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

[Awesome Wells]

You're the perfect person to speak on it as a Griselda fan. I don't know anybody who fukks with those Beat Butcha tracks. Sure the first one was cool. But after Dr. Birds his beats have literally been imitating that sound nonstop. It's like a child sitting on piano keys and rocking back and forth.

Nah, fam.

Beat Butcha's sh*t has always been dope for Griselda. The sound they had going for years, and still do, is what brought back the love for Boom Bap. It's why Big Daddy Kane, RZA, Erick Sermon, Jay-Z and the OG's all give the respect. They brought back that feeling we missed from 30 years ago.



Sh*t like this never left heavy rotation! Daringer has co-produced a lot of heat with him too.

 

[MikeStamina]

NAH


that just means alot of people are crazy and have a hard time with nas trying new things


thats just me tho

Somebody has explained this before. I forgot who...one of these hip hop podcast guys

He said something to the effect of...Everybody wants their own version of Nas that they like.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Nah, fam.

Beat Butcha's sh*t has always been dope for Griselda. The sound they had going for years, and still do, is what brought back the love for Boom Bap. It's why Big Daddy Kane, RZA, Erick Sermon, Jay-Z and the OG's all give the respect. They brought back that feeling we missed from 30 years ago.



Sh*t like this never left heavy rotation! Daringer has co-produced a lot of heat with him too.

I fukk with that beat. As I said, post Dr Birds there are some that are dope but MOST just sound derivative as fukk now.

 

[Ziggiy]

 

[MurderToCassette]

Facts.

A lot of this sounds like Preem's sh*t from '91. The night we heard the joint, somebody said the approach sounded a lot like "Precisely The Right Rhymes" from Step In The Arena. And we were all like...

That's why I say, if you're a true Gang Starr or Preem fan, you know he hasn't strayed from what he's always done. But a lot of people only know "Nas Is Like", and haven't f*cked with enough of Preem's catalogue.

This is what I meant in my earlier post when I said this album had the same feel of an old Gang Starr joint. Preem making beats to align with themes of a track. The style he's using here reminds me of Step In The Arena and Daily Operation too. Cats saying they wanted the Preemo beats but forget when he was flipping Leo Sayer and sampling glasses of water pouring

 

[Mr. Manhattan]

bro this beat sucks

 

[Awesome Wells]

I fukk with that beat. As I said, post Dr Birds there are some that are dope but MOST just sound derivative as fukk now.

Huh?



That MF been making ALL bangers for the camp. "Dr. Birds" was like 6 years ago. That dude has been blessing Griselda with heat nonstop every project he's been on. Why would he change what he's good at? This is exactly the kinda sh*t I want him to make every time out. I don’t want anything else from dude.

 

[Supa]

You're the perfect person to speak on it as a Griselda fan. I don't know anybody who fukks with those Beat Butcha tracks. Sure the first one was cool. But after Dr. Birds his beats have literally been imitating that sound nonstop. It's like a child sitting on piano keys and rocking back and forth.

He makes great drums breaks but I don't care for anything else he does. They don't work with him much but they do use his breaks.

The problem with sample packs is that you get a bunch of session musicians in a room and they start playing shyt they think could be sampled. It's not a real jam section in most cases. So you get really slow music that has no rhythm or groove to it. And then you get slow rap records. The other side of the coin...you get really good musicians who are just replicating a sound. That's why I don't fukk with Adrian Younge's shyt. Yes he makes jazz albums I love. But when producers (including Premo) sample his fake 1970s imitation shyt it sounds wack. Because there is no real rhythm to it. You can't just imitate Motown and call it a day. It's impossible.

I don't like Adrian Younge either. It's a hollow imitation that completely misses the personality of 70's music.

The thing with sample packs is you have to use ones that feel like actual music. If it's a full composition with some keys, strings, bassline, etc it's going to sound full when sampled and allow you to flip it instead of just drag and dropping a loop.

You can go to :34 and see what Hit Boy did:


That loop just feel flat and he didn't do anything to beef it up. It's just taking a shortcut instead of putting in some actual work.

Conductor uses sample packs a lot but he chooses the right ones, chops them, and adds some grit so you can't always tell if it's a real sample or not.

 

[C-Styles]

This is as much as a Nas produced album as it is Premier, Nas basically dropped some jewels in the interview where he even admitted that he had a lot of say in how he wanted the beats constructed plus the SCRATCHES. Nas literally customized how he wanted Preemo to do this sh*t. So yall can keep in mind this is a co produced album with Nas.

 

[Awesome Wells]

This is what I meant in my earlier post when I said this album had the same feel of an old Gang Starr joint. Preem making beats to align with themes of a track. The style he's using here reminds me of Step In The Arena and Daily Operation too. Cats saying they wanted the Preemo beats but forget when he was flipping Leo Sayer and sampling glasses of water pouring

Truth.

At first, I didn't know what the concept was before the album dropped. But once it was explained, and I heard it, that's when it all made sense and took me right back to those early Gang Starr joints. I could definitely hear Guru on a lot of these beats on Light Years. This is like vintage Preem all over again. Gotta love that.

 

[Thatrogueassdiaz]

So people are really hating on this? Album probably the best thing he's put out in over 10 years.

 

[RaspberryFitted]

NYSOM Pt. 3 is my favorite in the weirdest way. I’m not a producer or have the best ear, but the drums sound weak. The Billy Joel sample feels like it lasts too long but I personally dislike songs will elongated samples.

But Nas’ rapping on this fr and string arrangement just works.

“If you was made in NY, and wouldn’t trade it till the day that you die, the most hated and I think we know why”

 

[Awesome Wells]

He makes great drums breaks but I don't care for anything else he does. They don't work with him much but they do use his breaks.



I don't like Adrian Younge either. It's a hollow imitation that completely misses the personality of 70's music.

The thing with sample packs is you have to use ones that feel like actual music. If it's a full composition with some keys, strings, bassline, etc it's going to sound full when sampled and allow you to flip it instead of just drag and dropping a loop.

You can go to :34 and see what Hit Boy did:


That loop just feel flat and he didn't do anything to beef it up. It's just taking a shortcut instead of putting in some actual work.

Conductor uses sample packs a lot but he chooses the right ones, chops them, and adds some grit so you can't always tell if it's a real sample or not.

FACTS!

Soul Surplus is actually decent because they give you stems. So if you're not lazy and can actually chop, you can create some sh*t that doesn't sound like anything from the pack, with just small pieces. HB will take the whole damn loop and does lazy sh*t. That's why his beats sound so thin. He's been heavy on the packs for like 13-14 years.

Conductor uses a million of the packs. Especially the Rucker Collective and Frank Dukes joints. But he's running a lot of them through analog gear, so his sh*t sounds a lot more full and gritty. Almost like he's sampling from vinyl. I collect a lot of the sample packs, for years, and I hear a lot of Conductor's sh*t he sampled when I listen to them. And I'm always like, "This MF right here!"

 

[Awesome Wells]

Album probably the best thing he's put out in over 10 years.

 

[FunkDoc1112]

To be fair I have too much respect for Marco Polo to call him some white boy. He's a legend, I respect him. My issue is twofold. I vividly remember nikkas clowning Hit Boy for sample packs during the KD run. Especially when he'd have horns in tracks. I vividly remember Pete Rock laughing about the sound being an imitation of the real thing. Even on this forum there was discussion about it. Can't remember the track but Hit Boy sampled a very basic, super common pack for one of the horns and dudes gave him a lot of shyt for it.

I don't fukk with most sample packs, which is why I can't stand a lot of modern Griselda shyt (Beat Butcha). I will say when it comes to white boys, Alchemist and Jake One have good drum kits. But it gets to my second issue: I don't think the sound translates well in a lot of rap music because it sounds static and lifeless. It rarely sounds like musicians are naturally jamming and being recorded - instead it sounds like guys are standing around playing what they think will work for rap. It's very glaring on this album. Like that AZ track where it seems like they're trying to interpolate/riff off some Nautilus type shyt and it just sounds lame as fukk. That's a Polo sample pack btw.

Yeah, like the sample that Hit-Boy used on Get Light - that was some song blatantly trying to imitate Heather by Billy Cobham (aka the 93 Til Infinity Sample) but it doesn't really have any of that same sauce cuz it's just an imitation of a section a very large piece of music.

Also I'm pretty certain Al and Jake's drum kits, at least the earliest ones they released, are literally just their sampled shyt from drum breaks but EQ'd a little bit. I'm very anti-drum kit though...unless it's hi-hats, sometimes finding the right sounding ones in breaks gets annoying as fukk