Rory ask Mal and Mecca what are the bad beats Nas picks and they couldn’t name one

[Ellen Degeneres]

The beat is unique and hits hard

It's an original production tailored to the artist and the song, when all the top producers of the time were doing straight up factory work. Nas' artistry has always been on a different level. There's something about him that rubs dummies the wrong way.

 

[Neuromancer]

That's how like....half of rappers function though. Or at least used to.

Everyone from Cube to MF DOOM had a rap notebook.

Fred.

This. Are people forgetting people used to have rhyme books?

Too much focusing on the current landscape when Nas dropped in the 90's. They didn't punch in shyt.

 

[TheNig]

I'm a Nas fan but this beat and song are trash

This entire album, aside from a handful of records, had some really bad beats.

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

The cross is a terrible beat… good song tho

 

[Mike Wins]

Nas has rapped over some weak beats and had some uneven stretches in his career, like every other rapper with a 30+ year career.

For the most part he picked beats that work for his style and what he trying to accomplish. Like the production on God's Son wouldn't work for Cam or 50, but it worked for Nas.

This started in the Grumpy Unc Era, when he purposely went with a moody, stripped down production style in the era where everything was bombastic and overproduced. That was also the most uneven stretch of his career. 04-08 was a strange time for Nas and hip hop in general.

 

[Mike Wins]

The cross is a terrible beat… good song tho

This the a perfect example of Nas getting held to a different standard. Eminem gave Jay basically the same damn beat and he used it on The Black Album. The Cross get brought up constantly, Moment of Clarity it's like it don't even exist.

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

This the a perfect example of Nas getting held to a different standard. Eminem gave Jay basically the same damn beat and he used it on The Black Album. The Cross get brought up constantly, Moment of Clarity it's like it don't even exist.

I like the renegade beat cause of the way Eminem flowed on it.. it isn’t anything special.. moment of clarity I hate the song and can’t even remember the beat

Edit: why I mention renegade? Lol yea moment of clarity I terrible too …. Just listened to it

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

Cherry wine is an amazing beat…. Made you look.. amazing.. he just has some bad beats but they work for him so ain’t nothing wrong with it

 

[nieman]

For the most part, Nas has beats that work for him. The beats compliment what he's saying or trying to do on the song. He takes some swings as well, and some hit, some miss.

The narrative came when people started saying he was the GOAT, and the rebuttal was "you can't bump Nas in the whip/lcub". The casuals wanted something they can vibe to and not have to pay attention to. Basically, Nas didn't fit with the popular sound of the time, so "the beats were bad"

 

[NormanConnors]

It’s definitely an overblown narrative but Jarreau of Rap is a horrible beat.

No it's not

 

[Sad Bunny]

No it's not

Terrible beat. Terrible song.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Nas has rapped over some weak beats and had some uneven stretches in his career, like every other rapper with a 30+ year career.

I was just gonna say this. no one from that era thats still around doesn’t have an entire double disc of albums worth of trash beats.

 

[NormanConnors]

Terrible beat. Terrible song.

You must not be a fan of Al Jarreau, if so thats cool, he wasn't/is not for everyone

 

[Awesome Wells]

If they can't pick Nas's bad beats, they're not real Nas fans.

There's a million to choose from.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

I've said this a million times, but Nas' problem was never beat selection. It was track selection. That period from Street's Disciple to Untitled had great unreleased music. The original version of "America" with the David Bowie sample is way better than the version that made the album.

But this hasn't been an issue for almost twenty years, so I don't know why it gets brought up now. If we're talking a GOAT-level rapper that picks bad beats, we all know Eminem is the king.