Nas - Magic (Discussion Thread)

[Surreal]

Tetsuo and Youth was crazy.

Mid if that to me. Dude can't read the room and make good music. Royce realized all those concepts and lyrics don't mean a thing if people can't feel it and groove to it. Rappers critiqing a near 50 yr old MC is sucka shyt....esp when said rapper isn't anything but a more successful Canibus but Canibus highest trumps him as well

 

[ThirdAct]

Guess Magic doesn't have enough conceptual songs about Amy Winehouse's ghost

 

[Surreal]

Guess Magic doesn't have enough conceptual songs about Amy Winehouse's ghost

Asking that nikka to make an album together about his deceased friend, whom he never met for profit. The gall

 

[kes929]

nas is a level nobody is on



OpTic Gaming and Envy Gaming announce merger - Esports Insider

 

[spliz]

Mid if that to me. Dude can't read the room and make good music. Royce realized all those concepts and lyrics don't mean a thing if people can't feel it and groove to it. Rappers critiqing a near 50 yr old MC is sucka shyt....esp when said rapper isn't anything but a more successful Canibus but Canibus highest trumps him as well

Lupe ain’t Canibus bro. And Tetsuo and Youth was a great album. He has a weird issue with Nas but it is what it is. Hate is confused admiration.

 

[MikeStamina]

Right? I mean I know people are saying this reminds them of Illmatic, but it reminds me a lot of Lost Tapes 1 in terms of no basically zero announcement and then bam, it's out. Magic seems like how Jay wanted The Black Album to originally be. No singles or promo, and then it's just suddenly out.

Yeah...Like Magic

​

 

[Ziggiy]

I listened to a bit more of the Lupe live.


1). He LOVED Ugly. He ran it back three times and praised Nas’s rhyme schemes and lyricism.


2). He thought that Speechless and The Truth sounded like Nas was influenced by J.Cole. To make his point, he played Represent then he played Nas is Like, then he played a brand new song of his own that he claimed was influenced by Nas, Prodigy, and Rakim; I guess to show how flow and lyricism can be used as inspiration? Not gonna lie the snippet he played of the new song was dope as fukk.

3). He compared the baseline of Speechless to AZ’s Sosa

4). He praised ASAP’s verse on Wave Gods.


5).All in all he said what he heard was “cool” but that he didn’t want to listen to the whole album because he’s in album mode and didn’t want to be influenced.


Mostly he spent a good hour talking about how he makes his own beats now so he’s more interested in production nowadays. The snippet of the new song he played sounded like an early Q-Tip type of beat and he says he produced it himself.




I think its damn near impossible for Nas to sound like J.Cole when Nas is Cole’s father. Nas has done the double time flow many times in the past and even recently on songs like EPMD 2 and Rare. Also Nas’s flow is naturally smoother than Cole’s so for me its hard to even compare them when it comes flow or technique. But we all know Lupe is always on some other shyt.

 

[HHID]

Never really felt like I NEEDED Nas to do another Illmatic or whatever, what he did with Stillmatic was enough for my happiness. But I must say I've been living in complete nostalgia of The Lost Tapes for the past 20 years.

(Was VERY disappointed by LT2 btw, very far from LT1 level..)

And I believe Magic is the closest i'll ever get to that LT1 feeling. It's just pure dopeness from the first to the last second. It cannot match LT1, and nothing ever will IMO. I think LT1 had a melancholic feel that makes it more classic/relatable for long term.

Maybe that's just me, but artistically, sad Nas >>> happy/comfy Nas.

But judging just the music without attached memories of the moment etc, quality wise, this Nas on Magic is the best he's been on the mic since Lost Tapes Era. And I would've never thought this could happen AFTER both KDs. I was happy Nas was doing great music again, but I was feeling he was getting less technical than before, especially on KD1.

I'm just so thankful I could witness this greatness at least once more in his career.

fukking amped for KD3, and at the same time I feel like Nas saying Magic was just a warm up kinda fukked up how people judge this album. Too many will downplay it, even maybe unconsciously, as a mixtape/EP.

But warm-up or not, this I the best Hip-hop release of the year and the man has easy 2 albums in the top 5 of 2021. shyt's just phenomenal.

 

[WOLF2007]

So why should i care what lupe thinks. I liked it I rock with it. All that matters

 

[prophecypro]

I didnt see the Lupe livestream so I cant say if it sounded like he was hating by saying Nas borrowed some flows or whatever

I will say when I heard speechless it sounded like early Jay with that stutter type flow but thats okay. He's used a variety of flows with Hit Boy over these projects and I woulda figured those who say his flow is monotone or old would appreciate that as he works with different beats. Dont matter who it reminds of, its out there to use/

 

[HHID]

Never was a fan of Lupe. Some of his songs are pure genius, but I don't think I ever played any of his albums without skipping.

Watched his IG. Dude is so full of himself, acting like he a fukking Hip-hop teacher or something... Can't stand this cornball mentality..

If u want to watch a nice review, here's one. Love these kids. They always find some shyt that went over my head. This time it was the Ross flow on the 2nd Dedicated beat. After they mentioned it I couldn't erase it from my head and can really picture Ross with that flow on that beat.
Way more relevant than the Cole flow comparison Lupe came up with..

 

[Surreal]

I listened to a bit more of the Lupe live.


1). He LOVED Ugly. He ran it back three times and praised Nas’s rhyme schemes and lyricism.


2). He thought that Speechless and The Truth sounded like Nas was influenced by J.Cole. To make his point, he played Represent then he played Nas is Like, then he played a brand new song of his own that he claimed was influenced by Nas, Prodigy, and Rakim; I guess to show how flow and lyricism can be used as inspiration? Not gonna lie the snippet he played of the new song was dope as fukk.

3). He compared the baseline of Speechless to AZ’s Sosa

4). He praised ASAP’s verse on Wave Gods.


5).All in all he said what he heard was “cool” but that he didn’t want to listen to the whole album because he’s in album mode and didn’t want to be influenced.


Mostly he spent a good hour talking about how he makes his own beats now so he’s more interested in production nowadays. The snippet of the new song he played sounded like an early Q-Tip type of beat and he says he produced it himself.




I think its damn near impossible for Nas to sound like J.Cole when Nas is Cole’s father. Nas has done the double time flow many times in the past and even recently on songs like EPMD 2 and Rare. Also Nas’s flow is naturally smoother than Cole’s so for me its hard to even compare them when it comes flow or technique. But we all know Lupe is always on some other shyt.

Now imagine Nas going on his podcast and doing that to Rakim if he released an album. How would that be received?

 

[CarltonJunior]

This a good album, definitely on the same caliber as his recent works. Looks like he's saying this is just a warmup for KD3 so can't wait.

Mid if that to me. Dude can't read the room and make good music. Royce realized all those concepts and lyrics don't mean a thing if people can't feel it and groove to it. Rappers critiqing a near 50 yr old MC is sucka shyt....esp when said rapper isn't anything but a more successful Canibus but Canibus highest trumps him as well

Tetsuo and Youth is dope, you're wylin

When you are listening to a lot of this more lyrical boombappy 90s style songs not a lot of it is groovy at all, you aren't trying to feel and groove to Nas, Lupe, or anybody like that really. Not me anyway, so I find that to be a weird criticism.

 

[Zero]

nikkas is really having round table meetings about the next man's opinion of the album


How yall Nas stans but deal with emotions like bytches?

 

[AkaDemiK]

Galactica Glaciers

I need to see Raekwon react to that lol