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Nas... hip hop is dead.

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Pigletpen
Posts: 1137 - Karma: 18
ya.. and nas helped kill it.
When will people realize this guy made one good album when he was a teenager, and then has been mediocre at best since.
How can you bounce back and forth from underground bring back rap from the grimy streets, to big willy over and over?
He''s had like 7 good songs the last ten years, sold out to def jam, and then comes out with this slpppy effort. Nothing origional, nothing scandelous.
just the same old... you can even interchange this with Jay hovas new one. I mean they both talk the same game, but whos stealing from whom?
Its not like its a bad album... its ok, theres a few listenable tracks on it. I like him best when hes telling stories and making it happen. he does that a bit. But man, i got bored. Its just so generic.
I tried to like this album, i was even going to buy it cause i figure... its nas... its gotta be aight. But i stole that shit, and then i gave it back. Oh and the production is so 2005, which was so 2004 etc etc... so really, this is just "I am" with new art work. (kinda like stillmatic and gods son were)
Im still a nas fan, But when i cheer for him, Im back in Jr. High, and he just dropped for the first time. thats how hell stay to me.
shitty isnt it?
Dec 16 2006 9:47PM
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intifada
Posts: 931 - Karma: 263
i know what you mean the first album was dope, when of my all time favorites, but the rest of his career has been a dissapointment
Dec 16 2006 9:56PM
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bailer
Posts: 2178 - Karma: 14
Dude how can you say he had one good album and now hes shit? THink about that statement. If you like hip-hop you have to like stillmatic. It was written has a whole bunch of good songs. If you want Ill thrown down a list of at least 25 songs on nas's that are amazing. I do however agree with his last album being shit and how he sold out to def jam. Hip-hop is dead is a joke, and the title fucking track is the same song he sampled for his last single. Illmatic is untouchable and thats what he will be known for but you cant call me out on being a 1 album career.
Dec 16 2006 10:07PM
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intifada
Posts: 931 - Karma: 263
your irish what do you know
Dec 16 2006 10:14PM
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bailer
Posts: 2178 - Karma: 14
im irish?
Dec 16 2006 10:19PM
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intifada
Posts: 931 - Karma: 263
damn straight you are ya Mc
Dec 16 2006 10:24PM
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Sdot
Posts: 2289 - Karma: 15
I heard he dropped more money on a beat than any other in history or something... $2Mil? I don't know. I heard the new album was pretty sick, but I've only heard the one track. I like to mock that sound he makes.
Dec 16 2006 10:24PM
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Pigletpen
Posts: 1137 - Karma: 18
sorry bra... stillmatic was all press. all hype. He shot who? nastrodamus? i guess.
I personally didnt like it. I dont like this one. he says he copped the track again in the first bar. I like the single, sorta. its not bad. but cmon, every album he drops, and i do mean drop... is compared to illmatic. Every single one. and none comes even a tiny bit close.
i never said he was shit... dont put words on my page. I will say that everytime he has a new cd, i like him less. thats just me though.
Dec 17 2006 3:06AM
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bailer
Posts: 2178 - Karma: 14
word i realy agree with you. i just think stillmatic was better than your saying but yea nothing even close to illy.
Dec 17 2006 6:54AM
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SkierX
Posts: 16253 - Karma: 538
I think your biggest problem is that you are trying to compare everything to one of the best hip-hop CDs ever made.

Your expectations are too high.
Dec 17 2006 10:07AM
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midwestskier69
Posts: 1145 - Karma: 11
my exact thoughts. when one of the greatest hip hop albums to ever be released is your first, it's obvious that most of the other ones are going to be a so called "let down" in your mind. you can't beat one of the best, however, to say he's mediocre at best is far fetched for sure. he still has flow when others don't.. granted, it's no illmatic.. and id hardly say signing to def jam is "selling out" necessarily, and god's son was a joke, though there were soem good tracks on it, too. but at least hes not walkin around makin club hop records like lil jon and the rest of em. dude still is staying real to the way he does it.. it just so happens that the first time he did it was the best ever.
Dec 17 2006 4:24PM
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Pigletpen
Posts: 1137 - Karma: 18
ya, and your biggest problem is that you let the artist off the hook.
I dont expect another illmatic, I expect something better. You'd think with time to hone our craft and become a more rounded artist you could do better. But nope. Why spit heat, when you can spend you money on ice?
Its funny that the only classics you get from rappers are either thier first album, or the one they drop right before they get the gift of bullets.
Dec 17 2006 7:18PM
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jksl
Posts: 12727 - Karma: 854
truth truth.
Dec 17 2006 11:44PM
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midwestskier69
Posts: 1145 - Karma: 11
regardless, club bangers for nas are farrr from the rest of the so called rap game. theyre still more rap influenced and skill influenced and unique than the rest of them. would i agree it sounds like standard nas? to an extent, yes... however, pac was standard pac. biggie was standard biggie.. everyone has a flow and stick with the way that it works. maybe its just that illmatic was such a shocker to everyone that some teenage kid could come out like that and that's why it's the best out there. maybe if he would release illmatic mid-career instead of at the beginning, it would be just "another standard nas album". granted, id agree it's far better, but maybe that's because most people didn't expect it to be good to begin with.
Dec 18 2006 4:59PM
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Jackpot
Posts: 4243 - Karma: 136
'It Was Written' Was his peak, that album puts any other he has done to shame.
Dec 18 2006 7:34PM
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skiermw
Posts: 1297 - Karma: 30
it was good but Illmatic was deffinately the best. I wasnt too dissapointed witht his album, it was better than i expected and a large improvement from Streets Disciple in my opinion. but i dont want to rag on nas he was and still is the best rapper out
Dec 18 2006 8:16PM
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SkierX
Posts: 16253 - Karma: 538
Quoted for truth.
Dec 19 2006 8:51AM
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lucyford
Posts: 4742 - Karma: 15
i'm going to have to agree with skierx here...you really can't expect a better album than illmatic. i don't even know if it's possible...
illmatic is considered a classic for numerous reasons - incredible beats, no major guest appearances, dude was young, etc etc...but it was his delivery and rugged emotion that really cemented nas as the new incarnation of hip hop. and you know what? you can't be that raw when you're sitting on stacks of money.

it's kind of hard to rap about the things and situations you're trying to get out of when you succeed and are enjoying a new, much more lavish life.

i don't want to say that he lost his drive, but there is a difference between needing money to get out the hood, feed ya family and wanting more money so you can put 20s on your whip.

and you have to take into consideration that it is more than likely that his record labels are largely responsible for making him more marketable to the general populace (oochie wally, anyone?).

i do think nas fell off, and i think it's even worse that jay-z now owns him. but as for "hip hop is dead"?

it's definitely the best it could be.
Dec 20 2006 1:56AM
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foodisfun
Posts: 5427 - Karma: 287
couldn't have said it better myself.

that's pretty much the reason why underground hip-hop is so great, because what u mainly hear is pure emotion coming straight from the artists.  i can't say it from first hand experience, but im sure when all these rappers were young and poor living in the ghetto or w/e u wanna call it, they translated their visions and dreams into music and creating rhymes.  they had nothing, and these rhymes were the only way to escape and possibly break free and make enough money to try to live a normal life.

then when they get that money and nice life, what's left to write about?
how the media is always bothering them and fans are all over?
how their old enemies are trying to be their friends because they have money?

it's just not that interesting, and it;s not as "core" as lesser known artists who haven;t gotten the fame and money.
Dec 20 2006 4:45PM
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Alkyy
Posts: 2839 - Karma: 149

Nas is probly one of the best lyrisist ever up there with 2pac and biggie.  True this cd isnt as good as some of his older ones but from a musical standpoint it still kills it.

Dec 20 2006 5:01PM
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TimothyLord
Posts: 2114 - Karma: 568
yeh i really dont like the new song
Dec 20 2006 6:42PM
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midwestskier69
Posts: 1145 - Karma: 11
lucyford you hit it with that. when you're young coming out and coming fresh, you're capable of doing such a thing like releasing illmatic the way it was written. I'm sure if he released any other album he's released when he released Illmatic isntead it'd be more raw, more real, and more meaningful. When i was listening to the album earlier today, I noticed that his lyrics have gone from that to the way they are today. There's less meaning, less creativity, and less "Illmatic" (whether it be the style, the ruggedness, or anything else) in them. This may be because he doesn't have to, or maybe it's because he simply can't. Regardless, Nas a few steps down from Illmatic is still better than 99% of the MC's out there releasing albums today, disregarding the underground world.. granted i'd bet he'd still tear most of them apart if he had to.
Dec 21 2006 1:56PM
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hucker22
Posts: 6176 - Karma: 23
you guys are idiots. nas is still better than who is hot now? rick ross? oh ya thats some good hip hop. nas is doin what he wants, read the interview in xxl and think about some stuff he says. him an hova are good, and even with stuff people will say is shit, is still better than almost everything else out right now
Dec 21 2006 2:21PM
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