Nas - King's Disease III (Discussion Thread)

[Izanami]

I came in without an ordinary name, how many Nasirs?
How many top tier? How many not here?
There's something in the name that's different from theirs
Depicted in scripture holdin' two dragons blowin' flames
Sorry it ain't go the same for y'all
They say Allah, please explain Allah
You Godbody or do you praise Allah?
And still rock crosses all on your chain a lot
I'm scorchinnnn



Nas was really in his bag on this one

Track really is flames. Nas blacked out on it.

 

[kes929]

Remember when everyone KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt that a Kanye/Nas album would be a classic?

How did THAT turn out?

Remember when everyone SWORE that DJ Premier had all the answers and that Nas working with him again would blow any and every producer that Nas had worked with across Hip Hop Is Dead, Untitled, and Life Is Good out the water?


How many spins have YOU given Break Beats this year? Do any of the blogs talk about it? Any of those so called Hip Hop “purists” like Elliot Wilson, Peter Rosenberg, or Flex adding it to they’re playlists or radio rotations?

Remember when everyone just KNEW that Lost Tapes 2 would be a genre defining classic that would shift the state of Hip Hop and bring Boom Bap back to the forefront?

It Never Ends has been on Youtube for THREE YEARS and has 477K views. Legit had been on Youtube for ONE MONTH and has 777K views.



The point is there ARE no guarantees when it comes to artist/producer pairings. The only thing we can do is trust that ARTIST knows what they are doing and the producer has what it takes to provide the sonics to bring that vision to life. Hit-Boy is who is bringing Nas vision to life, and the results speak for themselves.

Again, Nas isn’t selling out Madison Square Garden doing Alchemist only songs. He’s doing so with HIT BOY produced songs. Nas ain’t winning Grammys with Alchemist production, matter of fact he and Hit-Boy BEAT Alchemist & Freddie Gibbs at the Grammys. And @Wavey Singh it doesn’t matter what ludicrous conspiracy theories you concoct in your head, the FACT is that Nas’s Hit Boy produced album won that Grammy and Alchemist’s Freddie Gibbs produced album didn’t. Then to drive it hime that the partnership has been both creatively and industry wide successful, they were nominated for KD2 a year later.

Nas has proven time and time again that when he goes with his own inclinations he’s successful and when he tries to force things its not as successful as every armchair A&R thought it would be. FACT is that Alchemist beats aren’t moving Nas to the point where its inspiring him to even write a verse, let alone hook up with him for an entire project. Alchemist IS. NOT. THAT. GUY. And given that Nas has said him and Hit-Boy are kidnapping the game, I don‘t foresee him nor any other producer BEING that guy anytime soon. Hit Boy has given Nas the shot in the arm he needed and neither of them are looking back, and given the success of the projects, commercially and critically, there’s no reason to whatsoever.

Couldn’t have been broken down any better than this

 

[kes929]

Hit Boy throwing a drill beat on reminisce is what sets him apart from these other producers. He is challenging Nas to go outside of that box and it comes out fire each and every time. When people do video reviews of the album and that part comes on they go crazy. Nas wants 60, 40 and 16 year old fans. Hit Boy has helped him reach all those lanes in 2 years.

 

[HNIC973]

Remember when everyone KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt that a Kanye/Nas album would be a classic?

How did THAT turn out?

Remember when everyone SWORE that DJ Premier had all the answers and that Nas working with him again would blow any and every producer that Nas had worked with across Hip Hop Is Dead, Untitled, and Life Is Good out the water?


How many spins have YOU given Break Beats this year? Do any of the blogs talk about it? Any of those so called Hip Hop “purists” like Elliot Wilson, Peter Rosenberg, or Flex adding it to they’re playlists or radio rotations?

Remember when everyone just KNEW that Lost Tapes 2 would be a genre defining classic that would shift the state of Hip Hop and bring Boom Bap back to the forefront?

It Never Ends has been on Youtube for THREE YEARS and has 477K views. Legit had been on Youtube for ONE MONTH and has 777K views.



The point is there ARE no guarantees when it comes to artist/producer pairings. The only thing we can do is trust that ARTIST knows what they are doing and the producer has what it takes to provide the sonics to bring that vision to life. Hit-Boy is who is bringing Nas vision to life, and the results speak for themselves.

Again, Nas isn’t selling out Madison Square Garden doing Alchemist only songs. He’s doing so with HIT BOY produced songs. Nas ain’t winning Grammys with Alchemist production, matter of fact he and Hit-Boy BEAT Alchemist & Freddie Gibbs at the Grammys. And @Wavey Singh it doesn’t matter what ludicrous conspiracy theories you concoct in your head, the FACT is that Nas’s Hit Boy produced album won that Grammy and Alchemist’s Freddie Gibbs produced album didn’t. Then to drive it hime that the partnership has been both creatively and industry wide successful, they were nominated for KD2 a year later.

Nas has proven time and time again that when he goes with his own inclinations he’s successful and when he tries to force things its not as successful as every armchair A&R thought it would be. FACT is that Alchemist beats aren’t moving Nas to the point where its inspiring him to even write a verse, let alone hook up with him for an entire project. Alchemist IS. NOT. THAT. GUY. And given that Nas has said him and Hit-Boy are kidnapping the game, I don‘t foresee him nor any other producer BEING that guy anytime soon. Hit Boy has given Nas the shot in the arm he needed and neither of them are looking back, and given the success of the projects, commercially and critically, there’s no reason to whatsoever.

Who thought that? definitely not me Kayne was to me before Nasir was ever made that shyt further confirmed it . Premo in 06 would've def helped that snoozefest that turned out to be HHID. You can't proclaim ALC or any other legend not that guy if they've never had the opportunity to lock in for full projects c'mon now. Again, I see both sides of the argument I'm for more HB mixture of producers long as the music IDC really. Just because some people feel HB fatigue doesn't make them wrong

 

[JustCKing]

Who thought that? definitely not me Kayne was to me before Nasir was ever made that shyt further confirmed it . Premo in 06 would've def helped that snoozefest that turned out to be HHID. You can't proclaim ALC or any other legend not that guy if they've never had the opportunity to lock in for full projects c'mon now. Again, I see both sides of the argument I'm for more HB mixture of producers long as the music IDC really. Just because some people feel HB fatigue doesn't make them wrong

A lot of people, especially huge fans of both Kanye and Nas, expected Nasir to be a classic. Like you, I wasn't one of those people because I haven't really been a fan of Kanye the artist or producer since Yeezus. I remember people saying it was going to be Illmatic 2 because it was only 7 songs and Illmatic had 9.

Hip Hop Is Dead was an album that I felt if any album would be the Nas/Premo, it would have been that one. I was hyped at an MTV article where Premo talked about working on the album with Nas and how he heard the Salaam Remi songs Nas did for the album and wanted to outdo them. HHID drops and there wasn't one Premo track.

 

[kes929]

A lot of people, especially huge fans of both Kanye and Nas, expected Nasir to be a classic. Like you, I wasn't one of those people because I haven't really been a fan of Kanye the artist or producer since Yeezus. I remember people saying it was going to be Illmatic 2 because it was only 7 songs and Illmatic had 9.

Hip Hop Is Dead was an album that I felt if any album would be the Nas/Premo, it would have been that one. I was hyped at an MTV article where Premo talked about working on the album with Nas and how he heard the Salaam Remi songs Nas did for the album and wanted to outdo them. HHID drops and there wasn't one Premo track.

I will say I do think sonically hip hop is dead would have been the album to do the the Premo album or just back to that sound in general. I do agree with that statement. Production wise that is one album I think Nas could have went back to the basics on. But Nas is Nas, I support the artist.

 

[JustCKing]

But Nas is Nas, I support the artist.

Yeah, that album was a first day purchase. It still has some heat on it. Some songs I didn't like, but these were all dope to me:

Money Over BS
Black Republicans
Hold Down The Block
Still Dreamin
Let There Be Light
Can't Forget About You
Hope
Hustlers

 

[Supa]

A lot of people, especially huge fans of both Kanye and Nas, expected Nasir to be a classic. Like you, I wasn't one of those people because I haven't really been a fan of Kanye the artist or producer since Yeezus. I remember people saying it was going to be Illmatic 2 because it was only 7 songs and Illmatic had 9.

Hip Hop Is Dead was an album that I felt if any album would be the Nas/Premo, it would have been that one. I was hyped at an MTV article where Premo talked about working on the album with Nas and how he heard the Salaam Remi songs Nas did for the album and wanted to outdo them. HHID drops and there wasn't one Premo track.

Nasir can't even be used as an example.

Kanye wasn't even producing on his own consistently and they put the project together in a matter of days. Had they spent time on it it would have obviously sounded better. Had they done the project when Kanye was at his apex his beats would have been better.

You can't really compare a producer and rapper doing a one off song to actually sitting down in the studio together and crafting an album. It's an entirely different amount of focus. We won't know what a Nas Primo album will sound like until they do it.

Nas sounds great on new Alchemist


Pete is releasing a lot of dope beats Nas would sound great over. I'd almost want to hear that as much as a Primo album but Pete burned that bridge.

 

[Piff Perkins]

A lot of people, especially huge fans of both Kanye and Nas, expected Nasir to be a classic. Like you, I wasn't one of those people because I haven't really been a fan of Kanye the artist or producer since Yeezus. I remember people saying it was going to be Illmatic 2 because it was only 7 songs and Illmatic had 9.

Hip Hop Is Dead was an album that I felt if any album would be the Nas/Premo, it would have been that one. I was hyped at an MTV article where Premo talked about working on the album with Nas and how he heard the Salaam Remi songs Nas did for the album and wanted to outdo them. HHID drops and there wasn't one Premo track.

There were multiple beats on the Pusha album that year that made me think that album would be amazing. Plus Kanye and Nas had never missed before. So for that album to be that bad/meh...yea I was disappointed as fukk, and surprised. Flip side if you told me a 2023 Nas/Premo album was coming then yea I'd have reservations and wouldn't expect a whole lot, vs me assuming the Kanye one would be classic.

HHID era...yea Premo could have been on that album and improved it. That was also probably the last year I felt like Premo had multiple dope beats (AZ's The Format, the Christina Aguilera tracks, Termanology, etc). Anything after that...eh not sure I'd want Nas and him together. 2002 (God's Son), 2004 (SD), 2006 (HHID) would have all benefited from Premo tracks since he was still making dope or classic beats.

 

[JustCKing]

There were multiple beats on the Pusha album that year that made me think that album would be amazing. Plus Kanye and Nas had never missed before. So for that album to be that bad/meh...yea I was disappointed as fukk, and surprised. Flip side if you told me a 2023 Nas/Premo album was coming then yea I'd have reservations and wouldn't expect a whole lot, vs me assuming the Kanye one would be classic.

HHID era...yea Premo could have been on that album and improved it. That was also probably the last year I felt like Premo had multiple dope beats (AZ's The Format, the Christina Aguilera tracks, Termanology, etc). Anything after that...eh not sure I'd want Nas and him together. 2002 (God's Son), 2004 (SD), 2006 (HHID) would have all benefited from Premo tracks since he was still making dope or classic beats.

I don't know if Premo would've fit God's Son. He already had "Made You Look" as the street joint, which was huge for what it was. Then there was "Get Down". Most of the album was somber.

 

[iLLusoYuN_Da_Adidas_King]

premo is washed...
I wish I could tell him to his face ge washed and bet him a stack he cant make a classic LP with nas so he can be motivated....
otherwise... nah premier aint making shyt genre defining with Nas no time soon.

 

[Piff Perkins]

I don't know if Premo would've fit God's Son. He already had "Made You Look" as the street joint, which was huge for what it was. Then there was "Get Down". Most of the album was somber.

Never agreed with that sentiment. You add bangers on every album unless you're doing some left shyt. Premo did Boom and Goldyn Chyld in 2002...you wouldn't put either on that album in replace of Zone Out or Warrior's Song? Obviously that album is dope as is, I'm just saying I'm not turning down classic tracks because my album is "somber" and I only want one street joint. Hell no lol. Stack those tracks. Outside of hits, they're the ones people remember 20 years later.

 

[Life is Good]

I really wish Nas was the type of artist that got on social media platforms and told some of y’all “”FUKK YOU & YOUR OPINION!”

Some of y’all complain about everything this man does as an artist.

“HE WORKING WITH HB TOO MUCH.” “HE SHOULD WORK WITH ALC, PREM, HAV. ect.”
“HE RAPPING ABOUT THE SAME SUBJECT.”
“I’M TIRED OF NAS & HITBOY.”
“NAS SHOULD DO THIS, NAS SHOULD DO THAT.”
“SO & SO PRODUCERS WOULD HAVE IMPROVED THIS ALBUM MADE OVER 20 YRS AGO.”

Most of this shyt y’all saying up here is not even a fukking reasonable opinion. It’s just sounds like y’all truly want to complain and make up bullshyt. 4 fukking albums in 2 yrs! No artist is perfect but damn no other artist receives this type of scrutiny from his fan base & haters alike. Shyt at this point Nas can’t tell y’all so called fans from the motherfukers that hate everything he does.

I guess when you truly the GOAT this type of bullshyt comes with the territory.

If this shyt don’t apply to you don’t take it personal.

 

[InstantKlassik]

Dudes are never happy with anything this shyt is maddening.

Dudes are talking about alchemist and Premo in here . Anybody saying shyt like this should never call out Vlad ever again because these takes are just as bad. Go to HELL. This is total nonsense.

 

[Prolific_1011]

Yeah, some dudes treat Nas like some clown whose work should be pimped out to their producer of choice.

It'll never end. His next album can be with Alchemist, and the convo will turn to "we want Large Pro next." The Large Pro album drops, and then it'll be "Havoc next!"

It's ridiculous. Lol at "Hitboy-fatigue". I've never heard the term "producer X-fatigue" used for any other rapper.