Papoose: Nas Greatness gets downplayed because....

[Taadow]

Faneto by Chief Keef ain’t a hit ?

Where did it chart?

 

[ISO]

Where did it chart?

It didn’t and it would be foolish to not call it a hit

 

[Taadow]

It didn’t and it would be foolish to not call it a hit

If it didn’t chart then it wouldn’t be “foolish” to not call it a hit, it would be “correct”.


The fact that I don’t know the song you’re talking about would back that up.

 

[ISO]

The fact that I don’t know the song you’re talking about would back that up.

Nah that means you’re

Dreams & Nightmares by Meek not a hit?

 

[Wild self]

Nas=Carmelo Anthony

HOFer but not in that tier above him
With Hov, Big, Pac

That is how Max B thinks.

But the truth is that Nas won multiple 'chips in his profession, unlike Melo.

 

[Taadow]

Dreams & Nightmares by Meek not a hit?

Did it chart?

 

[Deltron]

If it didn’t chart then it wouldn’t be “foolish” to not call it a hit, it would be “correct”.


The fact that I don’t know the song you’re talking about would back that up.

I kinda see what @ISO is saying...but I think "hit" might be the wrong word.

like take ...according to billboard (2Pac | Billboard, Ambitionz.... didn't chart until 2017...but you couldn't tell me growing up that shyt wasn't a hit...bay radio played the fukk outta it...also heard it in LA too.

 

[ISO]

Did it chart?

Wasn’t even a single

Yet it was played at every black function for 10 years straight

 

[Taadow]

Wasn’t even a single

Yet it was played at every black function for 10 years straight

Just because it wasn’t a single doesn’t mean it didn’t chart...

...did it chart?

 

[Taadow]

I kinda see what @ISO is saying...but I think "hit" might be the wrong word.

I know what he’s saying, too; but that’s exactly my point - “hit” is the wrong word in this case,
because that actually means something specific.

A song can be a classic/landmark/standard, but not be a “hit”.

Nas has a few hits,
but he has a lot of songs in this particular realm, that are not “hits”.

 

[Wacky D]

You definitely living up to your name.

HARD TRUTHS.

hes pushed as this undisputed top 5 rapper but if you anonymously look at his portfolio, he could easily be mistaken for a top 20 rap artist instead.

not a popular opinion on here. this is Nas country. i get it. but thats real talk.

 

[Wacky D]

That is how Max B thinks.

But the truth is that Nas won multiple 'chips in his profession, unlike Melo.

nas only really has that one undisputed classic - and it didnt sell well in real-time.
everything after illmatic has been hit-or-miss, depending on who you ask.

as for the max b thing, did max say something about this, or are you referring to the "im biggie, jigga & pac" thing??

 

[Wild self]

nas only really has that one undisputed classic - and it didnt sell well in real-time.
everything after illmatic has been hit-or-miss, depending on who you ask.

as for the max b thing, did max say something about this, or are you referring to the "im biggie, jigga & pac" thing??

His name.

But how many lyrical club records came from NY, post-June 2003 when Lil Jon dropped "Get Low"? Not many. You cant judge Nas on hit records post-southern invasion of the radio, because their formula of a hit record is a direct contradiction of Nas's foundation of poetic lyricism.

 

[Bed$tuy]

It’s over when I say it’s over bytch!

Eat a dikk

 

[Piff Perkins]

All we have from Nas’s feud with Def Jam is the email he sent that got leaked. According to the email his record sales weren’t the issue with Lost Tapes budget. The issue was



1). Nas wanted Lost Tapes 2 to be more than simply a collection of “Lost Tapes” from the vault. Nas was trying to get Pete Rock, Alchemist, and other producers to make songs SPECIFICALLY for the Lost Tapes 2. He wanted an album budget for what was understood to be a smaller compilation


2). Def Jam didn’t want Lost Tapes 2 to count towards the album agreement that Nas owed them. They gave him a “freebie” when Distant Relatives was released via Universal Republic and didn’t want to give him another one.


Whats funny is that Lost Tapes 2 ended up coming out pretty much as Nas’s original vision. The Pete Rock and Alchemist tracks made it on there, and of course released singles and shot videos. Of course 2019 is a different time period than 2010.



I get the strategy on Nas’s end. He did the same thing with the first Lost Tapes in 02. Drop the compilation, which tends to be more laid back and lyrical, to satisfy the “trapped in the 90’s nikkas”. Then drop the REAL album a few months later to feed everybody. Its a great strategy.




Now again i don’t look at Nas’s email and think that Def Jam was mad at the sales of his previous two solo albums and didn’t want to release it. If anything it seems like Def Jam wanted to save the “real album” budgets for the albums that would produce new material and “count” towards what Nas owed them. When Life Is Good dropped he got at the very least as good of a marketing push as he did for Untitled and Hip Hop Is Dead. He got FOUR videos out of that album, bunch of promo interviews, that big ass poster in time square, etc.

I see both sides. I would have given a bigger budget, but not counted it as an album. Maybe that could have been a good compromise. 1mil for it as a project, do some underground type shyt with the marketing instead of a big affair, etc.

RIAA accounting is as close to a scam as there is. All the labels are playing games, smoke and mirrors etc. Despite all that...the fact that Nas constantly managed to sign good deals for himself is a testament to him. From the Columbia deal to Def Jam, he’s made bank. And while we haggle over record sales and hits...I can’t help but think of a certain artist from Harlem who signed to Bad Boy and had more hits and a bigger selling album...but didn’t see a dime from it. I’d rather see artists win than labels win.