Nas - King's Disease III (Discussion Thread)

[Primetime21]

Why tf was "Hero" not a smash hit? Lol, that's crazy man. Beat is unbelievable...Nas ate every verse, good hook. Smh, crazy man, it's like Nas lowkey blackballed or sumn the way he never gets any real support for his records...even the ones that should obviously work.

The thing is 'smash' hits have to have a component of being easy and/or enjoyable to rap along or sing along to. Hero wasn't really that, Nas is rapping on it and the production obviously has commercial value but its not the most mass appealing, no one is going to sing along to that hook. Make the World Go Round had the same issue, corny singing on the hook. Made You Look on the other hand, more mass appealing and easier to digest from the beat to the hook. I don't think he's necessarily going for hits, just saying why some of these records weren't bigger.

 

[Pop123]

Yeah he spazzed on Hero - I always liked that one. Some probably hated on it with the standard "But it's not Nas over boom bap!" BS but I always found that beat really catchy.

Man when hero dropped, I remember driving out to the beach. Me and my homeboy was going crazy with that beat and them verses. We had to play that joint 1,000 times

Yeah man, I loved that shyt since day 1.

The 3rd verse is probably why radio and all the others powers didn't really want to rock with it.

 

[Pop123]

The thing is 'smash' hits have to have a component of being easy and/or enjoyable to rap along or sing along to.

Kendrick and Eminem have a lot of big big records that aren't the easiest to sing along to man, they doing that double time, triple time shyt even on the hooks, lol. I hear you tho, in general.

 

[up in here]

Why tf was "Hero" not a smash hit? Lol, that's crazy man. Beat is unbelievable...Nas ate every verse, good hook. Smh, crazy man, it's like Nas lowkey blackballed or sumn the way he never gets any real support for his records...even the ones that should obviously work.

I see people say this all the time but I can tell exactly why Hero wasn’t a hit. It was undercooked. It had the ingredients for a smash but it needed a few little adjustments and it all comes down to the chorus.

There is a version where Keri sings the whole chorus, not just the “herooooo” part. It sounds way better. Also, the chorus should have been repeated twice in between the verses, instead of just once.

The way it is, it just sounds to rappity rap for the average non-hiphop heads to rock with. Because Nas does the chorus in a very similar cadence to the verse there is no real break for the audience. It all just blends together aside from the “herooo” part, and that doesn’t come in often enough to really work as a hook

Having Keri do the whole chorus makes the track more dynamic based on their vocal differences. Repeating the chorus gives people more of a hook to vibe to.

 

[spliz]

I see people say this all the time but I can tell exactly why Hero wasn’t a hit. It was undercooked. It had the ingredients for a smash but it needed a few little adjustments and it all comes down to the chorus.

There is a version where Keri sings the whole chorus, not just the “herooooo” part. It sounds way better. Also, the chorus should have been repeated twice in between the verses, instead of just once.

The way it is, it just sounds to rappity rap for the average non-hiphop heads to rock with. Because Nas does the chorus in a very similar cadence to the verse there is no real break for the audience. It all just blends together aside from the “herooo” part, and that doesn’t come in often enough to really work as a hook

Having Keri do the whole chorus makes the track more dynamic based on their vocal differences. Repeating the chorus gives people more of a hook to vibe to.

I feel this. The hook didn’t need to be repeated twice but everything else I feel what u sayin. He shouldn’t have been over Keri’s vocals. Track still fire tho.

 

[up in here]

I feel this. The hook didn’t need to be repeated twice but everything else I feel what u sayin. He shouldn’t have been over Keri’s vocals. Track still fire tho.

Maybe they didn’t have to repeat the chorus but they should have let Keri rock and also maybe through the chorus on the end of the track too.

But yeah it’s still fire though

 

[LOST IN THE SAUCE]

Kendrick and Eminem have a lot of big big records that aren't the easiest to sing along to man, they doing that double time, triple time shyt even on the hooks, lol. I hear you tho, in general.

Eminem is white and Kendrick came in at a different era where radio mattered much less.

Hero wasn't it. The beat was right, but the hook was too grandiose. R&B hooks like that weren't really hitting at the time, and the shyt that was popping was all over the place, but much more lighthearted and goofy. It was a weird time for music.

 

[spliz]

Maybe they didn’t have to repeat the chorus but they should have let Keri rock and also maybe through the chorus on the end of the track too.

But yeah it’s still fire though

Yep. Also the mixing on the hook could’ve been a little better.

 

[T.H.E.GOD]

I still remember he performed it at the bet hip hop awards. shyt was awkward. Not my cup of tea for nasty…

 

[Left.A1]

I hope nas finally comes with some concept records and more storytelling joints in this …really been missing that style on the KD series

 

[IllmaticDelta]

I hope nas finally comes with some concept records and more storytelling joints in this …really been missing that style on the KD series

Kd2 had that

 

[SwizzLake]

Kd2 had that

Not really.

 

[kes929]

I hope nas finally comes with some concept records and more storytelling joints in this …really been missing that style on the KD series

He has given us so many of those, honestly just give me dope rhymes and sonically pleasing music. Throw in some bangers and I’m good.

 

[Life is Good]

This can’t be real. Old shyt, most recent shyt and shyt that hasn’t been released all being critiqued.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Not really.

there were definitely concept songs on KD2