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

[TheDarceKnight]

Personally thought better of the coli than your random casuals

Nas aint delivering any verses as intricate as his previous work with Premier, you can tell he doesnt have time to read as much as he used to, hes not as poignant or interesting as an mc as his prime but Chris is supposed to deliver ALL TIMERS HISTORY OF RAP LEVEL INSTRUMENTALS ?!

Speaking of Detox, he did much better than Pictionary or whatever that weed plate of Snoop and Dre album was called

This is a very dope project for me from these two in 2026 and feel its unfair how Premier is treated BASED ON THE QUALITY OF THIS.

Thank God for those 347 albums by the pound beats per year Alchemist is putting out otherwise what would we even listen to...

Peace to everybody cause these are LIGHT years, guess i need to enjoy things for myself and keep it moving...

I think this is kind of unfair. I really don't think most people that are let down by Primo on here are people that expected him to drop an "all time classic" performance. Maybe 1 or 2 people might be trolling with that take, but bro I'm a Primo STAN and I've got thousands of Primo songs, vinyls, rarities, and make an effort to get everything he's ever produced. I'm well aware he's well past his prime, and I was not expecting an all time classic album here.

But I did expect to like the beats on here as much as the 17 joints he already dropped for De La, Roc Marci, and Ransom this calendar year, and I like 13 of those 17 more than most of the ones on here. And the Primo beats in 2025 aren't being held to an insane standard, either. I think a lot of Primo fans are holding him to a very attainable and reasonable standard.

And to be clear I think his production on the back half of Light Years is a lot better than the first half.

 

[Awesome Wells]

Imma just say this, I love this album. Reason why I didn't want them to do a full album is what's happening now. It was always gonna be Preme dated and/or this should have been done 30 years ago. Granted I wasn't feeling Preme over the last years, but that had more to do with who he was working with. I'm not in to rappers like Royce, Ransom or Roc Marci.. can they rap? Fuhk yeah..just not interested. Preme came through for me. Yall can feel how yall feel, but I aint discussing this album on here wit yall. Yall begged for years for it. Ungrateful ass nyggas.

Preem came through for me too.

But I'm also someone that's been f*cking with his catalogue since I was a kid, in '89. Been a Nas fan since '91. So my expectations and standard for these two dudes is ridiculously high. This album is exactly what I wanted from them. At first, I was nervous, but I was told to chill and just wait and listen. I was lucky enough to hear the earlier version of the project, and the finished version. The concepts for the album and ideas they said they were working on months ago, all came out masterfully.

Beyond happy with this album! They killed this sh*t.

 

[TripleAgent]

It's not bad. It's good but it's not what WE wanted

This sums it up.

The highs are INCREDIBLE, the rest is good. I knew I wasn't getting a bunch of Nas Is Likes and Come Get Mes, but that's the type of Premo joints I wanted. Feels like Kings Disease or Magic with better beats and scratching.

NYSOM3 (the verse parts), Nasty Esco Nasir , My Story Your Story (WOW that was good, I want a Nas/AZ album again), Madman, Junkie and 3rd Childhood were fire to me.

I will say, CONTENT wise, this is an easy 10/10. Nas didn't waste a single bar. A love letter to Hip-Hop.

Off one listen, I'd give it 4 mics.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

It was the Bumpy Knuckles LP. They did an EP together too before the full LP. The Blaq Poet album had a few tracks on it that Preemo didn't produce. Even the NYGz album wasn't 100% Preemo production.

Blaqprint had 13 out of 15 songs produced by Primo. It's fair to call it a Primo produced album. I mean Primo didn't even produce 2 of the songs on Moment of Truth but people call that a Primo album. RZA didn't produce all of Liquid Sowrds or Ironman or Return to 36 and people consider those RZA albums.

 

[New Jeruzalem Journalist]

The comparison to a Jeru album is on point. Some of this shyt does remind me of Wrath Of The Math.

NYSOM3 sounds like a rejected Big Shug track. After my second run through of the album I still love it. Only one misstep is that song.

Woulda been dope to hear an unheard Guru verse on here.

 

[L. Deezy]

Preem came through for me too.

But I'm also someone that's been f*cking with his catalogue since I was a kid, in '89. Been a Nas fan since '91. So my expectations and standard for these two dudes is ridiculously high. This album is exactly what I wanted from them. At first, I was nervous, but I was told to chill and just wait and listen. I was lucky enough to hear the earlier version of the project, and the finished version. The concepts for the album and ideas they said they were working on months ago, all came out masterfully.

Beyond happy with this album! They killed this sh*t.

I agree bro..

 

[Awesome Wells]

He definitely did....Wrath Of Math was a step down from rise in da East but it was still fire.

Wrath of the Math was right there with TSRITE. Production-wise.

He worked on that at the same time he did Livin' Proof. That was Primo in his prime. During that stretch, I don’t think bro made one weak beat. I have those three albums tied. That's how dope they were, to me. He couldn't lose back then.

 

[White City Black]

Damn I aint really been up on X what have the people been saying ? Mixed reactions like on here? Love it or hate it?

Generally people like to love it. Very few straight up dislike it. But in regards to production some saying “I wanted to love this, but this ain’t it” “Nas needs Hit Boy back what is this?” “Premo is washed” No one is faulting Nas at all, he showed up and showed out!

I honestly feel Premo showed up as well, majority of our various reactions are based on our own expectations and perceptions

 

[Tetris v2.0]

Production is clearly getting discussed lol

How do we feel about Nas lyrical performance on here sitting in his catalog?? Almost every joint is conceptual or has a clear theme to it, not just 1-2 songs

My favorite after Illmatic and IWW was Life Is Good. He killed that album imo

 

[Makavalli]

junkie should be a single at some point.... it has a radio friendly vibe... i think it could get a few spins...

The beat is haunting and is peak nas metaphor storytelling. I could picture it visually being in a dark crackhouse and switching between a NA meeting in a Church basement with violonist playing on the church stage

 

[MikeStamina]

People may take this the wrong way and say “everyone has their own idea of what a Nas/ Premo album should sound like and they shouldn’t” but an article like this framing what the album is conceptually prior to its release would have steered expectations to what this album was going to do: A tribute and love story about hip hop particularly hip hop of the late 80s and early 90s

Instead everyone has come in due to no promo of different visions for the album. Again no one should assume they’ll get what they expect but lot of negativity may have not been there if people knew “ok these guys going to do some real throwback stuff’ and if we’re being honest some of the stuff on Light Years is pre Illmatic in its influences and style

So the album cover didn't give people this clue??? lol

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Best I heard Premo in years

 

[New Jeruzalem Journalist]

Blaqprint had 13 out of 15 songs produced by Primo. It's fair to call it a Primo produced album. I mean Primo didn';t even produce 2 of the songs on Moment of Truth but people call that a Primo album. RZA didn't produce all of Liquid Sowrds or Ironman or Return to 36 and people consider those RZA albums.

Fair enough. Livin Proof wasn't even 100% Preemo and that's generally considered his magnum opus.

The one Preemo heavy album that gets lost in the sauce is Firing Squad. He had a good 6 or 7 beats on that album and every last one of them was flames. Even the intro with the samples and talking was heat.

 

[FunkDoc1112]

That was definitely the point where his sound changed afterwards

He still had great placements consistently but we didn't really get a full project from him for a while, was it Blaq Po's solo in like 09?? Or the Bumpy Knuckles joint that featured Nas? Can't remember

A lot of guys changed from hardware and their whole studio setup and mastering process seemed to change in the 00s

Premo still uses the MPC60 to this day

 

[Awesome Wells]

Generally people like to love it. Very few straight up dislike it. But in regards to production some saying “I wanted to love this, but this ain’t it” “Nas needs Hit Boy back what is this?” “Premo is washed” No one is faulting Nas at all, he showed up and showed out!

I honestly feel Premo showed up as well, majority of our various reactions are based on our own expectations and perceptions

Truth.

Preem definitely showed up. He brings out the best in Nas. There is no other producer who gets Nas rapping out of his mind, like this. They actually sat down and came up with the concepts together and built the structure for these joints together. So Nas directed Preem on what he needed production-wise and they came up with every detail. Which is why I think Nas sounds so fired up!

One of the OG's just said on IG that Nas ain't rap like this consistently, since the 90's. And he's right!