Official Nas Thread

[Mike Wins]

Dr Knockboot is dope. Big Things while it got play from me is objectively not a great track. Life is What U Make It is fire to me. Give Jay that same beat and put it on Vol 3 and give DMX his same verse and it’s considered a hit record. Jay likely drops it as a single.

I think it’s only like 2 bad tracks on I Am honestly.
Big Things,
Money Is My bytch(the hood fukked wit it tho. So did I back then. I can’t really listen to it now tho.)
I Wanna Talk To U(It was instant skip back in the day. I LOVE it now tho. It’s crazy how that works..)

Thing is there's a loud segment of Nas fans that hate when he show any sense of humor or lightheartedness. Or anything to do with women and relationships.

Dr. Knockboot and Money Is My bytch both immature but funny songs, we know Nas love Slick Rick and they fit in that lane.

To me, Big Things is a dud. I Wanna Talk To You is a good song lyrically and conceptually but the hook is weak. K-I-SS-I-N-G hook is corny but it is catchy.

I always said I Am is a lot like Jay Vol. 1 through Dynasty albums. Artist rapping at a high level throughout, very high highs, a couple duds, a couple questionable hooks on otherwise good songs, some production that ain't age well. Difference is you now see I Am get portrayed as being widely seen as a disappointment in real time, when that ain't how it was outside a small but vocal group of fans.

 

[Pop123]

 

[Budda]

K-I-S-S-I-N-G is a good song another song that aged well in time which Nas probably should have dropped as a single, even if a segment of his fan base wouldn’t rock with it.

 

[Nostalgic]

I always liked K-I-SS-I-N-G.

 

[Surreal]

Jigga is not better than Big or Pac

 

[Mike Wins]

K-I-S-S-I-N-G is a good song another song that aged well in time which Nas probably should have dropped as a single, even if a segment of his fan base wouldn’t rock with it.

I remember this and You Won't See Me Tonight getting some radio play.

Pivoting to Nastradamus instead of working another single or two still one of the more puzzling moves. You Won't See Me with the obligatory Hype Williams video would've been a monster that summer. But Columbia never pushed third singles off Nas albums.

 

[HNIC973]

Kissing is in the running for worst Nas hook cmon brehs

 

[Mike Wins]

Kissing is in the running for worst Nas hook cmon brehs

It's one of his corniest for sure, but it get stuck in your head. To me it's the type of song that should either be a single or leave it off the album. It definitely would have got heavy airplay on the radio with a label push.

It's the song along with Big Things that I skipped back in the day though.

 

[HNIC973]

Andre is not a top 10 MC literally zero solo work

 

[Slim Charles]

To me 1998 to 2000 was just a real strange sound in hip hop that hasn’t aged well. I think the production of Kanye, Just Blaze and others helped shift things from around 01 for the better even if lyrically it got weaker generally . The best sound from that time was what Rawkus guys were doing

I retrospectively listened to I Am, Vol 2 and 3 by Jay, DMXs albums and a whole bunch of others from that period as before my time a bit . And it’s personal preference but so many songs I just struggle to enjoy because of the production.

Like Nas killing it lyrically but I don’t fukk with the beats on lot of I Am. Similarly for the Volume era by Jay

 

[kes929]

K-I-S-S-I-N-G is a good song another song that aged well in time which Nas probably should have dropped as a single, even if a segment of his fan base wouldn’t rock with it.

Kissing is super fire. But you right the Nas base is unpredictable when Nas doesn’t drop something specially boom bap. Nas is like, Hate Me Now, You Won’t see me tonight and Kissing should have all been singles with videos.

 

[Ziggiy]

Kissing is super fire. But you right the Nas base is unpredictable when Nas doesn’t drop something specially boom bap. Nas is like, Hate Me Now, You Won’t see me tonight and Kissing should have all been singles with videos.

I don’t think the fact that You Won’t See Me Tonight or Kissing didn’t have videos was because of bytchy fans it was because the label pivoted to push Nastradamus. He got two videos out of Nastradamus which was basically the substitute for the two I Am singles. You Owe Me basically became the new You Won’t See Me Tonight.

The strategy itself wasn’t bad from a business perspective. Nas and the label got TWO platinum albums in the same year, but artistically Nastradamus was rushed and in hindsight it would have been better to either stick to the double album idea or just push the single disc I Am to quadruple platinum with two more singles/videos.

 

[Figaro]

I used to bump this blend back in the mid 2000's.

Not sure what mixtape it was on though, maybe Dirty Harry.

 

[UpAndComing]

How many in my crew is into gaining?
Subtract the weak links up out the chain and
Rise and start reigning
Blasphemy, using Nas name in vain
Some claim supreme being
Yet they lied in his name
I tried to learn the game and only thing
I found incredible
Everything I tried to learn see I already knew
And it's embedded in my heart now
So I can sit back, count a stack and play my part now

I'm not even the biggest R Kelly fan, even pre-allegations/conviction. But honestly Street Dreams Remix is better than the original IMO
I love the original, and it's definitely a classic song, but it shows how high I rate the Remix

The two lines "Only the Gods can watch the Earth twist" and "I tried to learn the game, but everything I tried to learn see I already knew" solidify it for me

Basically saying we forgot that we were Gods, and that there is no need for us to learn much, because we already knew

 

[UpAndComing]

NAS... the best rapper alive!!! EVER

Fixed