megahertz
Ron Brownz
Salaam Remi
Polow Da Don
Mark Ronson
DJ Toomp
Damian Marley
Kanye West

All have added longevity to Nas’s career. For as much as YOU may hate an “You Owe Me” it was a hit on the Charts. D-Moet produced Hate Me Now, which is a classic Nas song that Premo/ Large Pro/Pete Rock are UNABLE to do. Megahertz produced Got Yourself A Gun, which was the kickoff single for Stillmatic. Ron Brownz produced Ether, which is considered one of, if not THE most vicious and epic diss tracks of all time. Could Large Pro or LES produce that? Would Premo or Q-Tip even have taken sides?




All of you so called “fans” are NOT fans. You wanna hear Illmatic over and over again while failing to understand that illmatic was born from a singular mindset of a kid, suffering from the PTSD of project living and watching his best friend die and his brother shot. You CANNOT remake that album because you CANNOT remake those experiences. What moved Nas musically in 94 isn’t going to move him musically in 96, 99, 2001, etc.

Nas rhyming over the same damn production every album is BORING. Nobody wants to hear 13465 interpolations of The World Is Yours and Life’s a bytch.

Get over it. Move on.

 

[Cynic]

He's not doing either at this point... and I can't be greatful for a Nas joint thats so uninspired save track 5 and 6.

The level of entitlement in this post

 

[KravenMorehead™]

Where??

Everywhere

 

[JayBaldacci]

We wouldn’t have It Was Written or Distant Relative if he stuck with illmatic production.

IWW was still pretty much up Nas's alley save the Dre beat... so it wasn't really experimenting. Distant Relatives only great song was Leaders.

 

[Billy Ocean]

Nas get put in a box and is held to an unrealistic standard that no other mc or rapper is held to.

Yep. He's unfairly criticized. He's actually a very versatile MC that has shown he can rock various types of beats and make stellar work with varying types of artists and producers. I was speaking of the Illusory Truth Effect in another thread. Most people will believe ANYTHING as long as it's told to them enough times. That applies here. Somebody started this narrative and people started believing it despite how many dope pieces of work Nas has put out throughout his career.

 

[ThirdAct]

I've said it a million times...

Nas goes wrong because he, and more importantly his labels, don't know which songs to put on his albums and which ones to leave off.

I can literally make almost every Nas album (with the exception of Illmatic) better by fukking with the tracklistings, taking off the weak joints and adding the fire he left off that floated around on mixtapes and the internet. Every album he made coulda been a classic.

Take Talk of New York for instance.



This joint was good enough to be the lead single on Street's Disciple. shyt woulda been a Made You Look styled anthem. Instead it got left off. How? Sample issue? It was so fire and woulda kept the streets open for months. shyt shoulda been an NY radio mainstay.