Official Nas Thread

[HNIC973]

No Stillmatic intro on that Complex top 100 either

 

[WhenWeWereKings]

different era of Nas fans because if you broke down his albums really none of them sound alike. Only I Am Nastradamus& LT1(for obvious reasons). Does Illmatic sound anything like IWW? people became fans of his during different time periods Illmatic IWW Stillmatic I Am even God's Son. Let's face it he lost a lot of people during the SD HHID Untitled era despite those albums moving units the general consensus was that wasn't what people really wanted from him at the time

I'm definitely one of the fans who grew lukewarm on Nas during the Street's Disciple, HHID & Untitled era.

They weren't necessarily bad albums but he seemed.....unfocused and uninspired during that era for the most part.

When Life's Good dropped i knew he was back and he's dropped consistent quality albums since imo. Nasir was the only misstep and that was a solid effort as well.

 

[HNIC973]

I'm definitely one of the fans who grew lukewarm on Nas during the Street's Disciple, HHID & Untitled era.

They weren't necessarily bad albums but he seemed.....unfocused and uninspired during that era for the most part.

When Life's Good dropped i knew he was back and he's dropped consistent quality albums since imo. Nasir was the only misstep and that was a solid effort as well.

I remember being so disappointed in SD & HHID particularly (especially with the gems left off both albums ) unfocused albums all over the place

 

[kes929]

I'm definitely one of the fans who grew lukewarm on Nas during the Street's Disciple, HHID & Untitled era.

They weren't necessarily bad albums but he seemed.....unfocused and uninspired during that era for the most part.

When Life's Good dropped i knew he was back and he's dropped consistent quality albums since imo. Nasir was the only misstep and that was a solid effort as well.

Streets Disciple, they just left off way too many songs that could have made those albums better. Although it has highlights. Hip Hop is Dead for that title alone needed to be a staple in his catalog. Has highlights as well, but that album could be harder. I personally love untitled, but that subject matter isn’t for everyone.

 

[Primetime21]

I'm definitely one of the fans who grew lukewarm on Nas during the Street's Disciple, HHID & Untitled era.

They weren't necessarily bad albums but he seemed.....unfocused and uninspired during that era for the most part.

Kelis

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

different era of Nas fans because if you broke down his albums really none of them sound alike. Only I Am Nastradamus& LT1(for obvious reasons). Does Illmatic sound anything like IWW? people became fans of his during different time periods Illmatic IWW Stillmatic I Am even God's Son. Let's face it he lost a lot of people during the SD HHID Untitled era despite those albums moving units the general consensus was that wasn't what people really wanted from him at the time

The sd hhid untitled era was tough for nas ( and jay for that matter) because for the first time ny was no longer the center of hip hop. The south took over and ny rappers didn't really know how to sound. Add to that that Nas and Jay were on their thirties, being the first rappers at that age with ll to still be charting and active. They were trying to figure out how to age gracefully and cope with the youger generation. It's not a coincidence that both of them where having issues with the state of hip hop at the time.
As for Nas, his AnR issue where he left way to many gems on the side hurted him a lot. Especially for SD and Untitled, those albums could have been way better

I remember being so disappointed in SD & HHID particularly (especially with the gems left off both albums ) unfocused albums all over the place

That and to me I was disappointed in each release because I was waiting for the Primo collab, and the fact that Preem wasn't even producing in any of this joints made me mad at that time

Streets Disciple, they just left off way too many songs that could have made those albums better. Although it has highlights. Hip Hop is Dead for that title alone needed to be a staple in his catalog. Has highlights as well, but that album could be harder. I personally love untitled, but that subject matter isn’t for everyone.

Yep. You could not drop an album called Hip Hop is dead and then have the same producer list as the Game, like super generic and uninspired with the usual Kanye, Cool and Dre, Khalid, Dr Dre ect.
And I hated to this day the title track. Not only taking the same sample as thief's theme but in a goofier version and the clip was horrible. I didn't care about the "symbolism", the execution was trash. Same thing with Who killed it.
Untitled too, I was waiting for a more pro black album but there were tracks that didn't fit in like Hero and Breathe. The production was hit or miss during that time, no more street bangers and that's where Nas lost a lot of people. We had to wait until LIG to finally be satisfied with the production. It's not a coincidence that theses albums are at the bottom of his discography, they were not bad, but mid Nas albums

 

[Piff Perkins]

Which is interesting. Do you think that dynamic comes down to the following reasons. People just stopping liking the music, the artistic risk he took (because Nas always wanted to try new things), media purposely trying to downplay him and lower his worth to elevate others, dumbing down of society because let’s be honest Nas isn’t the cup of tea for many because he isn’t a cookie cutter MC, or maybe it’s a combination of all those things. It always felt like Nas was fighting forces behind the scenes. The media was after Nas after his first album, complaining about it was written. No other MC had to battle that. Nas also never seemed to run towards the hot artist at the time either.

It varies but I think if there's a consensus it's that a lot of people who had issues with the albums between God's Son and Untitled. There was anti-Nas slander before then obviously but that's where it was the loudest. From the "Nas picks bad beats" convos to Bryon Crawford's bullshyt. Even on SOHH with all the Dipset stans who used to go to war on this shyt. A lot of people complained about those albums to varying degrees. Whereas I think we all recognize that Life Is Good was praised not just by critics but also by Nas fans, casual fans, etc.

I also think part of it was just artistic direction. The amount of bangers decreased, people wanted him to work with specific producers, the singles from SD-Untitled weren't well received (compared to 94-02 singles) etc.

 

[Collateral]

Yall saw this? Nas was on his ‘96 Pac shyt

 

[ThirdAct]

At this point you need a top 200 Nas songs list because 100 isn't enough

 

[Big Mark]

The crazy thing is Nas has a good 5-10 unreleased songs that would crack hit top 100 and possibly the top 50. Here are a few that I believe are better than some of those top 100.

Rise and Fall
My Worst Enemy Is Me (Sold to Sizla)
De Ja Vu (verse sold to Raekwon/Wu)
What It is
Good Morning
Talk of NY
Queens nikkas
Among Kings
MC Burial

 

[Nostalgic]

Ready to see the GOAT tonight.

 

[kes929]

Nas and Hit Boy were cooking on this album

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

The crazy thing is Nas has a good 5-10 unreleased songs that would crack hit top 100 and possibly the top 50. Here are a few that I believe are better than some of those top 100.

Rise and Fall
My Worst Enemy Is Me (Sold to Sizla)
De Ja Vu (verse sold to Raekwon/Wu)
What It is
Good Morning
Talk of NY
Queens nikkas
Among Kings
MC Burial

Foul breeze
Star Wars
Legendary

 

[Nostalgic]

Noticed once that Diddy shyt popped off, Nas has stopped performing Hate Me Now, which is a little bit sad because that's a very key song in his career.

 

[kes929]

Noticed once that Diddy shyt popped off, Nas has stopped performing Hate Me Now, which is a little bit sad because that's a very key song in his career.

Oh nah he gotta keep that in the playlist. If he wants to remove the diddy part he can.