NAS - HIP HOP IS DEAD (Dec 18)

[Himu]

Omg

http://www.zshare.net/audio/hope-ft-nas-damn-da-man-remix-mp3.html

[Phoenix Dark]

It's acapella on the album

[Himu]

For real?

[Phoenix Dark]

01. Money Over Bullshit (Prod. LES)
02. You Can't Kill Me (Prod. Salaam Remi)
03. Carry On Tradition (Prod. Scott Storch)
04. Where Are They Now (Prod. Nas & Salaam Remi)
05. Hip-Hop Is Dead (Prod. Will.I.Am)
06. Who Killed It? (Prod. Will.I.Am)
07. Black Republican (Feat. Jay-Z) (Prod. LES)
08. Not Going Back (Feat. Kelis) (Prod. StarGate)
09. Still Dreaming (Feat. Kanye West) (Prod. Kanye West)
10. Hold Down the Block (Prod. Mark Batson)
11. Blunt Ashes (Prod. Chris Webber)
12. Let There Be Light (Feat. Tre Williams) (Prod. Kanye West)
13. Play on Playa (Feat. Snoop Dogg) (Prod. Scott Storch)
14. Can't Forget About You (Feat. Chrisette Michele) (Prod. Will.I.Am)
15. Hustlers (Feat. The Game & Marsha Ambrosius) (Prod. Dr. Dre)
16. Hope (Acapella)

Only bad song I've heard was Where Are They Now. The beat is wierd; I'm hoping I heard an unfinished version or something.

The other songs I heard:
Black Republican (very good)
Can't Forget About You (classic)
Hustlers (wtf Game outshines Nas on it)
Hip Hop Is Dead (good)
Not Going Back (Kelis doesn't ruin it, what a suprise: good)

[Beezy]

Kanye's a cocky dude, but he produced my two of my favorite songs on this album. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Kanye's a cocky dude, but he produced my two of my favorite songs on this album. 

QFT!

His tracks are amazing on this album. They're not overproduced or anything.

You don't like Kanye?

[Beezy]

Kanye's a cocky dude, but he produced my two of my favorite songs on this album. 

QFT!

His tracks are amazing on this album. They're not overproduced or anything.

You don't like Kanye?

I don't like how he bitches about not winning awards. That's about it.

[Phoenix Dark]

Kanye's a cocky dude, but he produced my two of my favorite songs on this album. 

QFT!

His tracks are amazing on this album. They're not overproduced or anything.

You don't like Kanye?

I don't like how he bitches about not winning awards. That's about it.

Oh I agree. I like Kanye, and love his beats/albums, but he needs to recognize.

He can't play any instruments, at least I don't think he can. He can't compose original music a la Quincy Jones or even Dr Dre. There are rumors he doesn't write his own lyrics (Consequence's flow sounds very similar to his). Jon Brion made Late Registration's production classic imo. If you take the instrumentation off it, it sounds flat.

The awards shit makes him sound/look like a little bitch. And you've gotta think the media hates that too, and is just WAITING for him to fuck up. Once he does, they're going to pile on him like crazy

[Beezy]

Haha. Who's Jon Brion btw?

[Himu]

Some white producer who did Fiona Apple's first version of one of her albums. He helped Kanye produce Late Registration.

[Beezy]

Oh alright.

[Phoenix Dark]

God damn Still Dreamin is fucking amazing. I've listened to this song more than any of the other songs lol.

Finally Kanye gets the drums on a song PERFECT. Also the sample is mixed perfect; sounds like it's re-recorded with someone else's voice or something. It's not too loud under the rap, but loud enough to make an impact. It's definitively not standard Kanye stuff.

Now I REALLY can't wait to see what he does on his own album, as well as Common's.

[Phoenix Dark]

I've been listening to the album for the last two days.

Overall it's solid. This is the second Nas album I've listened to all the way through, so I'm not as familiar with his later work as some people here; I loved Illmatic, as well as sparse stuff from his other albums, but that's about it. In terms of flow/lyrics there's no denying he's on of the best ever.

I love the theme of this album. My problem with most rap is that it seems like each album is basically just a collection of club anthems and songs detailing how rich/awesome the rapper is. Nas keeps with the theme of the album title here on nearly every song, and it works. He begins laying his case out early on tracks like Carry on Tradition, in which he details some of the problems with the mentality of the industry. The singular idea of "get mines" and how it only makes the entire industry weaker, declaring "the Jewish stick together in high place shit." This theme follows into tracks like Who Killed It and Let There Be Light where Nas really lets the new age rappers have it; "when you're ten years in the game, after I've enjoyed my fame, only then will I let you pick my brain"

The album's high point begins for me with Black Republican for me. Although Nas and Jay Z really kick ass, the song's beat REALLY makes this song; it's one of the best samples I've ever heard (The Godfather II, from the parade scene). After that Kanye procedes to steal the show with Still Dreaming; his beat, hook, and verse all rock. The production doesn't sound like standard Kanye at all; maybe all that critisizm about him just speeding up soul samples finally got to him and he's finally doing different things. Good for him.

Can't Forget About You is easily the best rap single of the year; Nas better release a video for this soon. It's the ultamite chill song for me, and makes me sit back and follow Nas' train of thought.

Nas and Game end the album on Hustlers, which is much better than I expected it to be. I don't like Game's fake ass, but he does an amazing verse, as does Nas. Impressive.

Overall it's a solid album. I wouldn't say it's a classic due to a couple mediocre songs (Blunt Ashes has an amazing beat but Nas tries to mimic the Houston sound to little success, and I can't help but feel Hope would be 10 times better with a beat, even if it was just someone beatboxing over it). It's definitely a wake up call to the rap world, although the album is not as commanding as its name.

[Beezy]

"Grind and hittin' Brazilian dimes from behind"

I've been saying that all day today.

I've been listening to this album nonstop since Friday. Right now my favorite tracks (in no particular order) are:

03. Carry On Tradition (Prod. Scott Storch)
05. Hip-Hop Is Dead (Prod. Will.I.Am)
07. Black Republican (Feat. Jay-Z) (Prod. LES)
08. Not Going Back (Feat. Kelis) (Prod. StarGate)
09. Still Dreaming (Feat. Kanye West) (Prod. Kanye West)
10. Hold Down the Block (Prod. Mark Batson)
11. Blunt Ashes (Prod. Chris Webber)
12. Let There Be Light (Feat. Tre Williams) (Prod. Kanye West)
14. Can't Forget About You (Feat. Chrisette Michele) (Prod. Will.I.Am)

I'm not saying the rest of the songs are bad. Even Play on Playa which was the only song on the album that I didn't like ended up growing on me. These are just the ones that stand out the most to me.

[Phoenix Dark]

"Grind and hittin' Brazilian dimes from behind"

FUCK YES

[The Miles Trahan Burger Experiment]

BTW how was Nas' last album? Last I heard from him was God's Son, which on the whole didn't do too much for me -- is he back on his game yet?

The only rapper I truly like, I may even buy his album if its good enough.

[Phoenix Dark]

BTW how was Nas' last album? Last I heard from him was God's Son, which on the whole didn't do too much for me -- is he back on his game yet?

The only rapper I truly like, I may even buy his album if its good enough.

I didn't hear all of Street's Disiple but I heard it was a mixture of great stuff and meh stuff.

THIS album is solid though

[Vizzys]

Streets Disciple was horribly mediocre.

[Phoenix Dark]

Yup

[Itch]

Omg

http://www.zshare.net/audio/hope-ft-nas-damn-da-man-remix-mp3.html

Dude! The drums on that track sound like the drums from Tomorrow Comes Today by The Gorrillaz. Anyone know what track they are originally sampled from?

One more week man. I've never been a huge Nas fan but I'm looking forward to see if he brings it on his latest.