Albums Nas - The Lost Tapes 2 (Discussion Thread)

[Yagirlcheatinonus]

I think HHID was better than Nastradamous. I know I am was bootlegged but if I was Nas and the label I would've shelved that album it sounds rushed and forced minus a few songs. Nastradamous is definitely his worst album to date

 

[re'up]

As an aside, this feels esp. relevant today.

 

[Big Mark]

One thing I appreciate about Nas is that his deep tracks or his filler songs go a long way. Small World, Undying Love, Silent Murder, Life We Chose, Heaven, Sekou Story, Where is the Love and shyt like that usually tends to stay with a listener and gets better with every listen. While he usually stays away from the radio cuts and the cross over type shot, he more than makes up for it with the street shyt embedded in those deep cuts.

 

[Sohh_lifted]

now we praising streets disciple? besides a handful of songs, that was a wack album, considering it was a double disc.

 

[mathematik]

I always liked Streets Disciple!!

Never understood the hate it got. Yeah it had some filler but overall was a good album.

HHID is probably my least favorite.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Personally I think some fans respect and over rate certain Nas albums because of the intent or message of them. You like the message, you like what he was trying to do...but then you gotta defend highly questionable songs, bad beats, and inconsistent album tones. Meh. I thought that "concept album" period was largely a flop. The most important thing is always the song - is it good or not. I don't care whether the concept is something that needs to be said....if the song isn't good, it doesn't matter. There are hundreds of forgettable songs about civil rights and oppression...people remember the best ones, like A Change Is Gonna Come.

 

[Sinister]

now we praising streets disciple? besides a handful of songs, that was a wack album, considering it was a double disc.

I defended it since it came out

 

[NoHalfWay]

Personally I think some fans respect and over rate certain Nas albums because of the intent or message of them. You like the message, you like what he was trying to do...but then you gotta defend highly questionable songs, bad beats, and inconsistent album tones. Meh. I thought that "concept album" period was largely a flop. The most important thing is always the song - is it good or not. I don't care whether the concept is something that needs to be said....if the song isn't good, it doesn't matter. There are hundreds of forgettable songs about civil rights and oppression...people remember the best ones, like A Change Is Gonna Come.

I’m guessing you’re specifically alluding to that SD, HHID, ****** era string of Nas albums? I agree tho, the thing with Nas is that people get mesmerized by his MC skills and penmanship that they overlook the musical aspect of the songs and Nas admitted he does it himself.

That’s why whenever he finds that perfect balance of lyrical creativity and stellar production for an entire project it’s some of the greatest stuff hip hop has to offer, ala Illmatic, IWW, The Lost Tapes

He’s had his struggles in finding that balance, sometimes the criticism of his beat selection is overstated, other times it’s justified.

 

[MikeStamina]

now we praising streets disciple? besides a handful of songs, that was a wack album, considering it was a double disc.

Who the fukk nominated you? These are simply your opinions. But don't exaggerate what others are saying

 

[MikeStamina]

The coli Nas a&r's about to derail this wonderful thread with nonsensical bullshyt nobody tryna hear
fukk you know about being relevant in entertainment for 25 years

 

[spliz]

I’m guessing you’re specifically alluding to that SD, HHID, ****** era string of Nas albums? I agree tho, the thing with Nas is that people get mesmerized by his MC skills and penmanship that they overlook the musical aspect of the songs and Nas admitted he does it himself.

That’s why whenever he finds that perfect balance of lyrical creativity and stellar production for an entire project it’s some of the greatest stuff hip hop has to offer, ala Illmatic, IWW, The Lost Tapes

He’s had his struggles in finding that balance, sometimes the criticism of his beat selection is overstated, other times it’s justified.

There is nothing wrong with Untitled musically. At all. The person ur quoting called IWW a pop sounding album basically. Called SD melodramatic and slow sounding. Which is inaccurate to how the album sounds being that it sounds no more melodramatic than any other Nas album for the most part. nikka consistently has bad takes when it comes to how Nas’ albums sound. To the point where it feels like he didnt even listen. And I like dude as a poster. It just is what it is tho. Everyone in this whole thread has said SD shouldve been a single disc and condensed to remove inconsistencies. But noone is lying about the history of the album being rewritten. The album WAS well received critically when it dropped. That’s just a fact.

 

[ThirdAct]

now we praising streets disciple? besides a handful of songs, that was a wack album, considering it was a double disc.

No one is saying its a perfect album, far from it, but like all Nas albums, it's got its gems.

 

[NoHalfWay]

There is nothing wrong with Untitled musically. At all. The person ur quoting called IWW a pop sounding album basically. Called SD melodramatic and slow sounding. Which is inaccurate to how the album sounds being that it sounds no more melodramatic than any other Nas album for the most part. nikka consistently has bad takes when it comes to how Nas’ albums sound. To the point where it feels like he didnt even listen. And I like dude as a poster. It just is what it is tho. Everyone in this whole thread has said SD shouldve been a single disc and condensed to remove inconsistencies. But noone is lying about the history of the album being rewritten. The album WAS well received critically when it dropped. That’s just a fact.

There’s nothing “wrong” with Untitled’s production, it’s just that album was so advanced lyrically that it deserved grander production. Untitled deserved some Life Is Good level production. But that’s just my opinion

But nah SD has too many varying styles, flows to be considered monotonous or anything like that. It has too many classic Nas records. If 7 of the weaker songs was cut from it, and replaced with some of the unreleased songs from that era like Serious, Talk of NY, & Foul Breeze, we’d be talking about it as one of his best albums.

But yeah @Piff Perkins is a good poster, he’s just the kind of rap fan that’s really particular with the craftsmanship and sonic cohesiveness of production on albums, which is understandable. I know for sure he’s a Kendrick & TDE fan so he’s been spoiled in that regard he probably ain’t listen to SD in years, but I get it. Nas has never had any intention of giving folks what they want so some fans tune his shyt out outta frustration

That’s probably why Nas is such a polarizing figure for a lot of fans, cuz for the most part Nas really didn’t give a shyt about what people thought about it.

 

[Trace]

I think after this is when the whole “weak beats” argument started gaining legs and people were unfairly shytting on Salaam Remi. This is when he was working with him heavy and people were obsessed with him linking back up with Premo etc etc. Then a narrative started happening where everything Salaam touched was wack and this album was basically retroactively hated. This is also the album where Nas went with “weird” singles like Bridging The Gap instead of shyt like “Know My Style”. He did have “Just A Moment” but this is basically the start of Nas not giving a fukk about “hits” per se. He started doing the opposite of what anyone else was doing in the industry.

Ahh, thank you for that. Good info.

 

[spliz]

There’s nothing “wrong” with Untitled’s production, it’s just that album was so advanced lyrically that it deserved grander production. Untitled deserved some Life Is Good level production. But that’s just my opinion

But nah SD has too many varying styles, flows to be considered monotonous or anything like that. It has too many classic Nas records. If 7 of the weaker songs was cut from it, and replaced with some of the unreleased songs from that era like Serious, Talk of NY, & Foul Breeze, we’d be talking about it as one of his best albums.

But yeah @Piff Perkins is a good poster, he’s just the kind of rap fan that’s really particular with the craftsmanship and sonic cohesiveness of production on albums, which is understandable. I know for sure he’s a Kendrick & TDE fan so he’s been spoiled in that regard he probably ain’t listen to SD in years, but I get it. Nas has never had any intention of giving folks what they want so some fans tune his shyt out outta frustration

That’s probably why Nas is such a polarizing figure for a lot of fans, cuz for the most part Nas really didn’t give a shyt about what people thought about it.

Yea I dont have a prob with wanting cohesiveness or whatever. But dont flat out say an album sounds one way when it doesnt. That’s my issue. Aint nothing “pop” sounding about IWW. That’s just repeating nonsense that purists who wanted another Illmatic said. Anyone who studied that album knows it’s more dark sounding than anything. Matter fact I made a post telling people that they shytting on the album for being too “pop” is really shytting on the album for being too street. That album was littered with street records and street references. It’s quite possibly his most street sounding album to date actually.