Nas - Magic 2 (Discussion thread)

Raw Sauce

Raw Sauce

Superstar
Joined
Aug 16, 2015
Messages
8,908
Reputation
2,128
Daps
33,783
I thought the beats on this album were mid on first listen
Then I remembered I forgot to turn the bass back on, since I turn it off at night so I don't wake up my kid.
:manny:
Tried again on my run this morning
shyt is fire, I ended up doing 5 miles instead of 3 because I just kept the album on loop
I need more listens to know where to rank it from this run but it's official
Nas and Hit are 5/5
:ahh:
 
Y

yesiambowling

Pro
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
1,041
Reputation
90
Daps
697
spliz said:
That shyt bump crazy. Anyone hating on that prolly got some super wack ass speakers. Lol
Click to expand...
I like the sample, just not the part he looped for most of the song. I don't even think it's a horrible song, just not as good as anything else here.
 
qnsfinest

qnsfinest

Superstar
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
6,270
Reputation
1,544
Daps
29,766
Reppin
Queens, NY
Alexander Wiggin said:
My ranking so far


my ranking

topsters2-4.jpg
Click to expand...
Exact top 7 as mine.

Shyt is accurate as fukk.
 
up in here

up in here

Superstar
Joined
May 9, 2012
Messages
7,603
Reputation
2,296
Daps
19,577
Reppin
NULL
JayBaldacci said:
Yeah but the pyramids criticisms thing came from I Can era... It's like the moon and the stars complaints... when he doesn't have that many moon and stars bars.
Click to expand...
Yeah but dummies always gonna find something to hate about. Before that it was the “back to Africa” bars on IWW.
 
Y

yesiambowling

Pro
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
1,041
Reputation
90
Daps
697
Piff Perkins said:
EMJ isn't a bad beat, it just doesn't fit Nas. You need a certain wave to bounce that, whereas Nas is rapping like he's reading. Outside of the obvious south choices (Offset for instance) you'd need someone like ASAP, Q, Drake, etc to kill that. Nas sounded way more comfortable on the first trap beat, Abracadabra.
Click to expand...
See, I think he sounds fine on it. It's just not as good as everything else here.

I'm nitpicking.
 
Mike the Executioner

Mike the Executioner

What went on up there? Poppers and weird sex!
Joined
Sep 10, 2015
Messages
10,145
Reputation
3,585
Daps
40,292
Reppin
Brooklyn, New York
NoHalfWay said:
could very well be. I suppose it’s cuz he not in the studio sparingly anymore

In any event, I’m not worried bout dude falling off anymore. After KD2 I was worried the age was slowly creeping up on him… nawl, homie still sounds incredible.

I remember listening to “First Time” on KD3 and thinking this is some old shyt from 2001 and he just re-recorded :mindblown:

The intricacies of the multi syllable rhyme schemes, internal rhymes, flow… yeah he still got it
Click to expand...

You were worried about him on KD2? :gucci:

I don't know if this lines up or not, but Nas caught COVID between KD1 and KD2. I don't know if that affected him or his process, but maybe it didn't because he referenced things that had happened in 2021, about a few months before the album came out. I don't think it takes Nas and Hit-Boy that long to make these albums, which is why they're releasing them every year.

With Magic, I feel like that was completely spontaneous because they were riding the high from KD2. After that album came out, they barely took time to breathe before working on the next one. That's why Nas' confidence was out of this world on Magic. That album was full of shyt talking, like he was getting annoyed that he had to continue letting people know how great he is. The production reflected that.

KD3 took considerably longer because the expectations were higher this time. It was the only album in this run that we knew we were getting, and Nas was back to touring while also having his hand in other projects so they had more time to think about what they were doing. I'm assuming there were multiple tracks they recorded that we're never going to hear because they weren't good enough. Then there was the "no features" concept, which probably took some time to decide. By this point, Nas was fully secure in his relationship with Hit-Boy and they pushed themselves to somehow top everything they had done for a third time.

I feel like every album sounds the way it does because it's a reflection of where Nas and Hit-Boy were at that specific time. KD1 was them feeling each other out, since Nas only came to Hit-Boy for a beat, then it became an EP, then an album, and then they lost time due to COVID and Hit-Boy pushed Nas to finish the album when he wasn't feeling good. They knew they would do a sequel and they were getting to know each other better, so every album after KD1 was them building on their relationship, seeing the reactions they were getting, and becoming more confident with each release.
 
Y

yesiambowling

Pro
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
1,041
Reputation
90
Daps
697
yesiambowling said:
Just looked through the samples for this; doesn't sound like Hit used a sample pack at all for any of the 7 more traditional songs OR "One Mic, One Gun". In fact he used it far more extensively on Magic, so that arguement against him goes in the bushes.

Likewise, the lyricism/flow/delivery is far denser here than on KDI and KDII. Those may be more polished pieces, but I can't, in good conscience, put them over this one for that reason alone.

I'm convinced the drama in this thread regarding Alchemist before release is why this thread is so negative. Coli brehs really took all that stuff personally and are taking their anger out on this now. I don't see this kind of angry reception ANYWHERE but here. Either that, or people are really that angry that Nas made a 90s Memphis style song due to regionalism (which would be beyond pathetic).

Not saying the album is perfect; the EMJ beat is generally very bad, while 50 and 21 don't really match up to Nas' performance here, but saying this is the absolute worst of the 5 is a stretch, let alone ranking it near Nastradamus/Nasir/Street's Disciple.
Click to expand...
Looks like I was wrong; he didn't use it for EMJ either (even though I don't like that beat).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top