The first artist I ever heard criticize Nas" ear for beats was Cormega. He recalled studio sessions with Nas (had to be during the IWW era) and asked Nas "you really going to rap over this. It sounds like it should be in a shampoo commercial". It Was Written is one of Nas's best produced albums.
Myth of Nas having wack beats
- Thread starter Master Teacher
- Start date
Breh, I wanna agree with you cause I'm a fellow Ghostface stan but you sound crazy.
Breh said 50 Cent and Cam picks better beats than Nas
If Nas dropped a project with Supreme Clientele beats you'd have dudes zeroing in on Stroke of Death and talking about Cherchez La Ghost being a weak crossover attempt, ignoring the rest of the album
Same way they bring up the weakest tracks on his lesser albums but act like Life Is Good don't exist
He never did.
Cam has been rhyming over cheap ass beats from mostly unknown producers for damn near 15 years, breh. If Nas rhymed over the beats Cam has been rhyming over since Killa Season he would've been absolutely CRUCIFIED on the internet. Stop it. And I'm not gonna even entertain the 50 Cent shyt. That's beyond laughable. I'm a fan of both artists music but they aren't better beat pickers than Nas.
If Nas dropped a project with Supreme Clientele beats you'd have dudes zeroing in on Stroke of Death and talking about Cherchez La Ghost being a weak crossover attempt, ignoring the rest of the album
Same way they bring up the weakest tracks on his lesser albums but act like Life Is Good don't exist
Real talk.
And dudes in here still haven't named all these GOAT level rappers that have been better beat pickers than Nas throughout their careers.
prophecypro
Hollywood North
Goes to show its an evolved take from the "Why is he selling out" one
prophecypro
Hollywood North
Goes to show its an evolved take from the "Why is he selling out" one
Nah, It can be questioned.
Music is not only about what the artist does, but also about what's happening around them.
Nas doesn't really have beats that make you say he was ahead of everyone.
Who has tho? Even though I don't believe he's a wack beat picker why is Nas the only MC on his level that is criticized for his beats? We can have a long, fruitful discussion of the God tier rappers who have a catalog full of mediocre, subpar or straight up wack beats.
What rappers that don't produce are consistently ahead of the game musically?
Disagree with this statement by the way. IWW laid the blueprint for the "street but glossy" sound that dominated east coast rap for years. Some argue RTD and that is true with the singles but the rest of the album was still on that grimy NY sound. IWW had that expensive, polished sound while remaining street from start to finish. Even the grimier beats from Premier and Havoc fit in seamlessly because of the way it was mixed and mastered. Album doesn't get enough credit for the influence it had.
For NASIR, you’re telling me Nas went to Bumblefukk, Wyoming, scrapped whatever he was working on, heard all this other piff being produced for Pusha T, Kids See Ghosts, Teyana Taylor, etc., heard Cops Shot The Kid and went “That’s the one!?”
This the perfect example of the different standards.
Pusha is on Kanye's label and worked on Daytona for months. Had a full album and they cut it down to the 7 best tracks because that's what Kanye wanted.
Nasir was put together in under a week. Vocals were recorded over unfinished beats. But he's still expected to drop a classic.
In all honesty Nas has 4 albums that can be argued paved the way for the sound of his peer's music making:
Illmatic
It Was Written
Untitled/******
Life Is Good
The influence may not all have to do with the production on these albums but the overall sound (content/beats/lyricism) had an undeniable effect on how his peers tackled their music.
Last edited:
We talk about this shyt once a week
As an artist he's going to pick beats that allow him to accomplish what he's trying to do musically.
For example, Nas passed on We Gon Make It. Would Nas sound good on it, sure.. But that beat might have so much going on that I understand why someone like Nas passed on it...
Could you imagine Nas rhyming over I Really Mean It?? It just doesn't make sense to me..
My issue with Nas production is that for his style he could've used beats from Murda Muzik or HNIC in the late 90s instead of a lot of I Am and Nastradamus... Some of HHID is meh too..
But that's me being a fan and I don't like really the idea of telling an artist what he should do with his art..
He's just an artist that I put on pedestal because of his goat status.. He's not as well produced as other artists in his tier.. But that's my opinion..
Life of Good is great though..
Same with King's Disease
As an artist he's going to pick beats that allow him to accomplish what he's trying to do musically.
For example, Nas passed on We Gon Make It. Would Nas sound good on it, sure.. But that beat might have so much going on that I understand why someone like Nas passed on it...
Could you imagine Nas rhyming over I Really Mean It?? It just doesn't make sense to me..
My issue with Nas production is that for his style he could've used beats from Murda Muzik or HNIC in the late 90s instead of a lot of I Am and Nastradamus... Some of HHID is meh too..
But that's me being a fan and I don't like really the idea of telling an artist what he should do with his art..
He's just an artist that I put on pedestal because of his goat status.. He's not as well produced as other artists in his tier.. But that's my opinion..
Life of Good is great though..
Same with King's Disease
you want debate semanticsand then repeat what I just said using different words
you a funny nikka man
Kool Keith @ 25:00
Where is kool keith at today? While nas is dropping classics in 2020 27 summers in which wasn't even the goal.
OutKast and Missy Elliott had production that was ahead of the curve.
Still, if Nas had that kind of production in his albums, he would still be criticized. Why? A lot of his critics only like Nas on certain beats. If he goes even a little left with it, they dismiss it as wack. If Nas dropped a song today rhyming over something as crazy as "Bombs Over Baghdad" or "Big Pimpin", people would diss him no matter how dope it sounded. Nas killed his verse on Missy's "Hot Boyz" and still caught flack.
Explain to me how Nas was consistently going platinum and double platinum if he he was rapping over wack beats? Nas survived in an era of elite produced albums and people say Nas hasn't had good production since It Was Written. This doesn't make sense to me.