“Nas Album Done,” for me, at least, is a stark - and enticing - reminder on simply how Nas was born to clutch five fingers on a microphone and deliver instantaneous poetry each time out. Harboring back to 2012’s Life is Good, the Large Professor reunion “Locomotive” garnered all sorts of Illmatic 2K hyperbole and this year’s “March Madness” redux also exploded throughout the Internet. Watching the reactions on this Nas track, the biggest question being tossed around is, “When is the last time Nas has come this hard?” I’ve attended this rodeo before and I have the answer just like Khaled Khaled has the keys: The last time he released a record. Trent Clarkĭistance makes the heart grow fonder, indeed. The verse starts off hitting with some “Broken Language” levels of self-definition and an almost Camp Lo “Luchini”-esque braggadocio, but Nas and Khaled time the lyrics so that the most important message is the most impactful, landing “the racial economic inequality, let’s try to solve it” as the beat takes a momentary breath.Ĭlassic Shit? Timeless? Forever? Iconic? Probably not (partly because of Khaled’s echoey voice saying those very words to bookend the track) but still good enough that I’ve listened to it five times in the last hour and that it has me excited that Nas’ album is done. The song is one of only four solo tracks on the album, with the other three featuring Drake, J. Nas rides the beat expertly and the verse is strong enough that he’s able to carry the track by himself. Khaled taking an MC and a hook from the good old days and fusing them with a more current drum sound and big bass worked for me here. The Score came out between Illmatic and It Was Written and all were part of the same critically and commercially successful East Coast sound of the time.
There’s something symbolic about DJ Khaled using the hook from The Fugees’ 1996 classic “Fu-Gee-La” - itself a nod to Teena Marie’s 1988 track - on a song featuring Nas. “I’m assisting to push the culture forward/To all my go supporters, go support us / Like a local black-owned grocery store / Cause in the hood shit ain’t passed down through blood.” Now that’s a major key. Of course, Nas leaves something to stick to your ribs. “Last time I checked I was still breathing / My neck was still freezing, now everybody got an Escobar Season.”īraggadocio isn’t the only mode, thankfully.
#Nasir album review hiphopdx full
“Now everywhere all I see is Pablo, Esco,” Nasir delivers effortlessly, flowing like a fountain full of subliminals. We knew everyone borrowed the baby-on-the-album-cover motif. From Fugees sample to fly conclusion, this is best Nasir offering since “A Message To Y’all Feds…” Call this one, “A Message To All Heads.” All the elements are there: Social consciousness, obligatory Africa shout out, godbody bars embodying his rap godliness. “A divine leader / Shine brighter / Bonita-mami-meeter / Line sniffer / Never / Poetic rhyme writer / chiefer…” Yeezus… Nas ain’t been this nasty since ‘96. Read below to see DX Staff analysis and by all means, give us your feedback on the track in the comment section. The two unlikely collaborators aren’t all that unlikely (see the titular track from Khaled’s 2010 album, Victory) and given that the veteran Miami DJ is all about anthemic material, the record takes Nas out of the musical element he’s carved his legacy in. Thanks to the shrewd marketing genius of DJ Khaled and his We the Best Music team, a new Nas album has not only been announced through the release of the highly publicized Major Key album, it also has been revealed that it is completed. An album announcement from a Hip Hop legend will inevitably generate interest within the community to the highest degree.
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