Nas is considered one of the best rappers of all time, representing East Coast Rap with other greats like Wu-Tang Clan, Biggie, and A Tribe Called Quest, just to name a few. With albums like “Illmatic” and “It Was Written,” he was almost instantly deemed one of the greats, even with his fall off right afterwards. But this changed with the release of the first part of his album series called “King’s Disease,” which brought him back into the stratosphere. And the later albums in the series and the other series that he started, Magic, made it crystal clear that he was back in the game. Now, he’s back for his 19th studio album, with a special collaborative producer, DJ Premier, a longtime producer for Nas. Premier has also worked with others like Mos Def, Jay-Z, and Biggie, so his credits check out. For the past year, they had been teasing that they were working on something, but it wasn’t fully announced until Nov. 5. These two legendary artists in the field of Hip-Hop combined into one album; what could go wrong? Well …
The intro track, “My Life is Real,” opens with a simple piano and drum beat that sometimes adds whirling drones to the background. And that’s it. Usually, this means that the song will have a focus on the rapping, and it does, but that’s where the bad part comes in, as the rapping is dated at best. Most of the lyrics are about how great he is as a rapper and how he will be rapping until he gets old. This could be an interesting topic to talk about, but it is more of an afterthought compared to the former. This song just left me wanting more from what I’m used to from rap legends like Nas. But most of this song boils down to one thing: nostalgia bait, and you’ll see this as a theme.
The next song, “NY State of Mind Pt. 3,” is a sequel to one of the most well-known classic rap songs, NY State of Mind, and the second part of his third album, “I Am… .” The first song is known for being one of the best songs of all time; the other one was notable but forgotten. Nas reflects on Billy Joel’s song, “New York State of Mind,” in a way that honors him by using his own version of the song. But the nostalgia becomes totally present at the end of the song; they just play the original song for the outro for really no reason.
But there was no track worse than “Pause Tape.” Just as it says in the title, it completely pauses the flow of the album, slowing it down to something easier. The problem is that it isn’t interesting. It’s drums, minimalist synth, and a super annoying record filter that is used as the melody for the song, even though it’s just static, so there’s nothing harmonic about it that would make it even appealing. Along with that, they kept using this one sample of a rapper and member of “Mobb Deep,” “Havoc, talking about how he started rapping through the song through jittery clips of his voice that don’t add anything and make me want the song to be over. The sad part is the lyrics honestly aren’t bad, talking about how Nas used the method of pause taping to make his first beats. But they don’t save them from being easily the worst on this album.
To put it straight, this album is just boring and feels less like a real attempt at work and more like a faltering. And while a lot of elements in this album aren’t the worst thing in the world, it feels more like washed-out Uncs that haven’t moved on from the oldies and are still yelling at kids that their rappers are bad. I’m going to give this album a five out of ten. Not a good end to the year.
