Albums Nas - The Lost Tapes 2 (Discussion Thread)

[Piff Perkins]

We are just speaking on what we are seeing. Everytime I hear somebody bring up nas in interview, somebody will mention something negative. It's been a trend that I've personally been seeing.

Ask yourself why, objectively. Nas' last full length LP (of new material) came out in 2012. What followed as nonstop Illmatic celebrations and a sparse handful of guest verses that ranged from great (Nas Album Done) to weak (March Madness). Last year he got the biggest assist you could imagine from Kanye, publicity and relevance wise...but the album was largely panned. The entire rollout of the album was a disaster, to the point Nas was trending on twitter as people clowned him (and Kanye). What followed was more Illmatic celebration. Then Lost Tapes 2 was announced. The first single was...largely panned on social media. Then the album came out and was good...but the unfinished sheen clearly turned young fans off and it had virtually no streaming viability (no hits or big records).

None of this is me being a dikk...those are real opinions and perceptions. Nas had an amazing opportunity to get younger fans and older fans excited after Nas Album Done, which was very well received and had great streaming numbers. He had momentum and didn't do anything with it. Then the Kanye thing seemed like the ultimate move...until the album came out. Just how things go man. It's hard to deny that we're seeing a legend basically get clowned across the board. I remember feeling this way about Wayne a few years ago, but he made a comeback. I don't expect Nas to - in the public's eyes at least. I'm sure he'll release something that WE like. But that's what fans do...they like shyt from their favorite artist.

 

[JustCKing]

I've been saying this same thing over the past few weeks. There is an effort in the hip hop media to down play nas legacy and an attempt to weaken his current musical spot. It's really come from various angles too. I 100% notice it and I have been saying it. Nobody cant tell me it's not facts either.

There's a Billboard article about Nas's 25 Best Deep Cuts. They not only discuss those songs, but they talk about Lost Tapes 2 and how those abuse allegations from Kelis tarnished the reception to his music. That part is true because J. Cole came out and denounced Nas even when the allegations weren't substantiated.

I don't think there's a concerted effort to down play his legacy, but artists who shun media typically aren't going to go out of their way to cover an artist.

 

[Izanami]

Nasir a 3.5/5 when compared to Nas work. It was a let down but far from trash.

Not For Radio and Everything had terrible hooks. Who’s idea was it to have that trash singing intro on Everything. Waiting for Nas to spit his verse for over 2 minutes. Simple Things should’ve been longer.


1. Not For Radio 3/5 (Weak and lazy attempt at Hate Me Now pt.2, Horrible hook and unnecessary beat switch
2. Cops Shot The Kid 3/5 (sounds like a Demo record. A track Kanye had on the cutting room floor and got lazy and through Nas on it)
3. White Label (Kanye weak attempt to be Mad-lib, cool track) 4/5
4.)Bonjur 4.5/5
5.)Everything (Terrible over produced intro and outro, waste of precious minutes) 3/5
6.) Adam and Eve 5/5
7.)Simple Things 4.5/5

3.5/5

 

[C-Styles]

Now that i've had the album settle in for the last 2 weeks, i gotta say this is a more raw "life is good". Classic Nasir indeed. Like, The first Lost tapes was a raw street joint all the way and an "Updated Illmatic". This one here is more polished up but not too polished, a grown man's record, the grittier "Life is good" This album ain't gonna be appreciated till years later, cuz these songs resonate with us fans that been growing up with Nas. I even told my girl that i want "Adult film" to be played at our wedding, This sh*t talks about exactly how i'm feeling at this point in my life. That's a wedding song i wanna dance with my girl and sing "Life begins right now" while she teary eyed letting her know this our life we about to begin


Like Nas said in life is good, YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND, especially if you ain't follow Nas like most of us have

 

[MR. Conclusion]

Had Nas dropped that visual for NASIR at the same time the album came out all of you would be calling it a classic.

If Kanye's name wasn't attached to it you wouldn't be shytting on it either.



It wasn't as concise as DAYTONA because Push has a closer relationship with Kanye and he even said that he stayed on Ye's ass when they were making that album. NASIR far from trash, yal can GTFOH with that notion.

Nah. Ain't no visual in the world can lie to my ears. That shyt was hot trash. Don't he got a team or sum shyt? LT2 sounds like the Thriller album compared to that garbage.

 

[spliz]

Every rapper you mentioned is far more relevant than Nas in 2019. I just don't understand the continued anger over reviews and the general "whatever" response the album has gotten from rap media. What do you expect? The album isn't even for them...it's for Nas fans. And Nas fans seem pretty happy with the album, so why get bent out of shape because the media, twitter, etc didn't really react to it. Those days are over.

Nas has spent most of his career ignoring rap media. It's not surprising that they return the favor now. With Nasir the only interview I remember was with Angie Martinez, and it was weeks after the album came out. With this album he did Drink Champs and a Tidal interview. Earlier this year he did a (dope) interview with Bobbito. Nas is at a point where he's only doing interviews with people he respects. Could he have benefited from doing The Breakfast Club, Hot 97, etc? Of course. But...he doesn't care. So why do you care that those people aren't giving the album free promo?

nikka. This shyt would make sense if the media and all these celebs wasnt dikkriding him when he announced the shyt. U had celebs all in his comments. Angie Martinez etc. Even actresses n shyt. And there was articles on the announcement. Album drops. shyt is crickets. Like literally crickets. Only one legitimate hip hop site reviewed it. It’s not fukkin free promo to review an album. These nikkas aint looking for interviews. TBC and the like aint album reviewers. So I dont know why anyone is bringing them up. He dont fukk wit them so they aint fukkin wit him. That’s basically how the morning show shyt goes. But even people like Big Boy etc aint really mention it and he shows them mad love and even gave them a Life Is Good interview. This album is being treated like it never dropped. Weird as shyt.

 

[JustCKing]

nikka. This shyt would make sense if the media and all these celebs wasnt dikkriding him when he announced the shyt. U had celebs all in his comments. Angie Martinez etc. Even actresses n shyt. And there was articles on the announcement. Album drops. shyt is crickets. Like literally crickets. Only one legitimate hip hop site reviewed it. It’s not fukkin free promo to review an album. These nikkas aint looking for interviews. TBC and the like aint album reviewers. So I dont know why anyone is bringing them up. He dont fukk wit them so they aint fukkin wit him. That’s basically how the morning show shyt goes. But even people like Big Boy etc aint really mention it and he shows them mad love and even gave them a Life Is Good interview. This album is being treated like it never dropped. Weird as shyt.

The first Lost Tapes got the same treatment. XXL never reviewed the album, but gave it their highest rating 6 years later when they rated all of his album.

The Source reviewed it, but it was reviewed in the alternative section where they reviewed R&B albums. They didn't give it a mic rating, but it was a positive review.

 

[WaveMolecules]

I was in the E train this morning headed to work listening to queensbridge politics.

The beat. The lyrics. The flow.


I felt like I was sitting in jazz club sipping whiskey, smoking a cigarette, enjoying a great artist and performance.

Beautiful.

 

[GoldenGlove]

If yal don't know by now... 99.9% of the time the media is only giving attention and shine to shyt that is paying their bills. Or shyt that they sponsoring or endorsing in some way.

Keep the same energy for the 'media' when they don't talk about all the dope music that is released, not just Nas. It's been this way, makes that Lupe statement hit even closer, because his name is only mentioned by outlets when it's controversy. This wasn't a traditional album anyway

 

[spliz]

If yal don't know by now... 99.9% of the time the media is only giving attention and shine to shyt that is paying their bills. Or shyt that they sponsoring or endorsing in some way.

Keep the same energy for the 'media' when they don't talk about all the dope music that is released, not just Nas. It's been this way, makes that Lupe statement hit even closer, because his name is only mentioned by outlets when it's controversy. This wasn't a traditional album anyway

What happened with Tetsuo & Youth was a tragedy. Smh.

 

[GoldenGlove]

What happened with Tetsuo & Youth was a tragedy. Smh.

It's all politics, the older I got the more I peeped this.

That's one use case too, it happens all the time. Nothing is really organic anymore, especially with the music industry. RARELY do you see genuine love being shown. And most folks only like stuff after someone that they deem credible tells them to like it... Social Media has magnified this notion to the max.

 

[Pop123]

I'm starting to really fukk with "Adult film". One of the few joints I could see being a single

 

[MR. Conclusion]

Been a minute since Nas had multiple songs on one release that I have on repeat status.

 

[Stuckinthe90s]

Hopefully Lost Tapes 3, 4, 5 and 6 contain no Def Jam era tracks.

"Where Y'all At" is a million times better than any track on this. That is his best Def Jam era track in fairness.

 

[TheJet]

I'm starting to really fukk with "Adult film". One of the few joints I could see being a single

I'm starting to really fukk with "Adult film". One of the few joints I could see being a single

Word I been saying that. shyt even on the pop station