Nas - King's Disease III (Discussion Thread)

[HHID]

Speaking of that little KD best of, i been trying to sequence a compilation of Nas & Hit best work, and really couldn't settle below 30 tracks/90 minutes

And even there, i had to cut out tracks i absolutely love. That's how dope these 55 tracks they released in 2 years are!

I tried to make it cohesive sonically and even lyrically/thematically. Like you'll have some type of reference from one track to the other (hint : for example Reminisce and Hollywood Gangsta)

Had to respect one concept tho : no 2 consecutive tracks from each album, to force myself find some matching sounds/vibes

01. Speechless
02. Rare
03. Blue Benz
04. Michael & Quincy
05. 40-16 Building
06. Thun
07. Meet Joe Black
08. 27 Summers
09. 40 Side
10. WTF SMH
11. Store Run
12. Car #85
13. Legit
14. Moments
15. Get Light
16. Composure
17. Once a Man, twice a Child
18. Death Row East
19. Beef
20. Ugly
21. First Time
22. Nobody
23. Reminisce
24. Hollywood Gangsta
25. My Bible
26. Hood2Hood
27. Big Nas
28. The Truth
29. Nas Is Good
30. Dedicated
31. The Cure

]

Edit : don't know why 30 is still on the Spotify list, couldn't figure out where to put it besides a bonus outro. It's actually when i played that joint after some of those on KD2 that i figured out why some heads here had beef with the mixing/sound.

https://tidal.com/playlist/ce9392eb-6945-458c-b1b3-09a5b274f1a3

Of course we all got our personal tastes, but hope some of yall will have the time to check it out and give me your thoughts

 

[MikeStamina]

The man is about to hit 50. He just wants to put the music out. The days of running around doing interviews, press runs, and promo been over. He's on his own label so any moves being made or not made are his own decisions.

If he needed the money he would probably promote more but his investments outside of music bring in so much there's no point.

You definitely clock in

No business owner thinks like this..NONE

Nas is weird about business/business promo period. It didn't start today

His Vault overflowing with cash has nothing to do with it.

 

[mr.africa]

Rare is the centre piece of the kd series for me, easily. Something about that first beat that sounds both futuristic and rootwd in Ny hip hop at the same time.
By the time the 3rd beat came on, I almost took my shirt off and danced like Bobby schmurda (almost)

As far as kd3, I'm on fire is the one right now. Last week, it was Don't shoot.

Absolute masterpiece of a project overall!

 

[prophecypro]

last stationhead she was on that bs blaming the base "we got to do better shyt" I left

I mean I get it, her job is to promote Nas on a social media fan site and get numbers but hes an older artist on independent, we've all dissected why (Older fanbase, even the younger ones are overseas them streams aint gonna count for billboard. Probably why he does well on itunes but modest at best for him on Spotify. Aint like they made her socials offical, its a very small following insular following which is cool in some ways)

She has to understand.

 

[yesiambowling]

I mean I get it, her job is to promote Nas on a social media fan site and get numbers but hes an older artist on independent, we've all dissected why (Older fanbase, even the younger ones are overseas them streams aint gonna count for billboard. Probably why he does well on itunes but modest at best for him on Spotify. Aint like they made her socials offical, its a very small following insular following which is cool in some ways)

She has to understand.

Best thing to do is push media for reviews; not host pointless streaming parties. Nas is on an indy, so paid media is out; needs earned media.

 

[prophecypro]

Best thing to do is push media for reviews; not host pointless streaming parties. Nas is on an indy, so paid media is out; needs earned media.

Yeah and Im not so sure if him being on an independent as opposed to a major stops his team from doing that

 

[yesiambowling]

Yeah and Im not so sure if him being on an independent as opposed to a major stops his team from doing that

Just cheaper and more practical. An easy one, for example; telling metacritic to add the Albumism review to the average and updating the average to reflect the Rapreviews score which was added.

Also pushing Exclaim and Allmusic to review would be a good idea. Those probably help more over time than first week/month streaming parties.

 

[Ziggiy]

last stationhead she was on that bs blaming the base "we got to do better shyt" I left

I fukk with her passion and I appreciate all the inside info she’s been giving.

But that “the fanbase needs to do better” rhetoric isn’t going to work unfortunately. I know for a fact that myself and a bunch of other fans did EXACTLY what she was pushing for in streaming the album across multiple platforms, attending the streaming parties, hell I even held off buying my traditional 3-4 physical copies so that all my streams through Apple Music counted the first week.

The game is the game, and I don’t blame Nas for not wanting to play it, he’s the GOAT and he’ll forever get MY financial support. But to do “big” numbers through a rigged system like streaming Nas would HAVE to do press. Would HAVE to have videos and singles ready at least 1-2 weeks before release. Would HAVE to have features. And Nas on the this VERY album said he’s happy for those who rock with him to be doing so without all the fake shyt attached.


I’m all in favor of calling out these punk ass websites who either don’t review the album (Whats good All Music?) or review the album and give it a bogus low score because of an obvious agenda (Cacfork) THAT seems to be actually moving the needle and forcing a real change in the public perception of Nas work and legacy. When it comes to sales Nas might be one of the strongest when it comes to physical sales in Hip Hop. The album was the number 1 rap album on itunes for three straight weeks and number 1 in all genres the week of release. One Gun One Mic shot to number 1 less than 24 hours within release. I’m SURE his vinyl and CD sales on his web site are through the roof as they routinely sell out.

Streams are going to be what they’re going to be. Its an unfair, fukked up system that NOBODY seems to fully understand. There has been evidence of major labels paying for streaming farms for certain artists that just gets swept under the rug and nobody says shyt about it. I read that KD3 had one of the top 5 streaming debuts the week of November 11th but somehow debuted at number 10? The fukk?!?

 

[Piff Perkins]

I fukk with her passion and I appreciate all the inside info she’s been giving.

But that “the fanbase needs to do better” rhetoric isn’t going to work unfortunately. I know for a fact that myself and a bunch of other fans did EXACTLY what she was pushing for in streaming the album across multiple platforms, attending the streaming parties, hell I even held off buying my traditional 3-4 physical copies so that all my streams through Apple Music counted the first week.

The game is the game, and I don’t blame Nas for not wanting to play it, he’s the GOAT and he’ll forever get MY financial support. But to do “big” numbers through a rigged system like streaming Nas would HAVE to do press. Would HAVE to have videos and singles ready at least 1-2 weeks before release. Would HAVE to have features. And Nas on the this VERY album said he’s happy for those who rock with him to be doing so without all the fake shyt attached.


I’m all in favor of calling out these punk ass websites who either don’t review the album (Whats good All Music?) or review the album and give it a bogus low score because of an obvious agenda (Cacfork) THAT seems to be actually moving the needle and forcing a real change in the public perception of Nas work and legacy. When it comes to sales Nas might be one of the strongest when it comes to physical sales in Hip Hop. The album was the number 1 rap album on itunes for three straight weeks and number 1 in all genres the week of release. One Gun One Mic shot to number 1 less than 24 hours within release. I’m SURE his vinyl and CD sales on his web site are through the roof as they routinely sell out.

Streams are going to be what they’re going to be. Its an unfair, fukked up system that NOBODY seems to fully understand. There has been evidence of major labels paying for streaming farms for certain artists that just gets swept under the rug and nobody says shyt about it. I read that KD3 had one of the top 5 streaming debuts the week of November 11th but somehow debuted at number 10? The fukk?!?

The streams fell after the initial release listening rush. That happens to nearly every album but you can neutralize it with hits and maintaining as many casual listens/streams as possible. A lot of people just listen to an album once, pick 3-5 songs they fukk with, put it on a playlist, and then go about their day. The more songs you make those people keep listening to, alongside the streams you're getting from fans, plus streams from your hit (if you have one)...the higher your sales are. That's really the streaming playbook. Plus of course dropping a single early to bank streams.

KD3 could have easily done more if the label/Nas wanted it to, but that's not the direction they went in. You put Drake/Cole/Kdot/etc on the second song of your album, have multiple female features later on the album and you're gonna do 50-70k first week easily. Plus dropping a single a week beforehand, a video, and doing promo.

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

I mean I get it, her job is to promote Nas on a social media fan site and get numbers but hes an older artist on independent, we've all dissected why (Older fanbase, even the younger ones are overseas them streams aint gonna count for billboard. Probably why he does well on itunes but modest at best for him on Spotify. Aint like they made her socials offical, its a very small following insular following which is cool in some ways)

She has to understand.

Just look at cormega. He the same age as nas and did a lot of interviews before and after the realness 2 came out. promoting is music.

 

[L. Deezy]

Just look at cormega. He the same age as nas and did a lot of interviews before and after the realness 2 came out. promoting is music.

Bro, Nas has waaaaaaay more on his plate than music.

 

[kes929]

Just look at cormega. He the same age as nas and did a lot of interviews before and after the realness 2 came out. promoting is music.

You act like Nas out here just chilling with nothing to do

 

[Piff Perkins]

You act like Nas out here just chilling with nothing to do

Yea but none of that is stopping him from taking an hour to do a Breakfast Club interview that gets a million plus views and helps sell his album on his record label. While promoting all the other stuff he has going on, including the hip hop anniversary thing, including documentaries that he's directed etc. I get he doesn't "have" to do any of it, I just don't understand not doing it. I saw Hit Boy do more interviews for this album, just like Premo did more interviews for the EP.

 

[mathematik]

Cormega has a relatively small social media following under 200k and has no choice to get out there to interview and promote his album! He’s always comments under Nas posts I’m sure some of it is genuine but of course to attract others to his page as well!
Nothing wrong with that! Nas on the other hand has 6 million and is using that as his main avenue of promotion! I truly hope he is going to sell out the garden which is no easy task! Especially since a lot of his fans went to see him recently at Wu/Nas show!

 

[HHID]

Cormega has a relatively small social media following under 200k and has no choice to get out there to interview and promote his album! He’s always comments under Nas posts I’m sure some of it is genuine but of course to attract others to his page as well!
Nothing wrong with that! Nas on the other hand has 6 million and is using that as his main avenue of promotion! I truly hope he is going to sell out the garden which is no easy task! Especially since a lot of his fans went to see him recently at Wu/Nas show!

Man i had a very vivid & Stannish thought (or dream can't remember) of 30 being the intro and the outro to the MSG show. And on the Outro when Nas says Premier album might just happen, he suddenly walks on stage. Crowd goes fukking crazy, but the best is to come..

At the end each time he says "going on 30 summers" another vet walks on stage whether it's Q-Tip, Busta, Rae&Ghost, Large Pro, Jay, Rakim, KRS, G-Rap... Whoever was important to Hip-hop and Nas' career for the past 30 years

Would be quite some hommage for someone who's been constantly bigging up others work and showing respect and admiration for 3 decades