In all honesty, Nas isn't really pushing the envelope at all. What he's doing now, with speaking about his personal life, has been done many times before. And Nas was one of the most visible cats in the late 90's speakin' on material possessions, money, women, swag, weed, etc. He only changed his direction, to be the anti-Hov hero that people wanted him to be. Before that "beef" he spoke more about those things than most rappers did.
The problem with Nas, is not that he's not speaking about what other people are. It's the fact that he's not makin' music on the level that people expect from a Nas. No one cares about topics, people wanted Nas to be Nas! And no one likes to speak on it, but dude has seriously fallen short of who he was supposed to be. There will never be another Illmatic, this is true. But you can't drop that level of greatness, and just coast for the rest of your career. That's what he's done. He hasn't even gotten close to that level again. That's the problem with Nas, not his subject matter.
The bolded is actually what's very wrong with most criticism's of Nas, and its not very inciteful nor is it true.
No One Cares about Topics
Yes, yes people very much do. Your telling me that the 500,000 plus people who Hip Hop Is Dead and Untitled didn't "care" about the album's theme and topics? That's an EXTREMELY short sighted and narrow perspective of Hip Hop fandom, and it is honestly one of the attitudes that continually plagues Hip Hop as a culture. If Nas wasn't releasing these albums with ambitious and thought provoking subject matter, then WHO in the mainstream would? Jay- Z busy flossing, Drake is busy Simping, Lil Wayne is busy being a Martian and Rick Ross is basically a Hip Hop cartoon. Untitled was one of the most poignant and thought out mainstream albums to be released in the last decade, with lyricism touching upon everything from the Black experience to the way black rappers are creatively handcuffed by the labels. Nas is and has ALWAYS been a "Topics" type of rapper, from One Love to Bye Baby, Nas is and has always been the premier artist who can take a topic and give it a unique lyrical perspective.
People Wanted Nas To Be Nas
Again, Nas is who
HE wants to be, not who "we" dictate him to be. Do any of us know Nas personally? Have we walked in his shoes? Looked out the project window through his eyes? Have we been at the studio lab writing with him? No, NONE of us actually know who Nas is beyond his lyrics when he speaks about himself, and the one thing Nas has ALWAYS stated from the beginning is that he does what he feels. If you want Nas to BE Nas then you would appreciate his growth as an MC whose been in the mainstream for longer than ANYONE of his peers. You would appreciate Untitled as much as you would Illmatic because lyrically, Nas has NEVER fallen off. Nas chooses his producers, the direction of his albums, his singles, and his videos. Nas is exactly who he wants to be and if you think that the 20 year old Nas from 1994 is the and always has been the same as the Nas from 2013 then your a trapped a 90's nikka
And No One Likes to Speak On It, but Nas has seriously fallen short of what he was supposed to be
And what exactly was Nas SUPPOSED to be? The second Rakim? An artist who hasn't been relevant passed 1997? The second Kool G.Rap? The next artist who failed to evolve his subject, sound or style and fell by the wayside because people wanted Illmatic parts 2-10? Who the hell are any of us to tell the man whose went platinum SEVEN straight times from 1994 to 2004, Gold Twice from 06-08, and is just coming off one of the most critically acclaimed Hip Hop albums of last year, that he fell short of what he was "supposed" to be
That doesn't make any sense.
There will never be another Illmatic, this is true. But you can't drop that level of greatness, and just coast for the rest of your career
Again, using history as our guide, this makes no sense. There is absolutely NO WAY that one can "coast" for twenty years in Hip Hop and have the level of respect and success that Nas has attained, it simply isn't possible. If you want to call Nas's discography coasting then I'm sorry to say, but your either trolling or your ears are infected. I'm the first to say that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this is ludicrous beyond comprehension.
Again all of you "I want Nas on Premo beats!" " I want Nas to give me that Boom Bap!" "I want I want I want!" Aren't looking at the full picture. Nas has been successful DESPITE the constant whining for him to turn back the clock to when he was a struggling teenager from QueensBridge. Don't any of you understand the truth and poignancy of "Always FORWARD I'm moving, never looking back so here's another classic". As an artist you can NEVER go backwards, for that is admitting that you have nothing to contribute to NOW. Think about if Nas was rocking over Pete Rock beats in 06 instead of dropping HHID. Souljah Boy, Dem Franchise Boys, and the ignorance of the c00ning era wouldn't have had ANYBODY to cal them out on their bullshyt. If Nas was rapping about the projects and Jerome's niece in 08 then who would have been speaking on the experiences of Black America right before the historic election? The entire summer would've been about Autotune crooning about licking lollipops
. Nas is EXACTLY what is needed in Hip Hop, an artist who places his art FIRST. And Hip Hop would do well to appreciate him for it.....
#TPC
