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

[Mike Wins]

The truth is somewhere in the middle.

Being able to make dense, complex lyricism palatable for the masses IS a skill, something that Biggie and Jay are probably the GOATs at. Nas' limitations with this has always been pretty exaggerated...but he is Hit Or Miss at it; for every If I Ruled The World he has a Dr. Knockout, a lot of "Whut da hell is a Polar Bear doin in Arlington, Texas???" moments...dont make me run back the "Nas has weird sex bars" thread

Of course, Nas' strengths are so strong that it makes it a moot point, but it is a leg up that Kendrick has on him.

For sure which is why I think BIG is the best total package () rapper ever. Because his rap skill combined with versatility, natural charisma and skill with hooks was crazy. But he also had Puff in his corner who was a genius at making hits. And Puff had to pressure BIG to make songs like Juicy, Big Poppa and One More Chance. Jay at his commercial peak had the best hip hop label execs with Kevin Liles and Lyor Cohen in his corner and one of the best A&R with Hip Hop.

Nas natural mode was always darker, weirder and more abrasive than Jay especially but he also never had the elite hip hop execs and label team behind him. Still when he had label support and cared to play the game he consistently had big hits on hip hop radio, MTV and BET.

 

[Cladyclad]

I don't know about his worst album ever though, that's probably Hip Hop Is Dead or SD

The best song on here not top 10 on those albums

 

[spliz]

The worst you can say about Jay is he dumbs it down too much but Ghetto Techno and the Ha remix are probably the only times he actually looked unnatural and out of place, and the latter can probably be chalked up more to regionalism than commercial limitations

Jay has made FAR more corny songs than that. Look at fukkin Tom Ford. Look at that pretentious ass Picasso Baby. S.Carter on Vol 3. I Know What Girls Like. Let’s not play man.

 

[VegetasHairline]

The mentally ill bozo bots have arrived.

 

[MikeStamina]

I swear these naysayer posts be having a hint of people trying to convince you to love Nas less. (Blueprint 2) When will they accept their fate


lol

 

[FunkDoc1112]

I'm not from NY. I'm from the south. Dissing NY rhetoric does nothing to me . Even if you diss a lot of this silly southern shyt, I'd agree with you. . Kendrick is a global icon now more concerned with his white/female fanbase than anything else. The same shyt yall dissed drake for(and I've never heard a Drake album in my life and plan on never listening to one), is everything he desired to become.. It's 50 cent/Ja rule all over again. If you can accept Kendrick dumbing down his songs to a 3rd grade level and singing on every other track, why couldn't yall accept it when Drake was doing it?

You're getting caught up in the wrong shyt dude, I was simple pointing to an example of a similar weird regional thing from a different area as a parallel to what Kendrick did on that verse, not trying to mock it

 

[up in here]

This is an album that people will probably go back to and appreciate down the line.

They Light Years ahead

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

The worst you can say about Jay is he dumbs it down too much but Ghetto Techno and the Ha remix are probably the only times he actually looked unnatural and out of place, and the latter can probably be chalked up more to regionalism than commercial limitations

He has a lot of misses on vol 1 vol 3 and dynasty. not to mention only american gangster was worth him coming out of retirement

 

[FunkDoc1112]

Dr Knockboot is a problem. But Biggie can make Player Hater? Other nikkas can make songs and joke n shyt like that but it’s a problem when Nas does it? Nas has written some of the greatest hip hop songs ever created. There’s no “middle” way about it.

Difference is Playa Hater is funny while Dr. Knockboot is awkward. You dont get points for the attempt.

"Nas has written some of the greatest hip hop songs ever" has zilch to do with this conversation. Like I said, Nas has strengths so high that the weaknesses arent a big deal...but he DOES have weaknesses, that being one of them. Its okay.

 

[head shots101]

lol nikkaz in here saying Kenny is better than nas at anything is fukking

 

[spliz]

Difference is Playa Hater is funny while Dr. Knockboot is awkward. You dont get points for the attempt.

"Nas has written some of the greatest hip hop songs ever" has zilch to do with this conversation. Like I said, Nas has strengths so high that the weaknesses arent a big deal...but he DOES have weaknesses, that being one of them. Its okay.

Songwriting ain’t a nikka weakness when he has songs in the fukking Smithsonian. U nikkas gotta be kidding. Songwriting ain’t only about “hit records”. And actually. Alotta nikkas on the streets thought Dr Knockboot was funny. U not even old to enough to remember. U just see a narrative getting regurgitated over and over and now u repeating it. Nas has weaknesses. Songwriting ain’t one of em. That’s like saying Kendrick has a songwriting weakness cause Drake has a million more hits than the nikka.

 

[up in here]

You know cats is on some hater shyt they bringing up "Dr Knock boot" and "You Owe Me" lol

And by the way "You Owe Me" is a classic and still goes hard. fukk what you think.

 

[Peak]

Put it here

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

Songwriting ain’t a nikka weakness when he has songs in the fukking Smithsonian. U nikkas gotta be kidding. Songwriting ain’t only about “hit records”. And actually. Alotta nikkas on the streets thought Dr Knockboot was funny. U not even old to enough to remember. U just see a narrative getting regurgitated over and over and now u repeating it. Nas has weaknesses. Songwriting ain’t one of em. That’s like saying Kendrick has a songwriting weakness cause Drake has a million more hits than the nikka.

Exactly. You don't have a 34-year career if you can't write songs in hip hop. . A lot of the guys in this thread(not all) weren''t even alive when Illmatic dropped talking about Nas is washed and can't write songs and his career is older than they are.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

Songwriting ain’t a nikka weakness when he has songs in the fukking Smithsonian. U nikkas gotta be kidding. Songwriting ain’t only about “hit records”. And actually. Alotta nikkas on the streets thought Dr Knockboot was funny. U not even old to enough to remember. U just see a narrative getting regurgitated over and over and now u repeating it. Nas has weaknesses. Songwriting ain’t one of em. That’s like saying Kendrick has a songwriting weakness cause Drake has a million more hits than the nikka.

You saw what that guy was saying earlier? I gave him examples of great Nas songs and his reply was "great songwriting appeals to the masses." What kind of insane mindset is that? When did a hip hop song need to appeal to middle-aged suburban moms to be considered great?

Then he quoted lyrics from "Heaven" forgetting that Nas had two hits from the same album he quoted.

I'm done. There's no saving these idiots.