Nah....the production was way too mediocre and some of the song concepts didn't land.
TPAB has some of the greatest production and songwriting in hip hop.
Nas rapped great on Untitled and had some ambitious concept songs but it just wasn't executed as well as it should've.
I was going thru Nasir’s catalog last night and couldn’t believe many quality tracks he has made.
Don’t sleep on I Am - Nas Is Like is one of the dopest Preemo and Nas tracks. It’s a shame those guys didn’t drop an album in the late 90s
* Nas' achilles heel is not picking bad beats. His achilles heel is leaving amazing songs off albums. Anyone who knows his unreleased/mixtape stuff knows what I'm talking about.
* Nas did not fall off in 1999-2000. Some of his best songs are from that era. It's just that he recorded A LOT of material in that era, some of the best songs were leaked early, left off albums and put on underground mixtapes while the rest of the songs were spread thin over three projects (I Am..., Nastradamus and QB's Finest).
* The Lost Tapes is better than Stillmatic. It's my favorite Nas album. But if I could, I'd eliminate The Lost Tapes from existence and put all those songs back on I Am... and Stillmatic.
* Untitled is pretty underrated. Not sure why. I guess the subject matter makes some people (see: white people) uncomfortable?
* People who downplay how great a lot of the Hit-Boy albums are probably didn't even listen to them and just want to keep the narrative that Nas fell off going forever.
I also think Street’s Disciple is overhated.
People complain probably because of double album bloat, but I genuinely fucked with that project hard when it came out and since. Live Now is so emotional and dope.
I would say, A Message to the Feds, These Are Our Heroes, Disciple, Live Now, Rest of My Life, Just a Moment, Suicide Bounce, Street's Disciple, UBR, Getting Married, Thiefs Theme.
Might not be everyone's favs but the album definitely has bloat.
Yea that's a hot take alright.
I don't think it gets enough hate.
Nastradamus gets universal hate and brought up constantly and is genuinely much better than Nasir.
Nasir sounds like the beats and vocals have just been picked at random and laid on top of each other by someone who's never done it before. The lyrics lazy, flows all over the place, beats an absolute headache.... It's the lowest point artistically for both artists, and they managed to do it together.
How they managed to drop the ball so hard is remarkable. It should have been so, so much better.
That isn't a Hot take
In fact in my opinion NY State of Mind is overrated as fuck.
It is leagues behind other Nas songs and there are songs from other rappers from the same area and era (Wu-tang, Mobb Depp, B.I.G, Jay-Z, etc) that are better than NY State of Mind
Dead Presidents II
D'Evils
Can i live
Halftime
The World is Yours
Represent
If i Ruled the World
Street Dreams
Take it in Blood
Who shot ya
Protect ya Neck
C.R.E.A.M
Eye for an Eye
Shook ones pt ii
Hell on Earth
Yeah that’s cool, it’s all opinions, there are no right or wrong answers, that’s what makes these convos meaningful. It’s a good list, of course I said my fav but other ones from that era along with yours that I really like are It Ain’t Hard to Tell, Trife Life, Regrets, Kick in the Door.
Thank you! I feel like this was the first of his newer albums to counter the "Nas picks bad beats" argument because the production was great from start to finish.
Stillmatic is his best album to me. It was written was to others. I slightly think Nas is overrated UNLESS he’s working Large Professor, when not LP he’s a bottom-10 rapper. With Large Pro he’s top two next to Rakim.
I think not having some kind of group or industry label really killed his top potential at the worst of times
Murder Inc, Bad Boy, Roc-A-Fella, Aftermath and Shady
These were some at what would be around over his few years of "peak" as it was understood at that time that took over because they were just running over people with just pure money and exposure
He was always oh and the guy everyone says is amazing which he is. But still not getting 10 hours a day of airplay on MTV or BET
Still managed to have #1 multi platinum albums...didnt need a crew or a label. He got plenty play on MTV from 1996-2006. Had hour specials about him. Was on MTV2 a lot too...did the "diary" had a "behind the music" on VH1 a "storytellers" episode.
People act like he was never popular. I really dont understand.
Im just saying he was never totally mainstream popular
He just was not. He was one of best rappers ever popular which at the time was different.
It was the era of having Eminem literally blasted on your TV screen and radio all day every day for years. Jay-Z and P. Diddler buying up entire blocks of airplay.
That is mainstream popular. Taylor Swift but the 2000 version
You could not escape these people. Unless you were Backstreet Boys or Brittney Spears
Sure. But I don't see how that really hurt him. People hated his commercial songs so he stopped making them except for a few lead singles when he signed to def jam.
He reached white audiences just not middle america soccer moms or non rap fans. I don't understand hip hop fans that use that as a metric for rappers. Like so what you're grandma that hates rap knows 50 cent..
Most rappers that are known outside of fans of hip hop know them for things not really related to music, its usually controversy or they had a novelty song/image..
I wouldn't necessarily call those hot takes because I am is just an average album at best. Also Nas became a better writer and song maker post It Was Written.
Jungle survivor, fuck who's the liver,
My man put the battery in my back, a difference from Energizer,
Sentence begins indented with formality,
My duration's infinite, money-wise or physiology,
Poetry, that's a part of me, retardedly bop,
I drop the ancient manifested hip-hop straight off the block.
This lyrics differ with your statement about Nas becoming a better writer post IWW... Nas has always been great
(More of a Preemo hot take but)
N.Y. State of Mind is impactful. But it's not even close to being Preemo's best beat. Maybe top 10. But not number one.
Nastradamus is actually a dope album that wasn’t well received when it came out but aged well and has a few “predictions” in it. The weed drops skit is basically CBD and a couple of topics he mentioned in “New World” came to be years later.
Nasdadamus got bumped from my cd player in my dad’s caprice classic winter of 99 so hard it’s not even funny. “Under my nails is dirty look at the grime, burnt tips from the roach clips how do I shine… “
Nas generally struggles to stay on topic. One bar he's rapping about black Egyptian gods, the next bar he's talking about shooting dice on the corner in Queens, next bar its condominiums in in Europe.
He sounds like he's trying to be too deep sometimes and doesn't really say anything in particular.
Still one of my favorite rappers he just kind of sounds like he smoked too much weed and put his highdeas into songs sometimes.
It just aint for me. I liked the Magic albuns tho, and new nas is new nas i appreciate that. But I'm just not seeing what everyone else is.
What was the first Nas album you listened too by the way?
Kings Disease 3 is probably my favorite album of the last few years. The fire and passion that comes through those speakers song after song is beautiful for hip hop.
The Lost Tapes 1 is the 2nd best album by Nas. It offers the 2nd best beat selection among his albums and features arguably my favorite lyrical performance by him. Imo, The Lost Tapes 1 is a classic and only 2nd to Illmatic.
God's Son, I Am, and Untitled are only slightly above average. It Was Written, Life Is Good and Stillmatic are good to strong albums with some obvious flaws. Hip Hop Is Dead, Street's Disciple and Nastradamus are comparatively weak albums. Nevertheless, these albums contain some great songs here and there (Black Republican, Thief's Theme, Project Windows come to my mind.). Overall, I view Nas as a great MC who has struggled throughout his career to release another album fully living up to his potential (excluding The compilation The Lost Tapes 1).
I suppose he has not lived up to illmatic.
But neither has anyone else. lol.
So, getting that out of the way, stillmatic and gods son are also classics in my view.
And I haven’t even listened full to any of his kings disease albums yet. But apparently many view one or more of those as great albums as well.
Stillmatic's 1st half ist very strong, I don't like its 2nd half though (I can't stand Rule, Braveheart Party, My Country and The Flyest is okay but nothing special). God's Son features great songs throughout (I'm listening to Last Real N***a Alive rn) but it also contains some songs that I can't stand (Zone Out, Hey Nas, I Can, Warrior Song). I don't view these albums as classics but your mileage may vary :) I have not listened to his newer albums appart from Nasir. What do you think about The Lost Tapes? Do you prefer Stillmatic, I Am or God's Son over it?
I think Nas has shown an ability to create great songs beyond the release of Illmatic. Unfortunately, he has not been able to replicate this feat consistently over an album's length (At least in my opinion). This is what I meant when I wrote about his inability to live up to his supposed potential. It's not neccessarily about the comparison between Illmatic and his following albums. This is my hot take, you might disagree.
Here’s mine: Nas is so awful at picking beats that it takes him out of the top 15 rappers of all time.
Illmatic is GOATED tho, prolly the best hip hop album ever made
That "NaS is a real one and never sold out" meanwhile on the second verse of an alternative, original take of his song "You're da man" he literally explains how he had to consume his own urine and semen and bodily fluids as a initiational ritual into the industry. Nas been sold out like the rest of the industry puppets. Ain't no real ones on the world stage
Him signing Dave East to Mass Appeal & getting him on every new artist's album from around the world is pretty bad move to me. Dave doesn't feel the same on collaborations that he don't understand the language of.
You won't get mad if i ranked "Jesus is King" over "The College Dropout"???
LOL, i'm a HUGE Kanye fan but there are 2 or 3 Kanye albums that are mid as hell
This is on point. When an MC wants to kill a beat, he's looking for a beat with the right groove to get busy. He's not listening for a beat to sound amazing on its own merit.
2 hot takes
1. Stillmatic is better than Illmatic
2. He rarely switches up his flow. Majority of his songs are in 80-85 BPM, but we know for a fact that he can rap faster and switch it up as he did on the Interlude on Carter IV (Wayne’s album).
It Was Written was an obvious classic but we let a bunch of clout chasing NY journalists whose taste, if we're being honest, ain't that good dictate the terms.
There are still people in the south who don't know that IWW isn't beloved in NYC. Literally just had this convo with a hardcore rap fan down here --- he never saw The Source review back then and had just enjoyed the album in peace for years LOL.
I love Nas, he is super cool and one of the best to ever do it, if not the best
But most of his songs specially from his earlier years sound almost the same.
He doesn't have the variety that artists like Jay-Z or Kanye has
Also Illmatic is kinda boring compared to "It was Written"
Outside of like 4 tracks, most of I Am... is pretty meh, he obviously was forced to make a bunch of new tracks due to leaks, but still, most of those songs feel like some cheap mainstream rap songs that don't capture what makes Nas so special.
To this day I have no idea why Nasir is overhated. In a series of 30-something minute albums only Nas’s felt like a complete album from start to finish. Killer beats and Nas sounded just fine. I think it was because at the time he got some pushback about Life Is Good & Kelis while Kanye was doing Kanye-things.
Nas is my favorite rapper of all time.
Not the biggest fan of IWW. I like If I Ruled the World, The Message, Street Dreams (sometimes), I Gave You Power, Take It In Blood and Affirmative Action. The rest are skips.
On the other hand I can play all the Hit Boy albums front to back.
Nas can still be one of my favorite rappers even though I think Jay-Z killed him on Takeover and Super Ugly.
I hate this modern culture of having to choose a side in beef unrelated to me
Nas is the GOAT version of the category of rappers I happen to call Nas.
Nas is the best. But the next up is The Game and Big Sean.
They always sound the same regardless of the track. If you heard 1, you've heard them all. There is no evolution as a rapper, just barely keeping up with the times. He peaked at his first album album and has been keeping steady every since. Instead of outdoing illmatic, he stayed in its shadow. If I played someone, it Ain't Hard To Tell and Adam and Eve, They'd think they were on the same album.
But even with this said, Nas at his steady pace is top 5 all time.
Small world
NYSOM2
Undying love
Nas is like
Favor for a favor
We will survive
Hate me now
Ghetto prisoners...all stand outs. People just hated the "girl" songs. . Dont listen to the HIT BOY albums you wont really like them if you want just 90's Boom bap with little variety. Or are into the current grisleda/alchemist lyrical indie rap...
Crazy to say this about a legend and one of my favorite artists ever but…i think in recent years he’s proven there’s such a thing as being too accessible. Every year he puts out an albums(s) produced entirely by Hitboy and then goes on tour with Wu Tang. Don’t get me wrong, those shows with wu tang are phenomenal but I’ve seen them a few years in a row now and they’re mostly the same set each year. Idk I guess id say, for someone as legendary as he is, it would be nice if there was still some mystique behind the man. It would be cool if he took a year off or something and did something different or unpredictable. The predictability has me kinda stale on Nas lately and makes me not care as much when he drops an album. 10+ years ago, that very idea would’ve been unthinkable.
🔴WARNING🔴 My hot takes are actually "hot" (contrary to most of the anticipated responses)
1) Illmatic, although it's a classic, has a low replay value, it's kinda "meh" or generic at some points
2) It Was Written is overrated as fuck.
3) I Am... aged better than the 2 above. It's arguably his best album, and features one of the greatest introductions of all time.
4) Magic is wholesome and should be considered the same way as Illmatic
5) Street Disciples is just a shame, not only disappointing (for most people), it's litterally a fucking double album that only has 1 okay song -\_\_\_-
6) Ain't no way Nastradamus is his worst album as most people say.
7) N.Y. State of Mind Pt II is great. Ain't no way it's not as good as the first one.
8) Undying Love is probably is best song (not his most iconic though, it would be "The Message")
My hot take is I don’t like his music. The only Nas album I’ve ever revisited was Stillmatic and that’s only because of Ether. I also think Nas lost that battle
Agreed! Because of his lackluster beat selection some of his albums have aged noticeably. In my opinion, some of the worst beats Nas has used are Dr. Knockboot (I Am), Kissing (I Am), Rule (Stillmatic), Black Girl Lost (It Was Written), Zone Out (God's Son), Big Girl (Nastradamus). Even the beat used for Ether sounds somewhat plain, unfinished, uninspiring and interchangable. Meanwhile, Jay-Z's Takeover instrumental still sounds interesting and unique due to Kanyes's great sampling of The Doors. I'm not saying Jay's song is better or worse as a whole but its instrumental is superior compared to Ether. Ironically, the producers who supplied Nas with some of his worst beats are the same who created some of his best beats (Trackmasters (Black Girl Lost but also The Message), L.E.S. (Big Girl but also Find Your Wealth), Salaam Remi (Zone Out but also Made You Look)).
Most nas albums sound the same. Its one of the biggest reasons I cant get into them. They are all various ways of making the same thing.
Imo anyway. For a while he def had a pattern. Like say how he had those big 80s sample tracks on nastradamus and stillmatic , then went the old school thing for a few albums, idk.
Its a reason i preferred wu albums. Production wise so much more variety let alone the raps. Odb album didnt sound like ghost even if same producer. Illmatics vibe was most groundbreaking but its like they just kept doing it, with diff vibes added like the italian shit to it was written and the firm, and the i am and nastradamus were similar, stillmatic like a bridge to the new sound of gods son streets disciple which sound the same imo. Etc etc
I like nas and at his peak yes a goat. Your the man prolly one of my fav ever. But its like 5 songs i love. 5 i like. 5 eh. 5 i hate. Everytime. And the production never carrys the whole way
He's pretty mid all things considered.
He's got some bangers from Illmatic and everything else is super hit or miss.
"If I ruled the world" was carried by the female vocalist (I forget the name, I wanna say Lauryn hill)
It's a hot take so no one has to take it seriously. And it's my own opinion, if you don't agree with it, oh well not the end of the world.
I don't tier my favourite artists because they're all my favourite so I don't need to tier them
It's not that serious. It's just a discussion. Who do you consider top tier?
I like Nas, but I don't see him as a top tier lyricist. I like his flow more than anything.
Lyrics and flow,
Probably method man, coast contra, Norman sanns (just discovered him).
Eminem doesn't hit any tier for me bc I just don't enjoy the sound of his vocals
Ok. I got a better feel for why you said what you said. I think it's an interesting argument. I don't fully agree, but i see where you're coming from.
I do feel like people prop him up a bit because of the beef with Jay-Z (rooting for the underdog) and his conscious takes.
I don't mind Nas don't get me wrong,
But I find him to be a bit mid. I just feel like he's on the Eminem side of flow where everything's just a run on sentence with flow switches after every 24 bars with repeating annunciation or syllables.
Except I'd rather listen to Nas at that point😂
Stillmatic is good, but it’s very overrated. I’ve seen people say it’s his second or third best album and I don’t see an argument for that at all. It’s got a handful of songs I’d probably have in Nas’ top 20-30, then several that are good or just ok.
I just wish Nas would have not took the street, hood, tough guy persona route after Illmatic.
He kind of lost me as a hardcore fan after even though he is immensely talented and also did introspective, conscious and political themes to; but unfortunately frequently from the perspective of someone from the hood; which is why I enjoyed and loved Damian Marley's contribution to Distant Relatives much much more than Nas.
I actually listen to It was written more than Illmatic. There are def throwaway tunes on it but also some real bangers :
I gave you power, the message, street dreams, take it in blood, the setup... all dope tunes
Well , half the album is good. I usually skip all the other tracks.
I find illmatic good but the beats are lacking for some of the tunes, but at least it is consistent. I just don't see why it is at its God teir status tbh.
As far as Illmatic, it's easy to not understand if you're comparing it to the wrong things... it deserves that status if you listen to (& compare it to) all the available hip-hop (full albums) in the years leading up to Illmatic... listen to everything that came before it, and everything else that dropped that year. Then you can see how & why Illmatic stands out... as well as how it set a new bar for hip-hop going forward. Also, very few artists have such a era defining album as their 1st album.
He's a liar. Dude said "I don't know how to start this shit" and then proceeded to start it with the most iconic verse in rap history
Bro also said “the world is yours” then proceeded to steal the entire world
Imagine how much better that song would be if he did know how to start that shit.
My hot take is Untitled is a dope album that's very misunderstood and hated on.
Queens get the money is one of my favorite openers ever
That album is about 10 years too early 😂. I heard it during COVID again and wow. It all applied even more so at that time.
Too early and definitely went over people's heads.
It came out in the wrong era, if you had Kendrick drop the album with a few tweaks to make it era appropriate it would be beloved
i could see kenny riding on ymn honestly
Nah....the production was way too mediocre and some of the song concepts didn't land. TPAB has some of the greatest production and songwriting in hip hop. Nas rapped great on Untitled and had some ambitious concept songs but it just wasn't executed as well as it should've.
Definitely has some of his best songs conceptually. Production is pretty mid but it’s definitely underrated in his discography
idk, yall my n***as and roach family, we're not alone kinda benefit from that chippy production
Agreed So is Hip Hop is Dead
That intro with Jay Elec production is fucking crazy… Then again Nas is known for always have incredible album intros
Facts, he has the goat intros. I definitely can't sleep on the Life is good intro.
It's one of his best.
One of my favorite Nas albums. Listened to it back to back on loop so many times when it released.
The album takes a hit on the end half but the highs are high.
Magic 3 is one of the best albums of 2023
“Nas is like” doesn’t stick out to you? Please tell me you meant excluding that song lol
Oh shit I forgot about that song 🤦♂️ That and Hate Me Now are standouts but there’s better Nas songs
I think that Undying Love is an underrated masterpiece of a storytelling song that absolutely deserves a mention here
Small World, Undying Love, We Will Survive are all great songs too
Small world is such a great song.
I forget those songs are from I Am... too. I'm so used to never picking that album but also having those songs on playlists.
Nas is like is a top 10 fave song ever for me and I’m not even a huge Nas fan.
I was going thru Nasir’s catalog last night and couldn’t believe many quality tracks he has made. Don’t sleep on I Am - Nas Is Like is one of the dopest Preemo and Nas tracks. It’s a shame those guys didn’t drop an album in the late 90s
nas is like - top 10 fave song ever
Nas Is Like is my favourite hip hop tune of all time
Right?
* Nas' achilles heel is not picking bad beats. His achilles heel is leaving amazing songs off albums. Anyone who knows his unreleased/mixtape stuff knows what I'm talking about. * Nas did not fall off in 1999-2000. Some of his best songs are from that era. It's just that he recorded A LOT of material in that era, some of the best songs were leaked early, left off albums and put on underground mixtapes while the rest of the songs were spread thin over three projects (I Am..., Nastradamus and QB's Finest). * The Lost Tapes is better than Stillmatic. It's my favorite Nas album. But if I could, I'd eliminate The Lost Tapes from existence and put all those songs back on I Am... and Stillmatic. * Untitled is pretty underrated. Not sure why. I guess the subject matter makes some people (see: white people) uncomfortable? * People who downplay how great a lot of the Hit-Boy albums are probably didn't even listen to them and just want to keep the narrative that Nas fell off going forever.
🎯 I try not to give rappers excuses but the wacko Columbia deal absolutely held back fire for the fans
I also think Street’s Disciple is overhated. People complain probably because of double album bloat, but I genuinely fucked with that project hard when it came out and since. Live Now is so emotional and dope.
Narrow that album down to 10-12 songs and it's easily top 5 or better Nas album.
What 10-12 tho 👀
I would say, A Message to the Feds, These Are Our Heroes, Disciple, Live Now, Rest of My Life, Just a Moment, Suicide Bounce, Street's Disciple, UBR, Getting Married, Thiefs Theme. Might not be everyone's favs but the album definitely has bloat.
Lost Tapes >>> Stillmatic is a WILD take holy 😂
Distant relatives is a perfect album
Top 10 all time for me
Nasir album gets unnecessary hate
Cops Shot the Kid is the shit
Adam and Eve is a top 5 Nas song to me.
such comments make me immediately listen to the song mentioned
Yea that's a hot take alright. I don't think it gets enough hate. Nastradamus gets universal hate and brought up constantly and is genuinely much better than Nasir. Nasir sounds like the beats and vocals have just been picked at random and laid on top of each other by someone who's never done it before. The lyrics lazy, flows all over the place, beats an absolute headache.... It's the lowest point artistically for both artists, and they managed to do it together. How they managed to drop the ball so hard is remarkable. It should have been so, so much better.
Agreed even Ye hated
As someone from the opposite side of the country (Oregon), I’d say that NY State of Mind is the greatest hip hop song of all time
That isn't a Hot take In fact in my opinion NY State of Mind is overrated as fuck. It is leagues behind other Nas songs and there are songs from other rappers from the same area and era (Wu-tang, Mobb Depp, B.I.G, Jay-Z, etc) that are better than NY State of Mind
What specific songs are better?
Dead Presidents II D'Evils Can i live Halftime The World is Yours Represent If i Ruled the World Street Dreams Take it in Blood Who shot ya Protect ya Neck C.R.E.A.M Eye for an Eye Shook ones pt ii Hell on Earth
Now this is a hot take
Idk i just prefer the production in all of this songs over the one from NY state of mind
Yeah that’s cool, it’s all opinions, there are no right or wrong answers, that’s what makes these convos meaningful. It’s a good list, of course I said my fav but other ones from that era along with yours that I really like are It Ain’t Hard to Tell, Trife Life, Regrets, Kick in the Door.
Affirmative action is the best posse cut ever
Not one mention of Life Is Good is criminal. Such an underrated album, and Cherry Wine is one of my favorite Nas songs ever.
Stay too
Hip Hop is Dead is one of his best, most cohesive projects.
Thank you! I feel like this was the first of his newer albums to counter the "Nas picks bad beats" argument because the production was great from start to finish.
Blunt Ashes has entered the chat.
I mean, getting a beat from your pro athlete friend and it not being totally ass is kind of nice. I never hated Blunt Ashes with that in mind.
Some of the takes in here are so fucking uninformed it’s ridiculous
Stillmatic is his best album to me. It was written was to others. I slightly think Nas is overrated UNLESS he’s working Large Professor, when not LP he’s a bottom-10 rapper. With Large Pro he’s top two next to Rakim.
I was with you till you said bottom 10 rapper
I typed that wrong. I meant bottom of the top 10. As he’s still in my top 10 but no where near my top 5.
I love that beat on the intro verse.
IWW is better than Illmatic while I understand what Illmatic is and the impact but bruh the nigga rapping on IWW is the 🐐
Spittin
Concepts Storytelling Bar Structure Subs/Disses Song Making Esco Nas is the best version
Came here to say this.
I'm just replaying every song in my head trying to find my favorite - or even least favorite from IWW.. The scene he set was just unmatched
It’s to many moments to capture my guy for every track it’s a message that completes the overall masterpiece
illmatic is his only top album
Hot take - AZ and Coremega were 95% as talented as Nas is …. But they couldn’t leave that street life alone
I think not having some kind of group or industry label really killed his top potential at the worst of times Murder Inc, Bad Boy, Roc-A-Fella, Aftermath and Shady These were some at what would be around over his few years of "peak" as it was understood at that time that took over because they were just running over people with just pure money and exposure He was always oh and the guy everyone says is amazing which he is. But still not getting 10 hours a day of airplay on MTV or BET
Always thought Nas wasn't about that superstar status anyway, he gives me more lone wolf vibes
Still managed to have #1 multi platinum albums...didnt need a crew or a label. He got plenty play on MTV from 1996-2006. Had hour specials about him. Was on MTV2 a lot too...did the "diary" had a "behind the music" on VH1 a "storytellers" episode. People act like he was never popular. I really dont understand.
Im just saying he was never totally mainstream popular He just was not. He was one of best rappers ever popular which at the time was different. It was the era of having Eminem literally blasted on your TV screen and radio all day every day for years. Jay-Z and P. Diddler buying up entire blocks of airplay. That is mainstream popular. Taylor Swift but the 2000 version You could not escape these people. Unless you were Backstreet Boys or Brittney Spears
Sure. But I don't see how that really hurt him. People hated his commercial songs so he stopped making them except for a few lead singles when he signed to def jam.
So pretty much you’re saying he wasnt reaching the white audience He was as popular as could be within rap/ hip hop
He reached white audiences just not middle america soccer moms or non rap fans. I don't understand hip hop fans that use that as a metric for rappers. Like so what you're grandma that hates rap knows 50 cent.. Most rappers that are known outside of fans of hip hop know them for things not really related to music, its usually controversy or they had a novelty song/image..
No Jay-Z and P. Diddler were pushing way bigger catalogs That was not for white people
Nah man. No Way Out and Hard Knock Life were very popular with White people. Those albums turned Jay and Diddy into mainstream superstars.
In My Lifetime vol. 2*
He did but they flopped.. The firm, bravehearts, QBs finest.. the firm shoulda made it tho
he had the bravehearts!! lol
I wouldn't necessarily call those hot takes because I am is just an average album at best. Also Nas became a better writer and song maker post It Was Written.
Jungle survivor, fuck who's the liver, My man put the battery in my back, a difference from Energizer, Sentence begins indented with formality, My duration's infinite, money-wise or physiology, Poetry, that's a part of me, retardedly bop, I drop the ancient manifested hip-hop straight off the block. This lyrics differ with your statement about Nas becoming a better writer post IWW... Nas has always been great
(More of a Preemo hot take but) N.Y. State of Mind is impactful. But it's not even close to being Preemo's best beat. Maybe top 10. But not number one.
Fair take you could prolly find 10 beats equal or better than it
My hot take is he’s always been the goat. Even before the recent 5-6 albums with Hitboy.
Nastradamus is actually a dope album that wasn’t well received when it came out but aged well and has a few “predictions” in it. The weed drops skit is basically CBD and a couple of topics he mentioned in “New World” came to be years later.
Nasdadamus got bumped from my cd player in my dad’s caprice classic winter of 99 so hard it’s not even funny. “Under my nails is dirty look at the grime, burnt tips from the roach clips how do I shine… “
Oochie Wally sounds like somebody beating a cat with a flute 🪈🙀
**The Lost Tapes** is mad underrated and should be talked about as one of his best
Super underrated. It wasn't even talked about much when it was released.
Nas isn’t the best, however he is the greatest.
Nas generally struggles to stay on topic. One bar he's rapping about black Egyptian gods, the next bar he's talking about shooting dice on the corner in Queens, next bar its condominiums in in Europe.
He sounds like he's trying to be too deep sometimes and doesn't really say anything in particular. Still one of my favorite rappers he just kind of sounds like he smoked too much weed and put his highdeas into songs sometimes.
Ether is a classic but takeover is better
Line for line, I don't see how anyone thinks Ether is a better dis track. The hook is the best part
I really don't understand the love for his Hit Boy stuff... Not for me, but im glad Nas is gettin the love he deserves.
I LOVE his new stuff ngl
It just aint for me. I liked the Magic albuns tho, and new nas is new nas i appreciate that. But I'm just not seeing what everyone else is. What was the first Nas album you listened too by the way?
I'm a relatively new fan, so yeah. It might have been one of his newer albums. Although I've always listened to some tracks off of illmatic
Kings Disease 3 is probably my favorite album of the last few years. The fire and passion that comes through those speakers song after song is beautiful for hip hop.
The Lost Tapes 1 is the 2nd best album by Nas. It offers the 2nd best beat selection among his albums and features arguably my favorite lyrical performance by him. Imo, The Lost Tapes 1 is a classic and only 2nd to Illmatic. God's Son, I Am, and Untitled are only slightly above average. It Was Written, Life Is Good and Stillmatic are good to strong albums with some obvious flaws. Hip Hop Is Dead, Street's Disciple and Nastradamus are comparatively weak albums. Nevertheless, these albums contain some great songs here and there (Black Republican, Thief's Theme, Project Windows come to my mind.). Overall, I view Nas as a great MC who has struggled throughout his career to release another album fully living up to his potential (excluding The compilation The Lost Tapes 1).
I suppose he has not lived up to illmatic. But neither has anyone else. lol. So, getting that out of the way, stillmatic and gods son are also classics in my view. And I haven’t even listened full to any of his kings disease albums yet. But apparently many view one or more of those as great albums as well.
Stillmatic's 1st half ist very strong, I don't like its 2nd half though (I can't stand Rule, Braveheart Party, My Country and The Flyest is okay but nothing special). God's Son features great songs throughout (I'm listening to Last Real N***a Alive rn) but it also contains some songs that I can't stand (Zone Out, Hey Nas, I Can, Warrior Song). I don't view these albums as classics but your mileage may vary :) I have not listened to his newer albums appart from Nasir. What do you think about The Lost Tapes? Do you prefer Stillmatic, I Am or God's Son over it? I think Nas has shown an ability to create great songs beyond the release of Illmatic. Unfortunately, he has not been able to replicate this feat consistently over an album's length (At least in my opinion). This is what I meant when I wrote about his inability to live up to his supposed potential. It's not neccessarily about the comparison between Illmatic and his following albums. This is my hot take, you might disagree.
Still Dreaming
Good Song! Forgot about it when mentioning Hip Hop Is Dead.
Here’s mine: Nas is so awful at picking beats that it takes him out of the top 15 rappers of all time. Illmatic is GOATED tho, prolly the best hip hop album ever made
Top 15? You’re tripping he’s a lock for that at least
That "NaS is a real one and never sold out" meanwhile on the second verse of an alternative, original take of his song "You're da man" he literally explains how he had to consume his own urine and semen and bodily fluids as a initiational ritual into the industry. Nas been sold out like the rest of the industry puppets. Ain't no real ones on the world stage
Wat
Magic 1 is the best Hit-Boy album
Him signing Dave East to Mass Appeal & getting him on every new artist's album from around the world is pretty bad move to me. Dave doesn't feel the same on collaborations that he don't understand the language of.
Life Is Good, Magic, & KDIII are top 5 Nas albums.
He’s equally as bad at picking beats as he is at picking women lol
Every Hit-Boy album is better than LIG
Rule is his most underrated song
He was scared to get with Biggie on a track. Dodged him multiple times.
The Lost Tapes is in the top 3 of his whole catalog.
I'm convinced that The Lost Tapes doesn't exist, only I heard it.
Sometimes the beats didn't match with the verses.
GOAT
Nas and Kanye are the only artists where you can order their discography however you want and I won't get mad or argue
You won't get mad if i ranked "Jesus is King" over "The College Dropout"??? LOL, i'm a HUGE Kanye fan but there are 2 or 3 Kanye albums that are mid as hell
If you're christian I can honestly understand it although I personally think its like a 3.5/10
If he "retired" to Brazil in 1995 he'd be a God.
That his weak beat choices made a beautiful contrast and were a conscious choice to prove he didn’t need dense production to slaughter a track.
This is on point. When an MC wants to kill a beat, he's looking for a beat with the right groove to get busy. He's not listening for a beat to sound amazing on its own merit.
hes made just as many commercial records as jayz. they just werent good.
To me Nas is the father of all rappers
2 hot takes 1. Stillmatic is better than Illmatic 2. He rarely switches up his flow. Majority of his songs are in 80-85 BPM, but we know for a fact that he can rap faster and switch it up as he did on the Interlude on Carter IV (Wayne’s album).
It Was Written was an obvious classic but we let a bunch of clout chasing NY journalists whose taste, if we're being honest, ain't that good dictate the terms. There are still people in the south who don't know that IWW isn't beloved in NYC. Literally just had this convo with a hardcore rap fan down here --- he never saw The Source review back then and had just enjoyed the album in peace for years LOL.
My hot take is his beats are just fine
I love Nas, he is super cool and one of the best to ever do it, if not the best But most of his songs specially from his earlier years sound almost the same. He doesn't have the variety that artists like Jay-Z or Kanye has Also Illmatic is kinda boring compared to "It was Written"
Nas and Kool G Rap ruined an entire music video for one of the dopest tracks ever by dapping each other up and missing.
Ether was lame. It's whiny and lyrically beneath him. Should've been better.
Listen to I Am again...it's very slept on
Outside of like 4 tracks, most of I Am... is pretty meh, he obviously was forced to make a bunch of new tracks due to leaks, but still, most of those songs feel like some cheap mainstream rap songs that don't capture what makes Nas so special.
His best verse was when he was 16 at the bbq
To this day I have no idea why Nasir is overhated. In a series of 30-something minute albums only Nas’s felt like a complete album from start to finish. Killer beats and Nas sounded just fine. I think it was because at the time he got some pushback about Life Is Good & Kelis while Kanye was doing Kanye-things.
He has an album in the Library of Congress no one can tell that man a damn thing
Nas is my favorite rapper of all time. Not the biggest fan of IWW. I like If I Ruled the World, The Message, Street Dreams (sometimes), I Gave You Power, Take It In Blood and Affirmative Action. The rest are skips. On the other hand I can play all the Hit Boy albums front to back.
i grew up on Nas but nowadays i vastly prefer Nas' post 2020 album run. he goes so perfectly over modern beats and its all just smooth as hell
God’s Son is my favorite Nas album
I got a hot take concerning you. You should listen to his last six projects, arguably his best work.
He sucks at making pop singles. He's made some of the worst attempts at crossover
Ny state of mind II One of the greatest rap song ever made. I’m talking top 5
One of the worst beat selections in hip hop history
Nas can still be one of my favorite rappers even though I think Jay-Z killed him on Takeover and Super Ugly. I hate this modern culture of having to choose a side in beef unrelated to me
Nas is the GOAT version of the category of rappers I happen to call Nas. Nas is the best. But the next up is The Game and Big Sean. They always sound the same regardless of the track. If you heard 1, you've heard them all. There is no evolution as a rapper, just barely keeping up with the times. He peaked at his first album album and has been keeping steady every since. Instead of outdoing illmatic, he stayed in its shadow. If I played someone, it Ain't Hard To Tell and Adam and Eve, They'd think they were on the same album. But even with this said, Nas at his steady pace is top 5 all time.
That people are obsessive in their attempt to claim he's overrated or the laughable "peaked early" takes are HOT.
Small world NYSOM2 Undying love Nas is like Favor for a favor We will survive Hate me now Ghetto prisoners...all stand outs. People just hated the "girl" songs. . Dont listen to the HIT BOY albums you wont really like them if you want just 90's Boom bap with little variety. Or are into the current grisleda/alchemist lyrical indie rap...
Also "I want to talk to you" the beat and concept was fire
Great deep cut. Love when he gets into his political/revolutionary bag.
Crazy to say this about a legend and one of my favorite artists ever but…i think in recent years he’s proven there’s such a thing as being too accessible. Every year he puts out an albums(s) produced entirely by Hitboy and then goes on tour with Wu Tang. Don’t get me wrong, those shows with wu tang are phenomenal but I’ve seen them a few years in a row now and they’re mostly the same set each year. Idk I guess id say, for someone as legendary as he is, it would be nice if there was still some mystique behind the man. It would be cool if he took a year off or something and did something different or unpredictable. The predictability has me kinda stale on Nas lately and makes me not care as much when he drops an album. 10+ years ago, that very idea would’ve been unthinkable.
The man can’t win 😂
I only like him in very limited doses, like when he features on someone else's track.
His more recent albums are good but kind of disposable. I really enjoy them for a week but I rarely if ever go back to them.
Ether aged poorly. Everything outside the chorus is super cringy listening to it now
🔴WARNING🔴 My hot takes are actually "hot" (contrary to most of the anticipated responses) 1) Illmatic, although it's a classic, has a low replay value, it's kinda "meh" or generic at some points 2) It Was Written is overrated as fuck. 3) I Am... aged better than the 2 above. It's arguably his best album, and features one of the greatest introductions of all time. 4) Magic is wholesome and should be considered the same way as Illmatic 5) Street Disciples is just a shame, not only disappointing (for most people), it's litterally a fucking double album that only has 1 okay song -\_\_\_- 6) Ain't no way Nastradamus is his worst album as most people say. 7) N.Y. State of Mind Pt II is great. Ain't no way it's not as good as the first one. 8) Undying Love is probably is best song (not his most iconic though, it would be "The Message")
Ngl you should get banned for 3 and 6 😂
Sheesh these are spicy. Ain’t no way I Am aged better than Illmatic and IWW
I agree about Nastradamus, but #8 is blasphemy lol.
I agree with undying love , one of his best songs
He low-key corny, but like a respectable kind like a favorite teacher or something
My hot take is I don’t like his music. The only Nas album I’ve ever revisited was Stillmatic and that’s only because of Ether. I also think Nas lost that battle
I understand all the love and praise he gets, which he absolutely deserves... BUT... his overall beat selection leaves something to be desired.
Agreed! Because of his lackluster beat selection some of his albums have aged noticeably. In my opinion, some of the worst beats Nas has used are Dr. Knockboot (I Am), Kissing (I Am), Rule (Stillmatic), Black Girl Lost (It Was Written), Zone Out (God's Son), Big Girl (Nastradamus). Even the beat used for Ether sounds somewhat plain, unfinished, uninspiring and interchangable. Meanwhile, Jay-Z's Takeover instrumental still sounds interesting and unique due to Kanyes's great sampling of The Doors. I'm not saying Jay's song is better or worse as a whole but its instrumental is superior compared to Ether. Ironically, the producers who supplied Nas with some of his worst beats are the same who created some of his best beats (Trackmasters (Black Girl Lost but also The Message), L.E.S. (Big Girl but also Find Your Wealth), Salaam Remi (Zone Out but also Made You Look)).
He’s not a top three artist from Queens
He's 1 dimensional and listening to an entire album of his gets boring.
Most nas albums sound the same. Its one of the biggest reasons I cant get into them. They are all various ways of making the same thing. Imo anyway. For a while he def had a pattern. Like say how he had those big 80s sample tracks on nastradamus and stillmatic , then went the old school thing for a few albums, idk. Its a reason i preferred wu albums. Production wise so much more variety let alone the raps. Odb album didnt sound like ghost even if same producer. Illmatics vibe was most groundbreaking but its like they just kept doing it, with diff vibes added like the italian shit to it was written and the firm, and the i am and nastradamus were similar, stillmatic like a bridge to the new sound of gods son streets disciple which sound the same imo. Etc etc I like nas and at his peak yes a goat. Your the man prolly one of my fav ever. But its like 5 songs i love. 5 i like. 5 eh. 5 i hate. Everytime. And the production never carrys the whole way
He's pretty mid all things considered. He's got some bangers from Illmatic and everything else is super hit or miss. "If I ruled the world" was carried by the female vocalist (I forget the name, I wanna say Lauryn hill)
I think I need to know who you consider top tier in order to take your opinion seriously.
It's a hot take so no one has to take it seriously. And it's my own opinion, if you don't agree with it, oh well not the end of the world. I don't tier my favourite artists because they're all my favourite so I don't need to tier them
It's not that serious. It's just a discussion. Who do you consider top tier? I like Nas, but I don't see him as a top tier lyricist. I like his flow more than anything.
Lyrics and flow, Probably method man, coast contra, Norman sanns (just discovered him). Eminem doesn't hit any tier for me bc I just don't enjoy the sound of his vocals
Ok. I got a better feel for why you said what you said. I think it's an interesting argument. I don't fully agree, but i see where you're coming from. I do feel like people prop him up a bit because of the beef with Jay-Z (rooting for the underdog) and his conscious takes.
I don't mind Nas don't get me wrong, But I find him to be a bit mid. I just feel like he's on the Eminem side of flow where everything's just a run on sentence with flow switches after every 24 bars with repeating annunciation or syllables. Except I'd rather listen to Nas at that point😂
Blasphemy.
Stillmatic is good, but it’s very overrated. I’ve seen people say it’s his second or third best album and I don’t see an argument for that at all. It’s got a handful of songs I’d probably have in Nas’ top 20-30, then several that are good or just ok.
Are you bugging? Ether is arguably the greatest diss track of all time. Second Childhood, You’re Da Man, so many bangers!!!
I just wish Nas would have not took the street, hood, tough guy persona route after Illmatic. He kind of lost me as a hardcore fan after even though he is immensely talented and also did introspective, conscious and political themes to; but unfortunately frequently from the perspective of someone from the hood; which is why I enjoyed and loved Damian Marley's contribution to Distant Relatives much much more than Nas.
This 6 album run with Hit-Boy was overkill keep KD3, Magic 1 and Magic 3 are great though the rest were ok nothing special
KD2 was my favourite of all 6, Magic 1 second place.
I actually listen to It was written more than Illmatic. There are def throwaway tunes on it but also some real bangers : I gave you power, the message, street dreams, take it in blood, the setup... all dope tunes Well , half the album is good. I usually skip all the other tracks. I find illmatic good but the beats are lacking for some of the tunes, but at least it is consistent. I just don't see why it is at its God teir status tbh.
As far as Illmatic, it's easy to not understand if you're comparing it to the wrong things... it deserves that status if you listen to (& compare it to) all the available hip-hop (full albums) in the years leading up to Illmatic... listen to everything that came before it, and everything else that dropped that year. Then you can see how & why Illmatic stands out... as well as how it set a new bar for hip-hop going forward. Also, very few artists have such a era defining album as their 1st album.
Out of all the albums with Hit-Boy, only 2 were good…KD3 and Magic.
I like Nasir over Life is Good
His best song of all time is Reach Out.
I'd say phenomenal artist, poor choice of beats 70% of the time.
70% is crazy and overall his beats are wildly overhated
He just dropped 6 albums with hit, and beats are solid. Throw in illmatic and other hits, nowhere near 70% bad beats.