Nas- Untitled- Discussion Thread.
I'm going to begin this by saying that I feel that Nas's Untitled album is a classic in the terms of a true HipHop genre defining piece of work. When I say this I mean that it captures and illustrates various examples of African American experience in various methods of expression. I feel that with this album Nas not only was able to speak to his own circumstances, but that of us as a race of diverse individuals. Below is what I feel is a thorough track by track breakdown of what I feel Nas was trying to say on each song, and, when looked at cohesively, encapsulates satisfactorily the African American Pshyche of the past, present, and near future....
1). Queens Get The Money- If one were to look at Untitled as I do, as a musical novel of sorts, Then this piece would serve as our forward. Here Nas is introducing himself as our author and laying out both his credences before us as well as defending himself from those other authors or editors (50 Cent, Al Sharpton, etc.) who would seek to discredit him.
"*****s is still hatin/ talkin that Nas done fell off with rhymin/ he'd rather floss with diamonds/ they pray please God let him spit that Uzi in the army lining/ that shorty doo wop/ rolling ooo woops in the park reclining/"
In this passage Nas is referencing his classic debut album Illmatic. An album that has haunted him from the moment of it's release as being that album that can never be topped or outdone. Much like J.D. Salinger felt the pressures of people constantly comparing his work to his immortal novel "Catcher In The Rye", Nas himself has fought this battle time again at every album release. Well the buck stops here Nas seems to be saying. Illmatic is what it is, and there is now a new book written. Value it as is.
2). You Can't Stop Us Now- Here is chapter one, and like any introductory work that traces a history of any specific topic, Nas chooses to compare and contrast the past. The topic is the history of African Americans "from Willie Lynch to Willie Hutch/ right on we superfly/" and also the dual meaning, implications, and definitions of the word ******. As starting from the beginning, Nas mainly focuses on the word in it's original negative aspects. " Betsy Ross sold the first American flag/ bet she had a ****** with her to help her old ass" followed by The Lost Poets proclamation of James Baldwin's quote, "You can Only be destroyed by BELIEVING that you really are what the WHITE WORLD considers...a ******". This quotation used by Nas to bridge the first and second verse is poignant for a reason. It drives home the fact that what is commonly considered "******ish behavior" by former white slave masters is then turned into a positive by African Americans. "Gave a blood time cause he fought with his canine". This inhumane "******ish" behavior, but dog and chicken fighting have been staples of African American entertainment since slavery. "David Star on the chain of Sammy Davis/ he helped pave the way for southern shakers and them Harlem Shakers/Now we getting our papers/ They try to censor the words to stop our money coming but you cant escape us/ haters/" The "sing, fiddle, and dance" routine harkens back to talented slaves playing entertaning their masters through song and dance. This was "******ish" behavior, which was flipped by those like Sammy Davis Jr. Into money making commodities that paved the way for rock and roll, blues, and Hiphop. In essence for millions of African Americans to be able to innovate and make money. What Whites once saw as the demeaning behavior of labor subhumans, ww have transformed into a billion dollar industry.
3). Breathe- Here Nas skips a couple hundred years and speaks through the eyes of today's ghetto trapped, poverty stricken, youth. In their mind' eye "In America you'll NEVER BE FREE". This is attributed in the likes of a Sean Bell, who instead of being treated as a human being, was coldly and unlawfully taken from the world for no other reason than being a black man the wrong place at the wrong time. The frustration, anger, paranoia, and pressure felt by such commonplace injustice bubbles over into a "Middle Fingers up **** THE POLICE!" attitude and way of thinking. All ready stuck in the inpovershed purgatory known as "Every Ghetto, USA"; where jobs are hard to come by, violence, corruption, and drug use run rampant. And even law enforcement is against you whether you are guilty or not, the question begged to be asked is " Can't a ***** just BREATHE"???
4). We Make The World Go Around- This song is looked at as a blunder. A party song on an otherwise fiercely unrelenting, politically incorrect, study on African American race relations? Where some choose to see merely an attempt at "commercialization" on Nas and Def Jam's part I choose to listen to as another view on African American lifestyle. Hip Hop has predominately been attacked by the media for glorification of material possession. The "Clothes, bank rolls, and hoes" mentality of mainstream rap reaches crescendos of unparraleld buffoonery at times yes, However as Nas has pointed out and expressed in the past two songs (chapters) we've been from "Pyramids to Cotton Fields/ Forgotten men who did get killed/". We've been "fresh out of city housing/ ain't have to many options/ Pennies on a pension or penitionary bounding"/ and after getting through all of the bull**** sometimes it does feel good to kick back and celebrate that us as a people and race Do IN FACT make the world go around...
5). Hero- If there is another song besides Queens Get The Money that speaks to Nas expressing himself as a black man trying to get his message across, it is of course this one. Here Nas breaks down the challenges of attempting to do something that against the status quo. Nas knew going in that this album was not going to be a platinum selling, Grammy winning, media darling. There was furor over the album title, controversy over the themes, and dispute on what constitutes social commentary or thinly disguised gimmick. Through it all Nas stands his ground. From the "lawyers who only see billboard charts as winning/ forgetting, Nas the only true rebel from the beginning/" to "Newsweek articles/ who startled big wigs/ they said Nas why is you trying it"/ Wells he's doing it because as an artist it's what he SUPPOSE TO DO. As a black man, living with racial injustic and the supposed hypocrisy of the N-word usage by predominately black culture is something he has lived with all of his life. Who better to tell it than him? It is part of his legacy as an African American, part of his soul. "Still in musical prison, in jail for the flow/ Trying telling Bob Dillon, Bruce, or Billy Joel they can't sing what's in they SOUL"/ and to put what's in his soul out there to the masses, he's willing to sacrifice the album's title. "So Untitled it is, I never changed NOTHIN/ but people remember this if Nas can't say it/ Think of all these talented kids with new ideas/ bein told what they can and can't spit/". This about HIS RIGHT to freedom of speech and expression as black man and the ARTIST right to creative thinking and musical control. Nas is willing to take the bullet on this one, to set an example. And for that, Nas is a Hero.
End Of Part 1
I'm going to begin this by saying that I feel that Nas's Untitled album is a classic in the terms of a true HipHop genre defining piece of work. When I say this I mean that it captures and illustrates various examples of African American experience in various methods of expression. I feel that with this album Nas not only was able to speak to his own circumstances, but that of us as a race of diverse individuals. Below is what I feel is a thorough track by track breakdown of what I feel Nas was trying to say on each song, and, when looked at cohesively, encapsulates satisfactorily the African American Pshyche of the past, present, and near future....
1). Queens Get The Money- If one were to look at Untitled as I do, as a musical novel of sorts, Then this piece would serve as our forward. Here Nas is introducing himself as our author and laying out both his credences before us as well as defending himself from those other authors or editors (50 Cent, Al Sharpton, etc.) who would seek to discredit him.
"*****s is still hatin/ talkin that Nas done fell off with rhymin/ he'd rather floss with diamonds/ they pray please God let him spit that Uzi in the army lining/ that shorty doo wop/ rolling ooo woops in the park reclining/"
In this passage Nas is referencing his classic debut album Illmatic. An album that has haunted him from the moment of it's release as being that album that can never be topped or outdone. Much like J.D. Salinger felt the pressures of people constantly comparing his work to his immortal novel "Catcher In The Rye", Nas himself has fought this battle time again at every album release. Well the buck stops here Nas seems to be saying. Illmatic is what it is, and there is now a new book written. Value it as is.
2). You Can't Stop Us Now- Here is chapter one, and like any introductory work that traces a history of any specific topic, Nas chooses to compare and contrast the past. The topic is the history of African Americans "from Willie Lynch to Willie Hutch/ right on we superfly/" and also the dual meaning, implications, and definitions of the word ******. As starting from the beginning, Nas mainly focuses on the word in it's original negative aspects. " Betsy Ross sold the first American flag/ bet she had a ****** with her to help her old ass" followed by The Lost Poets proclamation of James Baldwin's quote, "You can Only be destroyed by BELIEVING that you really are what the WHITE WORLD considers...a ******". This quotation used by Nas to bridge the first and second verse is poignant for a reason. It drives home the fact that what is commonly considered "******ish behavior" by former white slave masters is then turned into a positive by African Americans. "Gave a blood time cause he fought with his canine". This inhumane "******ish" behavior, but dog and chicken fighting have been staples of African American entertainment since slavery. "David Star on the chain of Sammy Davis/ he helped pave the way for southern shakers and them Harlem Shakers/Now we getting our papers/ They try to censor the words to stop our money coming but you cant escape us/ haters/" The "sing, fiddle, and dance" routine harkens back to talented slaves playing entertaning their masters through song and dance. This was "******ish" behavior, which was flipped by those like Sammy Davis Jr. Into money making commodities that paved the way for rock and roll, blues, and Hiphop. In essence for millions of African Americans to be able to innovate and make money. What Whites once saw as the demeaning behavior of labor subhumans, ww have transformed into a billion dollar industry.
3). Breathe- Here Nas skips a couple hundred years and speaks through the eyes of today's ghetto trapped, poverty stricken, youth. In their mind' eye "In America you'll NEVER BE FREE". This is attributed in the likes of a Sean Bell, who instead of being treated as a human being, was coldly and unlawfully taken from the world for no other reason than being a black man the wrong place at the wrong time. The frustration, anger, paranoia, and pressure felt by such commonplace injustice bubbles over into a "Middle Fingers up **** THE POLICE!" attitude and way of thinking. All ready stuck in the inpovershed purgatory known as "Every Ghetto, USA"; where jobs are hard to come by, violence, corruption, and drug use run rampant. And even law enforcement is against you whether you are guilty or not, the question begged to be asked is " Can't a ***** just BREATHE"???
4). We Make The World Go Around- This song is looked at as a blunder. A party song on an otherwise fiercely unrelenting, politically incorrect, study on African American race relations? Where some choose to see merely an attempt at "commercialization" on Nas and Def Jam's part I choose to listen to as another view on African American lifestyle. Hip Hop has predominately been attacked by the media for glorification of material possession. The "Clothes, bank rolls, and hoes" mentality of mainstream rap reaches crescendos of unparraleld buffoonery at times yes, However as Nas has pointed out and expressed in the past two songs (chapters) we've been from "Pyramids to Cotton Fields/ Forgotten men who did get killed/". We've been "fresh out of city housing/ ain't have to many options/ Pennies on a pension or penitionary bounding"/ and after getting through all of the bull**** sometimes it does feel good to kick back and celebrate that us as a people and race Do IN FACT make the world go around...
5). Hero- If there is another song besides Queens Get The Money that speaks to Nas expressing himself as a black man trying to get his message across, it is of course this one. Here Nas breaks down the challenges of attempting to do something that against the status quo. Nas knew going in that this album was not going to be a platinum selling, Grammy winning, media darling. There was furor over the album title, controversy over the themes, and dispute on what constitutes social commentary or thinly disguised gimmick. Through it all Nas stands his ground. From the "lawyers who only see billboard charts as winning/ forgetting, Nas the only true rebel from the beginning/" to "Newsweek articles/ who startled big wigs/ they said Nas why is you trying it"/ Wells he's doing it because as an artist it's what he SUPPOSE TO DO. As a black man, living with racial injustic and the supposed hypocrisy of the N-word usage by predominately black culture is something he has lived with all of his life. Who better to tell it than him? It is part of his legacy as an African American, part of his soul. "Still in musical prison, in jail for the flow/ Trying telling Bob Dillon, Bruce, or Billy Joel they can't sing what's in they SOUL"/ and to put what's in his soul out there to the masses, he's willing to sacrifice the album's title. "So Untitled it is, I never changed NOTHIN/ but people remember this if Nas can't say it/ Think of all these talented kids with new ideas/ bein told what they can and can't spit/". This about HIS RIGHT to freedom of speech and expression as black man and the ARTIST right to creative thinking and musical control. Nas is willing to take the bullet on this one, to set an example. And for that, Nas is a Hero.
End Of Part 1
