Hip Hop Is Dead... How Nasir's Battle Cry Helped Save An Artform

[Ziggiy]

Nasir Bin Olu Dara turns 40 years old tomorrow. Having now spent over 20 years at the forefront of the genre of music known as Hip Hop, Nas has one of the distinct honors of serving as both a heralded elder statesmen of the craft as well as one of its best and brightest mainstream trailblazers. From 1994's brilliant and unmatched display of raw poetic genius, Illmatic; to last years unflinchingly honest and lyrically progressive Life Is Good, Nas has represented Hip Hop in all of its many facets. Imaginative, Passionate, Fierce, Boisterous, Knowledgeable, Reflective, and yes, at times Contradicting.
And yet perhaps the greatest example of all of these battling themes rests within one album. In 2005 Nas's career seemed to be at a crossroads. Faced with re-signing with Sony/Columbia, whom had released all eight of his previous albums or signing a deal with Atlantic which would have also placed him in an executive role, Nas instead shocked the core of the Hip Hop world when he appeared alongside longtime foe Jay-Z at the latter's I Declare War concert in October of that year. Buzz immediately began to spread across the industry that the two Titans were formulating a deal that would land Nas at Def Jam where Jay- Z was currently serving as President. All speculation came to a halt when on January 23, 2006 it was announced that Nas had indeed signed to join the house that Russell Simmons built, bringing full circle a prophetic turn of events in which Mr. Simmons lamented on turning down the opportunity to sign a young Nas in the early 90's for fear of him sounding too my like Kool G. Rap. This turn of events both served to bewilder and anger some within the Hip Hop community, who accused Nas of signing "under" his former enemy and doing his bidding.

"I used to look up to Nas a lot," Fat Joe told Hannah Sung. "And I don’t even really respect what he did. How do you become a friend to a person who disrespects your baby’s mother? It’s too much ugliness. I almost died, as a hip hop fan, when I heard they were together."

Fat Joe via interview with MuchMusic http://nahright.com/news/2006/02/13/fat-joe-speaks-on-shawn-and-nasir/

 

[Ziggiy]

Nas and Jay-Z would later quash all the talk of Nas being an underling in a subsequent interview with MTV's Sway. In the interview Nas outlined his exact thought process on the move to Def Jam

"It gives you a freedom, but it's also controlled by people that don't really understand this music or this culture — or respect it. I saw there was a lot of opportunity for me; there was nothing better than to ride with this movement right here. Where Jay is at, Def Jam, it felt like the people that are there respect it and love the culture even more than this man. To reconcile and have redemption together and come to Def Jam, I felt that it would be better to go over there and do this for the people. So I'm on Def Jam."
http://www.mtv.com/bands/j/jay_z/news_feature_021606/index2.jhtml

So now the seeds had been sown. Nas's reconciliation and partnership with Def Jam was both strategic as it was honest. He wanted to be around people who loved the culture, be represented by people who understood the potential of his music, and to convey a message of maturation and unity that would carry him throughout the next decade of his career. This was his first public statement of intent to become the mainstream Helper and Protector of the genre that his name destined him to become.

Now it was time to make the most important declaration yet, the musical one...

 

[Ziggiy]

On May 18, 2006 at Radio City Music Hall, Nas made an announcement that set the Hip Hop world ablaze in a firestorm of both support and controversy. Whilst performing with The Roots as part of their two night engagement, Nas announced to the world that his 8th studio album would be titled Hip Hop Is Dead. Almost immediately there was speculation and condemnation that Nas, a New York rapper whose artistry was steeped in traditional Boom Bap production and painstaking detail to lyrics; was calling out and disrespecting the popularity of the Southern movement of rap artists whose brand of music focused more on club friendly dance songs and ringtone ready singles. The shift in popularity led many to believe that the focus of lyrical talent had been shafted in favor of , what many would call the "dumbed down" call/response form of songs such as Soldier Boy's "Crank Dat" and the introduction to "Snap" music with Dem Franchise Boyz "Lean Wit It Rock With It". This would lead to a cultural divide within the genre that would leave bitter feelings of animosity on both sides. Nas, being one of the few New York artists with continued mainstream relevance was labeled as a figurehead for East Coast defiance of the Southern takeover, this despite Nas having collaborated with many southern artists such as Lil Jon, Scarface, Lil Wayne and David Banner. Others labeled the album's title as little more than a gimmick used to incite hype surrounding its impending release.

"Saying that hip-hop is dead is like saying the South is dead too. They may not like some of the music going on in the South. But everybody in the South is saying, 'We are keeping it alive"

Ludacris speaking to MTV December of 2006

http://www.mtv.com/bands/m/mixtape_monday/121806/

So a lightning rod of criticism and controversy was once again surrounding Nas. The contradictory forces of peace through unity with Jay-Z and War through the mounting displeasure of southern artists created an inferno of questions and expectations. Could Nas live up to the album's grandiose title? Did he have what it took to revive the genre? Did the genre NEED reviving or was Nas just a bitter fossil of a bygone era?

The answer, as always lay within the music...

 

[Ziggiy]

"Not a word not a hint, on the kid from the Project Bench
That went Sony-BMG, to that new conglomerate
Island Def Jam, guess how many dollars was spent
To get the best man, yall nikkaz ain't silencing shyt"

Where Ya'll At.


On December 19th ,2006. Nas finally released the album that all of Hip Hop had had such a strong opinion on before even one lyric had been heard or one beat had been bumped. The album ended up being a commercial success, becoming Nas's first album since 1999 to debut at the top of the Billboard charts and remains Nas's best selling first week and best selling overall album released on Def Jam to date. Upon listening to the album it was clear that Nas intended to both attack head on the problems he saw with Hip Hop becoming too mainstream for its own good as well as overlay a blueprint for MC's going forward. From the opening introductory track "Money Over Bullshyt" Nas dove head first into the controversy he had created..

"nikkaz, it's fifty ways to dissect the General
If I give ya the top five, you will not survive
Rule 1, cocksucker, keep my name from your tongue
Rule 2, thought ya knew don't fukk with God's Son
Rule 3, see, matter fact, I just wait
If y'all reach top five, then I'ma eat y'all alive
Each one of you guys that claim Hip-Hop is still alive
Like y'all ain't in agreement wit Nas. I SAID ITS DEAD MUTHAfukkA!"

There it is. No half- stepping, no half measures, right out in the open. Hip Hop as we knew it, as Nas knew it, as the "trapped in the 90's nikkas" knew it. Is dead, and Nas is putting the final heaps of dirt on its grave. However, remember this is a CONCEPT album, and concept albums have a beginning, a middle, and an end. So while Nas is very much so throwing the rubble on the genre's dead carcass, there's absolutely NO way it will remain as such. Remember, Nas is a RAPPER. This is his profession, his lifeblood, his craft, and most importantly his legacy. It all ties into the music, so to proclaim it dead with no chances of resurrection is inherently wrong. Nas wouldn't do this. What he IS doing is formatting the album into its three parts, beginning with the ending (I.e. "death") and over the course of its first 5 songs detailing how it came to be so. Like a detective (literally and figuratively as of track 6) Nas is giving you his viewpoint as he pieces together the crime scene.

 

[Ziggiy]

"Some rap pioneers, be them crackheads
When they speak, you see missin' teeth, silver chain with a silver piece
nikkaz your grandfather's age, they pants still hangin' down they legs
Talkin' about they ain't paid
And they hate you, 'cause they say, you ain't pay dues
And was stealin' and robbin' them
I feel it's a problem we gotta resolve
Hip-Hop been dead, we the reason it died
Wasn't Sylvia's fault or because MC's skills are lost
It's 'cause we can't see ourselves as the boss
Deep-rooted through slavery, self-hatred
The Jewish stick together, friends in high places"

-Carry On Tradition

This entire song could serve as a quotable. Nas begins with an outline of Hip Hop history and how the forefathers of the genre have been left behind and effectively shut out of the very culture that they helped bring to the forefront. Moreover, the pioneers themselves have fallen victim the industrial traps of the 80's. drugs, crooked record deals, and second childhood mentality that pushes for one to remain younger in order to keep up with the younger generation. Hip Hop as genre of music is barely 40 years old, by the time the Rakim's and Big Daddy Kane's had reached their zenith they were already giving way to artists such as Nas, Jay-Z, and Notorious B.I.G. Hip Hop was such a competitive and growing industry that most artists were considered veterans if they made it to their third or fourth album. Artists were so quick to make their own mark and carve their own lanes that they were actively pushing older MC's out of the limelight. This competitive nature fueled great music, but it also led to disunity and disruption within the New York Hip Hop scene. Nas himself would see himself becoming both aggressor and victim of this mentality. Feuding for years with his fellow Queensbridge MC's for respect and dominance as well as clashing with friend The Notorious B.I.G over the fabled "King Of New York" title. It was as much competition and lyrical bravado that funneled the battle with Jay-Z as it was personal dislike. Hip Hop, like everything in this world, requires balance. And without such the genre could never fully thrive.

"We on some low level shyt
We don't want nikkaz to ever win, see, everybody got a label
Everybody's a rapper but few flow fatal
It's fukked up, it all started from two turntables"

-Carry On Tradition

 

[Big Mel]

I feel sorry for your mudda

 

[Ronald McDonald]

 

[Ziggiy]

Another problem that Nas notes in the next song is the saddening lack of knowledge that not only fans, but fellow MC's have for the craft of its pioneers. It's bad enough that Hip Hop's forefathers carried the cross of poverty and stunted careers only to see the forbearers strike rich and go on to have careers ranging between 10-15 years, but must they also suffer anonymity? Nas doesn't seem to think so

"Rap is like a ghost town, real mystic
Like these folks never existed
They the reason that rap became addictive
Play they CD or wax and get lifted
I recommend when your kid turn ten
Let him hear Spice 1, made plenty noise
Positive K, Father MC, the Skinny Boys
Where are they now?"

There is an old proverb used by the Akan people of Ghana, represented in the phrase "Sankofa". Which translates to "To know ones future you must go back to the past." The importance of learning from, as well as honoring our past, is something that African Americans have struggled with since times of slavery. How that in turn correlates to our music is quite simple. A genre of music created by and for black urban Americans has been taken and turned into a multibillion dollar business on the strength of the talent of the DJs and MC's who held it to a certain standard of not just music, but lifestyle. This is why to this day we look at Hip Hop as a culture, and yet those early MC's who were so instrumental in its success saw very little of its gain. What does this say of the current generation fans who have no inkling of the pain, the sacrifice, or the struggle? It says that we are doomed to repeat...

"Miss Melody, I hope she packin' a bankroll
As well as educated rap for ice and Kangol"

I hope so too Nas...

"Everybody sound the same, commercialize the game
Reminiscin' when it wasn't all business
They forgot where it started
So we all gather here for the dearly departed
Hip-hopper since a toddler
One homeboy became a man, then a mobster
If it dies, let me get my last swig of Vodka
R.I.P., we'll donate your lungs to a rasta
Went from turntables to MP3's
From "Beat Street" to commercials on Mickey D's
From gold cables to Jacobs
From plain facials to Botox and face lifts
I'm lookin' over my shoulder
It's about eighty people from my hood that showed up
And they came to show love
Sold out concert and the doors are closed shut"

-Hip Hop Is Dead

Here Nas delivers his eulogy, chronicling streamlining the genre until it has been squeezed dry. The hustler mentality draining the very blood of the artists souls from the mic and into the proverbial cash box. It's ALL about money now and being a mogul. 50 Cent is praised more for his $300 million dollar net worth than he is for his bars. Jay-Z is looked upon with adoration from millions of fans more being a "Hustler's Hustler" than being one of the most talented lyricists the genre has ever seen. The art of the so called ART-FORM is dead and gone, replaced senseless sound-scan battles.

 

[Ziggiy]

The title track bookends the albums first portion. It also marks the last time Nas spends an entire song beating his audience over the head with album's theme. The rest of the album is more subtle in its approach and speaks to broader themes while still keeping consistent with the overall concept. The song that begins the second portion of he album is the aptly titled "Who Killed It " which ironically serves as perhaps THE most polarizing song in Nas's discography. From across the spectrum there have been fans who have heralded this song as one of Nas's creative triumphs as there have been those who feel that it's TOO far left to be effective. As previously stated, Nas literally transforms himself into a 1930's era ,James Cagney voiced, Private investigator on the hunt for "The Dame"...

"What do ya know all this time she's got me in her scope
She spoke says the Devil got you guys by the throat
Your conspiracy theories won't work without evidence
That's the reason why Eric B is not president
Look here see
I know you got soul your trying to hide it
How did you kill a man out in Cypres
One Eyed Charlie, he only hangs with the criminal minded
Says you guys did it doggy style is he lyin'
She says, 'Walk this way I'll tell you a children's story'
We hit the bodega got her a few 40's
We jumped in my ride we drove and she cried
Twisted off the cap there and opened her mouth wide
Swallowed it, whole bottle's half empty
Drinks like a fish now she's past tipsy
The truth came out as we got to her suave house
Chopped and screwed, her mouth and sat me on the couch
I said it's gettin' late c'mon give it to me straight
Who's ya sponsor lady? She says Bill Gates
What are ya born '77 or '78?
She says, Nah it goes way to an earlier date
Slave times, claims the slaves said rhymes
But she fell in love with some fella named Clive
Who? Clive Campbell from Sedgwick Ave
The Bronx, now she shows me the cash
I said who's Clive, don't play with me skirt
She said Clive Campbell, he's Kool Herc"

Call it "I Used To Love H.E.R" with an Illmatic foreplay. Over Will I Am's sparse and appropriate detective serial reminiscent production Nas weaves his own tale of the "Dame" who would call herself Hip Hop. Tossing in references to several classic lyrics and songs, Nas's ultimate conclusion seems to be that EVERYONE has had a hand in Hip Hop's demise. It's not an issue of southern dominance, nor is it an issue of East Cold irrelevance, nor is it an issue of East Vs. West. It's about everyone's collective pimping of the culture. What's important to note is that Nas doesn't exclude himself from this either. When he takes the "Dame" to the bodega to get her a few 40's, this is Nas admitting that he even slips up a time or two. Say its from attempting to go "commercial" in the late 90's or engaging in such destructive behavior that it split up what could've been a Queensbridge dynasty through infighting, Nas is as guilty as the rest of us. However he doesn't end the tale without a glimmer of hope...

"Listen up sweetheart, now we gettin' somewhere
As she's talkin' she starts vanishing in thin air
But before she drops the money bag on the floor and died
She said, If you really love me I'll come back alive"

 

[Ziggiy]

@Billy Ocean @Buckeye Fever @Tuling @No_bammer_weed @JoelB @Illeye buckmatic

@HishElsayed @Plexxx @blazn101 @We Major
@Life is Good
This is for Nasir lets discuss!

 

[Online User]

This man Nasir is the GOAT, and nobody is convincing me otherwise. Illmatic, IWW, and Stillmatic, enough said. He doesn't only understand Hip-Hop, he IS Hip-Hop.

 

[West Coast Avenger]

your infatuation with the MC known as Nas is a little disturbing........but do you bruh........

 

[SpacelySprockets]

at least you arent as obsessed with nas as @MiC is with 50 cent

 

[Online User]

Tomorrow he'll wake up early on his born day at 40 it's a blessin' the... You already know the rest.

 

[Illeye buckmatic]

Hip Hop Is Dead. This album was definitely a gamechanger. It wasn't just NaS' career at a crossroads,hip hop as a whole was facing an identify crises. At least on a mainstream level. With lyrics dying down,the radio playing the same types of artists with extremely similar sounds,NaS had enough While the underground was solid,he had to change the game himself even if he ruffled a few feathers along the way. The point of the album wasn't to blame the south as so many believed. It was to challenge mainstream artists,record companies,and even fans to help restore the once proud culture that was quickly becoming a laughing stock. Hip hop was on a downslope because everyone wanted everything to sound the same. Before every region had a different sound from each other. When the south rose to the top,that all changed. And it wasn't the south's fault as the media tried to portray it.
Record companies saw the same arists getting the same airtime on radio. So they basically told their artists to follow that blueprint or their album wasn't coming out. Radio stations threatened dj's jobs if they deviated from the format.And the few artists that had the clout to continue making timeless music abandoned their roots in fear that their core audience wouldn't deem them as being hot enough. First week sales and airplay took over the minds of the greats too. And since southern artists was the main one's selling,each region abandoned their signature sounds during this period to sound exactly like their southern counterparts. NY,LA,Philly tried to become ATL,MIA,and HOU. And failed spectacularly. They gave up high powered lyrics and boom bap/ g funk beats for simplified lyrics and subject matter while adding powerful southern beats to their repertoire. The mainstream had phased out the conscious artist or anyone that didn't make radio friendly music that matched their set criteria. That's when the rebel to American Nasty Nas struck. He challenged all those forcing limitations upon us fans. He had producers from every region. He had guest appearances from all over. He talked about the newly formed taboos. He challenged everybody associated with hip hop to step their game up. Since then the rap game has vastly improved. New stars were born,lyrics made a comeback,and other regions reformed their identity. I'm not saying it was all NaS bringing it back,but he had just as big a hand in the rebirth of hip hop as anyone