Albums Nas & DJ Premier - Light-Years (Discussion Thread)

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re'up

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FunkDoc1112 said:
Nas doesn't have that paranoid Messiah complex anymore which i think was integral to his post-Illmaric output, that's definitely been missing since he got his money right lmao
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Art is like that, it exists in a time and place. Like all great art, Nas is not the same dude he was in 1998 or 1999. He has different influences, he's left some things behind, picked up new influences. He's still Nas, but yeah, he's not coming from the same place that gave us Undying Love, or Drunk By Myself, or Blaze a 50. The Rise and Fall. My Worst Enemy.

He channeled a lot of personal angst and issues into songs about some kind of real version of himself, plus a lot of wild gangster shyt. He can still channel it when he wants to, there was a verse on Strong Will Continue in 2010, where he just spiraled into a post Escobar Nas, about baby moms and golddiggers. It's the content and the flow. There's an intensity to it.

Anyway, I don't expect it to be that way anymore. It's been decades. I'm not even the same kid who was transfixed by those songs, I'm 40 myself. But, on a first listen, this doesn't hit those old feelings anymore.

 
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Tommy Gibbs said:
yall would have hated hip hop music pre-2000s :russ: It's supposed to be a cohesive project of one style. You don't need 3 boom bap beats, 3 trap beats, 3 g funk beats, 3 bounce beats. That's how releases became garbage. I guarantee you there are more classic 1-producer albums than albums with 7-10 different producers.
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You didn't understand my point. I said sometimes the producer gets into one mode and doesn't vary the sounds within their own style. There's some Alchemist albums that will be 5 piano loops, 3 sparse drumless loops, and a few 70's prog rock samples and they're roughly the same tempo. That's when you get that one long song feeling.

Madlib is someone who avoids this because he samples different genres to the point that all the beats sound different. You can play Madvillainy, Bandana, and Pinata and see that.

When it's one producer they might record a song or two with the artist in a month and the schedule gets spread out and staggered how ever long it takes to finish. The individual songs might work but when it's finished you might have 12 songs that sound the same. You gotta make sure to switch things up a bit so final album doesn't get repetitive.

I never said 1 producer albums don't work.
 
FunkDoc1112

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Supa said:
You didn't understand my point. I said sometimes the producer gets into one mode and doesn't vary the sounds within their own style. There's some Alchemist albums that will be 5 piano loops, 3 sparse drumless loops, and a few 70's prog rock samples and they're roughly the same tempo. That's when you get that one long song feeling.

Madlib is someone who avoids this because he samples different genres to the point that all the beats sound different. You can play Madvillainy, Bandana, and Pinata and see that.

When it's one producer they might record a song or two with the artist in a month and the schedule gets spread out and staggered how ever long it takes to finish. The individual songs might work but when it's finished you might have 12 songs that sound the same. You gotta make sure to switch things up a bit so final album doesn't get repetitive.

I never said 1 producer albums don't work.
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Alchemist has said he does this intentionally. When he started doing one producer projects he learned to approach them as one long song with different parts.
 
xiceman191

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Its funny seeing how divisive this album is when it comes to the production. On one hand theres some that love it but on the other hand people like Preemo washed. But no real complaints about Nas rapping. Honestly for me I enjoyed it the 2nd half was better for me. I knew it wasn't going to match previous efforts and maybe this shyt should of happened years ago but I enjoyed it for what it was. Decent album but when you have such high expectations and waited so long for something decent album can be the worst thing it can be.
 
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re'up said:
Art is like that, it exists in a time and place. Like all great art, Nas is not the same dude he was in 1998 or 1999. He has different influences, he's left some things behind, picked up new influences. He's still Nas, but yeah, he's not coming from the same place that gave us Undying Love, or Drunk By Myself, or Blaze a 50. The Rise and Fall. My Worst Enemy.

He channeled a lot of personal angst and issues into songs about some kind of real version of himself, plus a lot of wild gangster shyt. He can still channel it when he wants to, there was a verse on Strong Will Continue in 2010, where he just spiraled into a post Escobar Nas, about baby moms and golddiggers. It's the content and the flow. There's an intensity to it.

Anyway, I don't expect it to be that way anymore. It's been decades. I'm not even the same kid who was transfixed by those songs, I'm 40 myself. But, on a first listen, this doesn't hit those old feelings anymore.

Click to expand...


Check out "Beef" from KD3. It's a concept record about Nas rapping from the perspective of beef. It's classic Nas storytelling.
 
Supa

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FunkDoc1112 said:
Alchemist has said he does this intentionally. When he started doing one producer projects he learned to approach them as one long song with different parts.
Click to expand...

I'm not the biggest fan of that approach and that's why I like Madlib's albums more. Usually with Al the latter part of the albums start to lose steam.
 
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Chip Skylark said:
Glasses tilt pour for me, brownstone four stories
Eyes on all glory, we outgrown them worn Mauri's
With the mic cord, I could talk to GD's and Vice Lords
Folk Nation, Mexican gangs, that's doin' life for it
Criss cross, crash out, kitted cars cashed out
Cul-de-sac glass house, solar facts, ask 'bout
Twelve jewels, show and prove, Earth revolve around the sun
To know whom and what you are, food shelter bound to come
Love, peace and happiness, this is what we rappin' with
Still, we ain't havin' it, relaxed around the savages
Exactly what our fabric is, others are embarrassin'
Arm and hammer balancin' sneaker box what the cash was in
Battleland, back then bricks built from a half a gram, ashy hands
No gloves cookin' up, had a master plan

Nas and Sosa turnt up on the second verse
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The first verse was ok but the 2nd verse they were in peak form. That's why I was pissed they didn't do the 3rd verse. You could literally hear them heating up.
 
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I ordered the tape and CD but just got notice one of the items is delayed, but it didn't say which one. Anyway they will now ship them separately.
 
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