Albums Nas & DJ Premier - Light-Years (December 12th)

[Awesome Wells]

Don't try to skate past him making Benny's album wack. When Daringer had to do an album with Alchemist he matched him stride for stride.

Hit doesn't have a unique sound. He copies other producers, makes pale imitations, and y'all call it versatility. He makes type beats. Let him do a beat battle and he'll get washed.

Without hearing anything we can at least know that Premier will sound like Premier.

Exactly.

The Coli has literally become a place where weirdos like to pretend and live in an alternate reality. We literally just had a few talks about how mad people on here were calling dude "trash" after Everybody Can't Go, last year. I think in the Mobb Deep thread, people were back to calling him "generic" and "overrated". He's been getting clowned on here and outside for a minute. Acting like that's not the case is wild.

And yeah, if Benny replaced HB with Daringer for that album, we'd probably be talking classic. He can go beat for beat with ALC, and the sh*t doesn't lose steam. "Dough & Damani" is proof of that.

 

[Awesome Wells]

Isn't that the same thing, though? You say the only people who would even compare it to Illmatic are casuals, but then it also needs to be incredible and outside dope. The OG Nas fans would compare it to Illmatic since they've been around from day one, no? And they are going to compare it to the rest of the Nas/Premier tracks, since that's all there is to compare it to.

Truth is, people want a classic from Nas and Premier. Nothing more, nothing less. Anything that falls short of that will be a disappointment. I don't think either of their legacies will be in question if the album hypothetically sucks, but it seems like certain people really need this album to be something next-level that moves the needle or they don't know what they're going to do with themselves.

Not at all.

Because at this point in their careers, we shouldn't be comparing 30+ year old work to sh*t the legends are doing in their 50's and 60's. Premier is about to be 60. It's not going to be Illmatic. Same as Nas always says, "People need to stop looking for another Illmatic. That's not me anymore."

Whatever they do today needs to stand on its own. But yeah, because of who they are, and the expectations, this project needs to be incredible. Absolutely. Premier said the same. He said he knows what the people want, and that's why they took their time. They understand that the hype over the past couple decades for this album is crazy. They've been talking about doing this since 2003.

So I'm echoing what Primo said. The people have been waiting for over 20 years. It has to be right.

 

[Awesome Wells]

There are so many different type of Nas "fans" though. Sure some just want something dope in line with Life Is Good. Some love the Hit Boy albums and want something dope to match them. But you gotta admit there are "fans" who asked for this album every year since 1999 and will be the first to shyt on it when it doesn't match their weirdest of expectations. That's a lot of people...

In terms of undeniably dope veteran albums with beats/samples old heads like....I think Common and LL have already set the bar very high. And likewise, Pete Rock and Q-Tip set the bar very high production wise. I had to eat crow about that Common album because I've been shytting on Pete's beats for the last few years lol. But he knocked that out the park, including with some pretty familiar samples that still came off dope on there.

I just hope Nas matches those two albums.

Truth.

Pete said Premier called him and said that he heard the Common album and had to go back and redo sh*t he was doing for Nas. That's a good thing though! Because that's how they used to stay inspired back in the day. The Q-Tip and LL sh*t was crazy! These are all of my GOAT's. So seeing them creating at a high level 30 years after their prime eras is dope AF!

Premier always speaks on what his peers have done recently and shows them the love. So you know he's keeping that in mind while wrapping up the work for this album. He's not just doing it to do it. He's watching and going back in to cook.

 

[Frump]

Not at all.

Because at this point in their careers, we shouldn't be comparing 30+ year old work to sh*t the legends are doing in their 50's and 60's. Premier is about to be 60. It's not going to be Illmatic. Same as Nas always says, "People need to stop looking for another Illmatic. That's not me anymore."

Whatever they do today needs to stand on its own. But yeah, because of who they are, and the expectations, this project needs to be incredible. Absolutely. Premier said the same. He said he knows what the people want, and that's why they took their time. They understand that the hype over the past couple decades for this album is crazy. They've been talking about doing this since 2003.

So I'm echoing what Primo said. The people have been waiting for over 20 years. It has to be right.

Yeah I mean expecting any artist to drop projects as good as their first album 30 years later is crazy

To me the fact that Nas with hit boy put out that many dope albums in a 2 year span 30 years into his career is amazing. I did not expect that.

I don’t get a certain population of “fans” who it’s Illmatic or bust with anything Nas ever drops.

I expect a dope album and anything less then that I’ll be dissapointed but I’m in no way expecting Illmatic. That’s never happening again

 

[The Dust King]

Is New York State of Mind pt3 ??

i didnt hear nysom3 or define my name

what i heard could have been a buncha snippets put together or premier is really switching the beat up that many times

i got to hear roughly 12 mins

it felt like nas and primo wer battling; typing this gave me goosebumps it was next level hiphop

as somone who attended the premier vs pete rock show and never got the album

this listen made up for all that

dj premier >>> alchemist

not career wise either. off this ONE album

salute my pal al i know hes gonna be inspired for the nas X alchemist album

 

[Awesome Wells]

i didnt hear nysom3 or define my name

what i heard could have been a buncha snippets put together or premier is really switching the beat up that many times

i got to hear roughly 12 mins

it felt like nas and primo wer battling; typing this gave me goosebumps it was next level hiphop

as somone who attended the premier vs pete rock show and never got the album

this listen made up for all that

dj premier >>> alchemist

not career wise either. off this ONE album

salute my pal al i know hes gonna be inspired for the nas X alchemist album

I was just about to say, I don’t think "Define My Name" is 100% making the album anymore.

There's been a good 3-4 different tracklists on the whiteboard since I first heard a few of the joints. So when Nas pulled up a couple weeks ago, he said they were "still working". And with the beats I've been hearing from Primo over the past month or so, I think we got a real serious album on our hands soon.

 

[Piff Perkins]

I was just about to say, I don’t think "Define My Name" is 100% making the album anymore.

There's been a good 3-4 different tracklists on the whiteboard since I first heard a few of the joints. So when Nas pulled up a couple weeks ago, he said they were "still working". And with the beats I've been hearing from Primo over the past month or so, I think we got a real serious album on our hands soon.

What do they sound like?

 

[T.he I.nformant]

i didnt hear nysom3 or define my name

what i heard could have been a buncha snippets put together or premier is really switching the beat up that many times

i got to hear roughly 12 mins

it felt like nas and primo wer battling; typing this gave me goosebumps it was next level hiphop

as somone who attended the premier vs pete rock show and never got the album

this listen made up for all that

dj premier >>> alchemist

not career wise either. off this ONE album

salute my pal al i know hes gonna be inspired for the nas X alchemist album

I don’t think that comment you responded to should be attributed from me but I had the same question so it’s all good

Understanding you heard 12 minutes of something, are you saying that this might rival or exceed KD3 and Magic which I view as top 5 projects in Nas’s catalogue?

 

[C-Styles]

In reality i believe Preemo has prepared for this moment, he knows what the stakes are when it comes to producing a full project for the GOAT, he's been READY and in reality it's on Nas to come through as well with the subject matter. If he is resonating with his audience and do what he's best at STORYTELLING i think more than anything people will overlook the few production "Flaws" on preemo and lift the weight off him. Pretty much a "life is good" type of album will have the board going instead of believing he needs to re-do one of his classics from the 90s. This will def hold its own if it's on subject matter route

 

[Supa]

Truth is, people want a classic from Nas and Premier. Nothing more, nothing less. Anything that falls short of that will be a disappointment. I don't think either of their legacies will be in question if the album hypothetically sucks, but it seems like certain people really need this album to be something next-level that moves the needle or they don't know what they're going to do with themselves.

Not at all.

People abuse the word classic to the point where it doesn't mean anything. Even when The Source was at it's height and their word mattered only a handful of albums got 5 mics. Classics are rare and don't come along often.

This album just needs to be 4 mics and I'm good. A dope album with replay value will suffice. Anything more would be a welcome surprise. They're about 20 years late from being able to make a classic.

The Coli has literally become a place where weirdos like to pretend and live in an alternate reality. We literally just had a few talks about how mad people on here were calling dude "trash" after Everybody Can't Go, last year. I think in the Mobb Deep thread, people were back to calling him "generic" and "overrated". He's been getting clowned on here and outside for a minute. Acting like that's not the case is wild.

Damn sure wasn't universal love for Hit especially the last two albums.

Hit reminds me of these YouTube producers who jump to whatever is the current sound. Trap is buzzing they make trap. Drill is buzzing they make drill. All the while they don't have a signature sound so their work comes off as generic. Being a jack of all trades doesn't stand up to producers who master their sound. Name the top 10 producers and they all have a distinct sound. Even if they do other genres than rap their DNA is still in the work. Erick Sermon wasn't trying to make a Teddy Riley type beat when he worked with R&B artists.

And yeah, if Benny replaced HB with Daringer for that album, we'd probably be talking classic. He can go beat for beat with ALC, and the sh*t doesn't lose steam. "Dough & Damani" is proof of that.

We got that with Tana Talk 4 and I sold Daringer short because I think he was better than Al on there. Most of the songs I replay on there were his beats.

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

Truth.

Pete said Premier called him and said that he heard the Common album and had to go back and redo sh*t he was doing for Nas. That's a good thing though! Because that's how they used to stay inspired back in the day. The Q-Tip and LL sh*t was crazy! These are all of my GOAT's. So seeing them creating at a high level 30 years after their prime eras is dope AF!

Premier always speaks on what his peers have done recently and shows them the love. So you know he's keeping that in mind while wrapping up the work for this album. He's not just doing it to do it. He's watching and going back in to cook.

That's a great thing

But I don't know if preem can pull it off with the new equipment and the engineer he's using right now. Even if he chose the good samples, it will NOT have the same feeling.

Another difference is q tip pete and alc keeps making beats after beats. that's how you don't lose steam. like a boxer, no matter how great you are, if you don't practice, you'll lose some

Hope he proves me wrong

 

[Awesome Wells]

Not at all.

People abuse the word classic to the point where it doesn't mean anything. Even when The Source was at it's height and their word mattered only a handful of albums got 5 mics. Classics are rare and don't come along often.

This album just needs to be 4 mics and I'm good. A dope album with replay value will suffice. Anything more would be a welcome surprise. They're about 20 years late from being able to make a classic.

Damn sure wasn't universal love for Hit especially the last two albums.

Hit reminds me of these YouTube producers who jump to whatever is the current sound. Trap is buzzing they make trap. Drill is buzzing they make drill. All the while they don't have a signature sound so their work comes off as generic. Being a jack of all trades doesn't stand up to producers who master their sound. Name the top 10 producers and they all have a distinct sound. Even if they do other genres than rap their DNA is still in the work. Erick Sermon wasn't trying to make a Teddy Riley type beat when he worked with R&B artists.

We got that with Tana Talk 4 and I sold Daringer short because I think he was better than Al on there. Most of the songs I replay on there were his beats.

All facts.

As far as HB's beats, it's true, he's always been like that. I actually liked his production a lot better back when he was rapping more and producing for Surf Club, around '09-'10. But even then, a lot of his tracks were kinda like Neptunes knockoff beats. Today, because he's using a lot of sample packs and co-production help, he hasn't really found a sound. So he definitely jumps back and forth with the type-beats.

With Daringer and ALC, sometimes I have to check who did what because they can be mad close in quality. Daringer ain't no joke. Especially on joints like this. I think he got ALC on this one.

 

[HNIC973]

The Hit Boy hate is so fukking corny. Like you have to turn into some damn super fan of his. The bottom line we salute HB for his work because he got Nas sounding somewhat reminiscent of his old self. None of you nikkaz gonna sit here & tell me joints like Thun, The Truth Speechless aren't dope Idgaf who produced it The last non HB produced Nas album was fukking Nasir gtfoh with that bs hate. shyt is lame

 

[Awesome Wells]

The Hit Boy hate is so fukking corny. Like you have to turn into some damn super fan of his. The bottom line we salute HB for his work because he got Nas sounding somewhat reminiscent of his old self. None of you nikkaz gonna sit here & tell me joints like Thun, The Truth Speechless aren't dope Idgaf who produced it The last non HB produced Nas album was fukking Nasir gtfoh with that bs hate. shyt is lame

I think at the end of the day, it's dope to see people having different opinions.

We're not all supposed to like the same sh*t. Expecting that is weird. We just had a whole debate about Nicholas Craven on here. I think he's weak, and others did too. But there's some cats who think he has some dope sh*t in the stash. I don’t hear it. But it's all respect. Everybody's not gonna like the same sh*t. And I don’t want them to either.

 

[Piff Perkins]

That's a great thing

But I don't know if preem can pull it off with the new equipment and the engineer he's using right now. Even if he chose the good samples, it will NOT have the same feeling.

Another difference is q tip pete and alc keeps making beats after beats. that's how you don't lose steam. like a boxer, no matter how great you are, if you don't practice, you'll lose some

Hope he proves me wrong

He's been working with Eddie Sancho for decades lol. One of the most prolific engineers in rap, and the guy who produced 95% of the Premo beats that we consider classic.


The problem with some of Premo's recent shyt isn't the mix or engineering. It's that he keeps remaking the same 2-3 beats over and over, and the drum patterns are incredibly predictable/boring. That recent Ransom track is good example. People want the "Premo sound" and for whatever reason that no longer means a bunch of things...it just means Full Clip/Nas Is Like/Boom retread shyt. That was his go-to sound for much of the 2000s well into the 2010s.

He also has multiple dope recent beats too, as have been mentioned in the thread. So I'm not worried.