I just bought the NAS album, and honestly it is very good start to finish. Lyrically he is still on point, and the majority of his songs have a point to them, something that can’t be said for 90% of the other hip hop artists out there.
Another thing, people need to stop comparing everything Nas does to Illmatic. Illmatic was Illmatic, and yes it was good. The rest of the stuff is different. Nas has evolved way past Illmatic, and I’m glad he changes it up. I’d probably hate him if everything sounded like Illmatic.
I dunno about that. Half the clips were hooks, and since when have hip hop artists not used other’s lines as hooks? That’s just a little battle propaganda.
If you look at the total body of work, those instances are minor at best. You could go around to a lot of artists and make 10 minute clips of “biting” . Hip hop was built to some extent on taking something that exists and putting a spin on it, whether it be sampling, hooks, etc.
Hell people bite Jay-Z too, look at T.I., Cassidy, the list goes on.
Jay ain’t the only one biting Slick Rick and Biggie, that’s for sure.
I mean almost all of my ipod that is hip hop oriented is all older underground like Gang Starr, Group Home, Blah, Camp Lo, Dilated, Mr. Lif, ALC, Kweli, Mos, SOB, Rakim, Pete Rock, GZA, Raekwon, Afu-Ra…
While I like some new stuff Gangstarr is probably #1 on my all time hip hop/rap favorites. I think moment of truth is probably my favorite cd to this day.
I’m not even sure you can compare groups like Gangstarr to anybody now because things are so different. Most of my iPod has old school/underground stuff on it too.
I have Primo’s autograph and a pic of him and I on my desk here! Met him in T.O. while shopping for records in “Play De Record” on Younge. I was in T.O. to see him that night at
some place that night for a series called “Doin it”. It was show casing the most profound producers. AWESOME SET he did that night.