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

[Canon]

Jay-Z wouldn’t have the courage to rap over these beats. And thats no disrespect to jay but he’s never been a “daring” artist and not much of a traditionalist outside of Reasonable Doubt. He wouldn’t know what to do with a beat like Welcome To The Underground or Git Ready.

Not sure that’s fair Jay been around since 87 or so

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Head on a swivel, loaded lead in the nickel
The devil holding a sickle, wanna sever your tissue
That's forever the issue, then candlelight at a vigil
They say jail is both a rehab center and homeless shelter
And life and death is close as a tonic and seltzer
Never fold under pressure, give you my manifesto
Every man is a vessel, my son is my reflection
He from the highest heaven, I try not to possess him
Allow him to be tested
One day the words may come out the mouth of a reverend
"By the power vested in me," loud at his wedding
Give flowers while you can smell them, I try to tell him
All the diamonds and foreigns, all the finest of garments
It's really how it ends and not how it started
Filthy rich, scuba diving in your wealthy pockets
Louis, Prada, but health is my most valuable stock tip
Y'all 'bout to run things, to my young kings

GTFOH

 

[Stick Up Kid]

 

[Ziggiy]

I'd say 4:44 was daring. An unmastered, unrefined sound with a slower approach to his delivery and flow. Not really any bangers outside of Bam.

This is NOT traditional Jay.

I thought about 4:44. I wouldn’t call it “daring” in the sense that Light Years is in that Light Years REALLY goes for the gusto with the minimalism, some of these beats sound like Nas & Premo transported back to the 80’s on some Marley Marl Roxanne’s Revenge steeze. I can’t see Jay-Z making Pause Tapes or Writers.

 

[HNIC973]

Writers is special

 

[InGodWeTrust]

Sorry these Premiere beats are bland and uninspired.

 

[NormanConnors]

Punching in is not thinking what to rap next especially in Nas case. It’s more a breath control thing and a lot of the time it’s the engineers choice in newer music because they don’t find it aesthetically pleasing to hear breaths in the verse. It’s almost what I hate about newer music. It’s over engineered.

Excellent post. Some dudes that don't write anything down at all punch in damn near all of the time, but like you say Nas case is different/might be some engineer shyt because there is no issue rappin during shows and etc.

 

[T.H.E.GOD]

Writers is special

a majority of dudes here don’t know what he meant by keep “bombing”.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

I just heard "Shine Together" playing out of someone's car.

 

[TripleAgent]

The IG story about choosing your circle carefully.

That? Iono

https://twitter.com/SlimGoodie10STP/status/1999689155346072032

Them Titties

She SMOKED that. Dope if the women that can rap rap do similar. This is a high bar though.

This is better than the intro? Yes And the az track? Arguable

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Nas isn't detailed anymore

Nas 2 years ago

yeah, that's big CAP

 

[MikeStamina]

Depends

Of the original songs being sampled are classics that still bring in a lot of publishing revenue then the artists/rights holders probably don’t care much.

All of those OG songs Puffy was just blatantly sampling in the 90’s still get play today off their own merit. And not every song sampled is going to end up like Gangsta’s Paradise and be a super hit song.

We're not having the same discussion chief

Most hip hop samples are from obscure records....

And since estates have started playing hardball with the percentages, rap producers are sampling less. To me, that doesn't seem smart for business

 

[HNIC973]

I'd say 4:44 was daring. An unmastered, unrefined sound with a slower approach to his delivery and flow. Not really any bangers outside of Bam.

This is NOT traditional Jay.

thanks for reminding me how ass this album was

 

[Mike Wins]

thanks for reminding me how ass this album was

"I coulda bought a place in DUMBO before it was DUMBO
For like two million, same building today is worth 25 million
Guess how I'm feeling? Dumbo!"

Clady: Hov made us have a conversation about investing

 

[Cladyclad]

"I coulda bought a place in DUMBO before it was DUMBO
For like two million, same building today is worth 25 million
Guess how I'm feeling? Dumbo!"

Clady: Hov made us have a conversation about investing

I know this album ass when Jay Z is the topic now


that ass album sold 4x more the Nas last 8 albums combined