Official Nas Thread

[Stuckinthe90s]

Two Unreleased songs, that Nas made around that time, that I wish I had are a full versions of

NEVER TOO LATE

Pretty sure that's out there.

I'd rather listen to it sans Bravehearts personally.

 

[Stuckinthe90s]

Another one verse banger.

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

OG version without Clue

good looking out

someone rip it to mp3

 

[spliz]

Speaking of "I am" production. Always loved this beat because it sounded like something Big would of done especially with Nashiem Myrick and Carlos on the boards. Also NaS cinematic storytelling made it one of the best on the album.

Yo now that u mention it it does sound like somethin that BIG would go crazy over. Like it was plucked from LAD.

 

[Piff Perkins]

I always say Jay had some very terrible beats on that volume series that nas would get killed for. Obviously not all the beats but there were some absolute awful ones.

Agreed 100%. I really think people overlook entire Hov albums. It’s like after RD, people pretend like Vol 1 doesn’t exist, they overlook beats on 2 and 3...then they skip to the Kanye/Just Blaze/Bink eras where virtually everything he rapped on was good.

We’d be hearing about it to this day if Nas did Sunshine and City Is Mine...

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

vol 1 had like some of jay's best tracks but also some of his worst

the vol 2 and 3 aged very badly, you can tell the songs were hot back then but nowadays and I'm not the one to take things out of context and be extra sensitive but the mysoginy on can I get, nikka who nikka what and big pimpin is really uncomfortable to hear

 

[HNIC973]

Agreed 100%. I really think people overlook entire Hov albums. It’s like after RD, people pretend like Vol 1 doesn’t exist, they overlook beats on 2 and 3...then they skip to the Kanye/Just Blaze/Bink eras where virtually everything he rapped on was good.

We’d be hearing about it to this day if Nas did Sunshine and City Is Mine...

Don't forgot the gem that is I Know what girls like

 

[JustCKing]

Agreed 100%. I really think people overlook entire Hov albums. It’s like after RD, people pretend like Vol 1 doesn’t exist, they overlook beats on 2 and 3...then they skip to the Kanye/Just Blaze/Bink eras where virtually everything he rapped on was good.

We’d be hearing about it to this day if Nas did Sunshine and City Is Mine...

Nobody really overlooks Jay's missteps. Most of the criticism Nas gets for beat selection has more to do with the name on the credit than what it sounds like. For example, people calling Salaam Remi a wack producer even though he's given Nas classic songs and some of his biggest records. There's L.E.S., who was on Illmatic, and every Nas album up to Hip Hop Is Dead except God's Son, but he's rarely mentioned when people talk about the Illmatic team even though he's also provided Nas with classics. Any producer that Nas has worked with that's considered "commercial" is immediately shunned. So outside of DJ Premier, Large Professor, and Pete Rock, there's a very short list of producers that people want on a Nas album and when those names are absent from the credits, its "Nas picks bad beats". Lost Tapes 2 had an all star line up, but still had the same criticisms.

Jay Z definitely gets called out for wack songs. The difference is that Jay was never put into a box and has worked with whoever. He's gotten GOAT level production from everybody from Ski to Premo to Clark Kent to The Hitmen to Timbaland to The Neptunes to Swizz to Kanye to Just. Not saying Nas hasn't, but we all know people would negatively judge a tracklist of a Nas album primarily produced by The Neptunes, Swizz, and Timbaland even if it was incredible sonically. People had already assumed "Trust" produced by Boi-1da was going to be wack or sound like a Drake song before one note of it was heard. It turned out to be vintage Nas. Same goes for "Roses" produced by Al Shux and people assumed it was going to be this cheesy Pop attempt, but again, its vintage Nas.

 

[spliz]

Nobody really overlooks Jay's missteps. Most of the criticism Nas gets for beat selection has more to do with the name on the credit than what it sounds like. For example, people calling Salaam Remi a wack producer even though he's given Nas classic songs and some of his biggest records. There's L.E.S., who was on Illmatic, and every Nas album up to Hip Hop Is Dead except God's Son, but he's rarely mentioned when people talk about the Illmatic team even though he's also provided Nas with classics. Any producer that Nas has worked with that's considered "commercial" is immediately shunned. So outside of DJ Premier, Large Professor, and Pete Rock, there's a very short list of producers that people want on a Nas album and when those names are absent from the credits, its "Nas picks bad beats". Lost Tapes 2 had an all star line up, but still had the same criticisms.

Jay Z definitely gets called out for wack songs. The difference is that Jay was never put into a box and has worked with whoever. He's gotten GOAT level production from everybody from Ski to Premo to Clark Kent to The Hitmen to Timbaland to The Neptunes to Swizz to Kanye to Just. Not saying Nas hasn't, but we all know people would negatively judge a tracklist of a Nas album primarily produced by The Neptunes, Swizz, and Timbaland even if it was incredible sonically. People had already assumed "Trust" produced by Boi-1da was going to be wack or sound like a Drake song before one note of it was heard. It turned out to be vintage Nas. Same goes for "Roses" produced by Al Shux and people assumed it was going to be this cheesy Pop attempt, but again, its vintage Nas.

This is all true but Jay doesn’t get called out for his wack shyt nearly as much. Like I can’t see how anyone can criticize I Am when Vol. 3 dropped that same year and Jay gets nowhere near the flack. Even tho IMO. Nas had the better effort that year.

 

[Ziggiy]

Nobody really overlooks Jay's missteps. Most of the criticism Nas gets for beat selection has more to do with the name on the credit than what it sounds like. For example, people calling Salaam Remi a wack producer even though he's given Nas classic songs and some of his biggest records. There's L.E.S., who was on Illmatic, and every Nas album up to Hip Hop Is Dead except God's Son, but he's rarely mentioned when people talk about the Illmatic team even though he's also provided Nas with classics. Any producer that Nas has worked with that's considered "commercial" is immediately shunned. So outside of DJ Premier, Large Professor, and Pete Rock, there's a very short list of producers that people want on a Nas album and when those names are absent from the credits, its "Nas picks bad beats". Lost Tapes 2 had an all star line up, but still had the same criticisms.

Jay Z definitely gets called out for wack songs. The difference is that Jay was never put into a box and has worked with whoever. He's gotten GOAT level production from everybody from Ski to Premo to Clark Kent to The Hitmen to Timbaland to The Neptunes to Swizz to Kanye to Just. Not saying Nas hasn't, but we all know people would negatively judge a tracklist of a Nas album primarily produced by The Neptunes, Swizz, and Timbaland even if it was incredible sonically. People had already assumed "Trust" produced by Boi-1da was going to be wack or sound like a Drake song before one note of it was heard. It turned out to be vintage Nas. Same goes for "Roses" produced by Al Shux and people assumed it was going to be this cheesy Pop attempt, but again, its vintage Nas.

If that were true Hov would've been FLAMED from here to kingdom come for the wackness that was Magna Carta Holy Grail

 

[Surreal]

I Am was better than that IWW shyt

 

[Izanami]

Another thing is Iam is vastly underated amongst Nas fan.

When you see the rankings of Nas' albums on here I am is often very low. Like to me I am is better than untitled/hhid/nasir/nastradamus/sd.
It's debatable with god's son/life is good/king's disease because theses three albums are more balanced but Iam got better highs but some worst lows. Only Illmatic/iww and stillmatic are clearly above

I got I Am... fighting for that 5th spot in Nas discography.

illmatic
Lost Tapes
It Was Written
Stillmatic
I Am../LIG

 

[JustCKing]

This is all true but Jay doesn’t get called out for his wack shyt nearly as much. Like I can’t see how anyone can criticize I Am when Vol. 3 dropped that same year and Jay gets nowhere near the flack. Even tho IMO. Nas had the better effort that year.

Jay doesn't get the flack because again, nobody came at him for being commercially successful even after he pretty much said he sold out to double his dollars. Its not even just about Jay. None of the top rappers who dropped in '99 was held to the same standard as Nas. Eminem blew up in 1999, but SSLP has some wack beats on it. I mean, even though its Dre produced, "My Name Is..." isn't a great beat. Its the worst part of the song that Dre sampled, but it worked for what it was and NOBODY really points out how weak the beat is.

 

[JustCKing]

If that were true Hov would've been FLAMED from here to kingdom come for the wackness that was Magna Carta Holy Grail

Breh, those albums weren't critically acclaimed. Both albums were panned critically. I don't know where the notion that Jay doesn't get flack comes from when indeed he does.

Blueprint 3 and Blueprint 2 were panned as well.

 

[jensyao]

yoo, I got in...I just emailed the site admin and he got me an exception to join

I listed a bunch of unreleased nas joints still in the vault to keep track of...Nas has 150+ tracks, that's ~8 albums with 20 songs each

EDIT: does anybody have the uncensored version of Escobar 97? [actually, i'll post in the thread about songs I can't find]