I think I figured out where Nas goes wrong sometimes

[Cynic]

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.

Are you kidding me ?

Illmatic stans hated that sh!t.

 

[JayBaldacci]

Are you kidding me ?

Illmatic stans hated that sh!t.

Yeah, for his radio play reaching. It was still east coast hip hop. Nas should have never gotten more commercial than If I Ruled The World/Street Dreams Remix.

 

[KravenMorehead™]

I wanted this on an album so bad

 

[spliz]

Nas is the most overanalyzed artist of all time


The amount of Trash Hov has put out in his career is astounding, but Nas is the one that gets critiqued

This is a fact. nikkas act like Hov ain't got no trash beats or trash albums.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Let's look at his history real quick. Them joints he got with the Neptunes (Popular Thug, Nas's Angels, etc..) were trash. Most people agree that his work with Dr Dre (The Firm era, except Phone Tap) was very lackluster. His work with Timbaland (You owe me, etc...) is lackluster. All his shyt with Swizz has been garbage. His past work with Kanye has been solid, nothing groundbreaking but okay.

Then look at his shyt with Preme, and Large Professor, and Pete Rock, and Havoc, and LES when he is in his bag, etc...marriage made in heaven like 95% of the time.

That hip hop shyt, that traditional sound, that is his sweet spot. His most critically acclaimed albums (Illmatic, Lost Tapes, Stillmatic) got that texture, that hip hop shyt, that's his comfort zone and its obvious. He sounds off when he tries to do what Jayz does. I got Nas ahead of Jayz all time but Jayz is much more versatile musically, he can do a Preme beat dirty, then the next song is him doing a Timbaland beat dirty, then the next song is him doing a Kanye beat dirty, etc... He is like Biggie in a sense, they can make all different kinds of records with all types of tempos and shyt...but someone like Nas, or Rakim, or Gza or somebody, they have a sweet spot, that gritty hip hop shyt, it sounds off when they divert from it a lot of times.

Think of all your favorite Nas joints ever, I bet you none of them shyts are produced by a big commercial producer. Keep my man away from these commercial guys with these big and worldly productions and get him in there with the dudes that we all know we want to hear him with.

nas can do those more commercial tracks/R&B joints just fine, the problem is that Illmatic has put him into a box (one he never wanted) that critics ears are only tuned to that sound and won't let him go beyond that to the point that they complain no matter what type of production he's on. I made this post the other day

Nas - NASIR (Discussion Thread)

People acting like working with Large Pro, Primo and them has to be illmatic 2 when it doesn’t. It coulda been something new

That's the problem though. Whatever nas does people will complain because it's not Illmatic

nas does boombap = that sounds old and tired, he needs some just blaze/kanye/trap

nas does just blaze/kanye/trap/timbo = I don't want to hear nas over those glossy beats

nas does soulful/jazz beats = that's boring, he needs more uptempo stuff

.....Illmatic, the real gift and the curse

 

[spliz]

I never got why You Owe Me was thought of such a bad song. I thought that was a jam.

Cause it wasnt thought of as a bad song. People fukked wit it heavy when it dropped.

 

[semicko82]

Simply put... Nas makes music you listen to one time and go "oh that was cool" ... But his music ain't something you gonna play over and over again. Get rich or die trying was an album you played over and over again cuz it's a good listen. Dope beats, dope rhymes, catchy hooks... This music shyt ain't that hard. I can't listen to no God's Son or Streets Disciple over and over.

 

[I'm Blackman]

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.

In my view...ANYTHING from Jay, Nas, Face, Ghostface, Cube, etc is a blessing. Why? Because their contributions to the game are impeccable. Nasir is a solid to good album in my view. Levels below LIG though. But I'm just glad to get a Nas album in 2018. And he's earned the right to experiment.

But I agree with the above and the Sade example is perfect. Likewise, no one wants to hear Mariah Carey on some Nina Simone vibe (and Nina is amazing) because that aint her bag. We dont believe her doing that.

Jay Z is one of my goats and Scarface is one of my goats. If Swizz beats announced tomorrow he would be producing a full Jay Z album, I'd expect it to be good to possibly amazing. Why? Because that fits Jay well. If Swizz said that shyt about Scarface, I'd expect it to be trash. Like causal Face fans praise the FIX, and the fix is dope. But it aint fukkin with Diary, Untouchable, or even Deeply Rooted in my opinion. Because Face is at home.

Artistic flexibility is rare. Rap wise no one was more versatile (not flow or lyrics or content...but production they sounded at home on) than Big and Jay. Some of the songs on the fukkin Lincoln Park shyt with Jay sounded ill to me. Most people have "lanes" and it's nothing wrong with staying in your lane.

 

[spliz]

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.

False at the bolded. And if IWW was so much up his alley why purist keep shyttin on it? Wanna know why? Cause its Nas. He's not allowed to do shyt other people get praised for.

 

[L&HH]

Cause it wasnt thought of as a bad song. People fukked wit it heavy when it dropped.

Alright cause people on here bring it up semi-frequently and they try to shyt on it. I was a youngin maybe barely 9 when it dropped so I never questioned nikkas but even when I play it back now I wouldn't mind someone remaking it.

 

[thewiseman]

I been saying it...

Spin: When did you finally realize that Jay Z's discography is borderline trash?

Jay got a discography full of filler and straight up wack shyt crafted by him and those same producers y'all saying he makes better songs than Nas with.

When are people gonna put this bullshyt narrative to bed?

Jay got some pretty terrible tracks with the Neptunes, Swizz, Timbo and nem. People gotta stop acting like Jay and big named "super" producers is automatic heat.

You're an idiot. Compared to what Nas got, Jay got some of the BEST beats with those producers. Big Pimpin' is a top 10 Timbo beat, Money Cash Hoes is a top 5 Swizz beat, and Allure is FIRE. How in the world does Nas compare to him when he worked with those producers?

How the fukk can you call his discography trash when he has more classic songs than most rappers ever?

 

[spliz]

Alright cause people on here bring it up semi-frequently and they try to shyt on it. I was a youngin maybe barely 9 when it dropped so I never questioned nikkas but even when I play it back now I wouldn't mind someone remaking it.

Fam that shyt was lit when it dropped. Dont let ANYBODY tell u different. Lol.

 

[spliz]

You're an idiot. Compared to what Nas got, Jay got some of the BEST beats with those producers. Big Pimpin' is a top 10 Timbo beat, Money Cash Hoes is a top 5 Swizz beat, and Allure is FIRE. How in the world does Nas compare to him when he worked with those producers?

How the fukk can you call his discography trash when he has more classic songs than most rappers ever?

But Jay has also worked with those producers FAR more than Nas. And he has more beats not on the level of those beats u named than he does on that level.

 

[the cac mamba]

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.

right? shyt was absolute fire this has no business being an unreleased track

 

[Billy Ocean]

You're an idiot. Compared to what Nas got, Jay got some of the BEST beats with those producers. Big Pimpin' is a top 10 Timbo beat, Money Cash Hoes is a top 5 Swizz beat, and Allure is FIRE. How in the world does Nas compare to him when he worked with those producers?

How the fukk can you call his discography trash when he has more classic songs than most rappers ever?

Breh, you're a troll alias that gets neg repped every other post. Nobody gives 1 fukk about what you have to say on this topic...or any topic for that matter