Hip-Hop Is Dead is easily my favorite out of all of these, even though I am well aware that Stillmatic and God's Son are technically "better" albums
― secret smdh-i (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 06:23 (fourteen years ago) link
definitely loved hip-hop is dead at the time it came out, but probably wouldn't dig it as much now. really loved god's son at the time and still play it and dig it, so that one. lost tapes wouldn't really be fair but probably wouldn't get my vote anyway
― jaded scorer (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 06:35 (fourteen years ago) link
OK Street's Disciple probably isn't more likely to be called his worst than Nastradamus, but out of his 2000's albums it's the least commercially successful and usually seems like the most likely to get beat up on in convos about his worst records, in my experience.
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 06:38 (fourteen years ago) link
lost tapes is great, I'm choosing it over stillmatic and god's son. doo rags is one of the best non-illmatic nas songs (poll idea?)
― Luz, a saucy taco slinger (hmmmm), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 08:20 (fourteen years ago) link
i haven't heard many of these all the way through - god's son is a pretty good album though. untitled is ok but a bit laboured, hip-hop is dead is just bad.
i actually suspect that his new one w/damian marley could well be the easy answer.
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 08:42 (fourteen years ago) link
only heard the single, but shit is boss
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 08:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Stillmatic >> God's Son >> Lost Tapes >> I Am >> Street's Disciple (if you cut it down to one disc) >> Hip Hop Is Dead >> It Was Written >> The Firm >> Untitled >> Nastradamus.
Stillmatic is a certified classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Sd2gDkSV8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADR0VoSgqWw
and it should have been included
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4O0OTcey1g
― 80085 (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 09:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Lost Tapes is so much better than the rest of these.
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 09:48 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kymdkYxTgrQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uWwLX4j970
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 09:52 (fourteen years ago) link
i made a post about it was written here: nas - it was written....
i never really said, like, SHIT, this is the REAL illmatic. but, i guess it was written nas is just my default nas. i don't listen to illmatic much. to me, it's kind of like the first mobb deep album or whatever, where they're 12 years old. it just isn't that fucking compelling to me, like it was written is, that rap video bright lights lyrical image of nas's imagined new york streets. so, saying that, i guess that's why it's easier for me to dig on nastradamus or i am..., which aren't on it was written level but are full of the type of nas writing and rapping that i like.
this probably sounds really corny or like somebody that doesn't even listen to rap but i always dug on nas's WRITING, and the written quality of the works. everything sounds very well charted and sketched out, like he's reading it (but not like he's reciting it or whatever). i appreciate the fuck out of that quality. it's not unique to nas but he does it the best. even with an az verse, where everything fits together perfectly and it just blows your mind how he's an amazing lyrical builder of words upon words upon lines upon lines upon verse upon verse, you never never feel that legal pad scribbled lines feel. furthermore, i actually want to READ his verses, you know what i mean? this isn't some bullshit about it standing on its own as some kind of legit poetry or whatever because i don't give a fuck about that, but it makes me numb reading rap as text, like tupac raps collected in a book or whatever, but nas is the exception.
after it was written, i'd probably rep for street's disciple. maybe i tolerate too much bullshit but among the bullshit is some of the best rapping and rap writing of all time. to me. i'd dig out examples but i'm trying to grind out a paper on ge fei. so, fuck it.
after it was written and street's disciple, probably i am.... nas, he's deadly convincing on the murderer shit he does a lot on i am... and then sorta appealingly unconvincing. the album's got some really deep narrative raps that nobody even approaches today (or ever approached). and, shit, even on a bullshit track with dmx or whatever, doing pretty pedestrian shit, the raps are just so, like i said, perfectly written, perfectly tailored and delivered with pure fucking arrogance-- the effect is... nobody else has come close to it, that mean, perfect swagger. and the goofy politics that come out on i am... and foreshadow all the bullshit that comes later... i dig it because it's sincere.
i'll put this here, a track off i am... that's a straight narrative thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzokAVkFLyQ
and the dmx one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o-iGytI8ks
and "ghetto prisoners" because i love it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X0vEcYLN08
― dylannn, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 09:54 (fourteen years ago) link
lol this thread was like a fukkin bat signal for dk
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 10:14 (fourteen years ago) link
not sure I take his love for IWW quite that far, but anyone hating on that album in 2010 goes way past zzzzzzzz into MAN UR RONG territory. 9/10 album imo
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 10:16 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah when i saw this poll i was kinda like "this is unfair, should be post-IWW albums," the dude who rates Stillmatic AND I Am AND Hip Hop Is Dead over it is fronting
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 12:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Am I the only one who finds "Rewind" to be pointless? It seems like a discarded gimmick song by some undie rapper. I never understood why people think it's brilliant.
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 12:33 (fourteen years ago) link
cause he pulls it off better than a gimmicky undie rapper would have?
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 12:44 (fourteen years ago) link
He just tells a boring story backward.
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 12:47 (fourteen years ago) link
execution, dude
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 12:54 (fourteen years ago) link
that nipples like pimples line is absolutely revolting
― antexit, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 12:57 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah gross Nas sex talk is so much worse than goofy Nas concept songs. not a big fan of "Rewind" either, but then I'm not sure I've ever gotten totally over my anti-Stillmatic stance from when my roommate in 2001 was a big Nas partisan and I was a Jay fan, even though the 1-2 punch of "One Mic" and "Made You Look" made me finally come around on post-Illmatic Nas in general.
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 13:06 (fourteen years ago) link
gross Nas sex talk is so much worse than goofy Nas concept songs
^^^^^
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 13:08 (fourteen years ago) link
as long as he isn't trying to be sexy or funny post-illmatic nas is aces by me
― antexit, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 13:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Ok maybe i'll give It Was Written another spin but I remember not caring for more than a couple tracks (I Give You Power was fire iirc.)
― 80085 (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 13:10 (fourteen years ago) link
only track that doesn't work is the Dr. Dre one (which doesn't suck per se, but feels way out of place) "The Message", "If I Ruled the World", "Street Dreams", "I Gave You Power" are CLASSIC CLASSIC CLASSIC
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 13:12 (fourteen years ago) link
it's definitely a solid album. when I first bought it there were hate fumes coming from the Nas populace about it like it was some commercial pap in comparison to Illmatic and I heard it and said "hmm ok same flow same lyricism, more tracks, slightly less compelling beats...what's the deal?".
I mean I hated If I Ruled the World when it came out cuz I retroactively love it - the meter is much different than a lot of the hip hop that was on MTV at the time.
― Ballistic, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:12 (fourteen years ago) link
"If I Ruled the World" was the first Nas song I heard. Really the first east coast rap song other than LL Cool J I can think of getting airplay where I grew up around 95/96 when I was first starting to listen to the radio. That was before it got all dominated by Biggie/Puffy/Mase the next year. It really sounded like nothing else I was hearing at that point and it's been one of my favorite songs ever since.
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:19 (fourteen years ago) link
i love "If I Ruled The World" because it sounds like nothing el— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq-jANkqpQo
― secret smdh-i (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:22 (fourteen years ago) link
ps, i know what you said/meant, rev, i just thought I'd post some Blow
-se I was hearing at that point.
Sorry if I wasn't up on all my old school rap when I was 10.
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:23 (fourteen years ago) link
so whats your excuse for not being up on Mudhoney? ;)
― secret smdh-i (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:24 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm not trying to zing, i'm just ribbing u a little, tbh
― secret smdh-i (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:25 (fourteen years ago) link
im with dylannn, for whatever reason over the last few years it was written has supplanted illmatic as my default nas album. 'take it in blood' is probably my all-time nas joint.
― max, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:25 (fourteen years ago) link
It Was Written was the first Nas I heard as well. A couple tracks in and 'Street Dreams' is wack as hell. Nas as Scarface listening to the Eurythmpics lols.
― 80085 (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Nas as Scarface listening to the Eurythmpics.... LOSS
― secret smdh-i (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:28 (fourteen years ago) link
'Street Dreams' is wack as hell
man fuck u
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:30 (fourteen years ago) link
My man put me up for the share, one-fourth of a squareHeaded for Delaware, with one change of gearNothin on my mind but the dime sack we blazedwith the glaze in my eye, that we find when we cravedollars and cents, a fugitive with two attemptsJakes had no trace of the face, now they drew a printThough I'm innocent, til proven guiltyI'ma try to get filthy, purchase a club and start up realtyFor real G, I'ma fullfill my dreamIf I conceal my scheme, then precisely I'll build my creamthe first trip without the cliqueSent the bitch with the quarter brick, this is itFresh face, NY plates got a Crooked I for the JakesI want it all, ArmorAll Benz and endless papesGod sake, what nigga got to do to make a half millionwithout the FBI catchin feelings
^^ "wack as hell"
the IWW singles definitely put me off thinking Nas was interesting at all for most of my adolescence until i heard too much about Illmatic to keep ignoring it -- good lyrics but the overall effect of the hooks/samples/videos was kinda lame
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:33 (fourteen years ago) link
I like the hooks/samples/uh.... the "If I Ruled the World" video (yeah, the "Street Dreams" vid is totally wack) but it might help that I didn't get any of the reference points at the time
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:38 (fourteen years ago) link
also probably helps that I had no conception of east coast rap standards for those songs to not live up to. the rap I was used to hearing was melodic and hooky anyways.
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:49 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah it's not like my standards for rap were very evolved yet in '96 either, those songs just didn't grab me much
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:51 (fourteen years ago) link
IWW is dope overall. This thread brings me back to the days of rec.music.hip-hop when everyone went apeshit over how terrible IWW supposedly was and how Nas was a sell-out traitor. (Those folks hated Reasonable Doubt too, but half-heartedly.)
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:51 (fourteen years ago) link
xp to myself: which is probably why a station that was playing strictly west coast/southern/BTNH/r&b/LL Cool J at that point picked it up in the first place. it fit right in in a way that, say, mobb deep would never have.
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:52 (fourteen years ago) link
BTNH?
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:53 (fourteen years ago) link
RESURRECTION
― secret smdh-i (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:54 (fourteen years ago) link
oh duh
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:58 (fourteen years ago) link
even though I am well aware that Stillmatic and God's Son are technically "better" albums
Whiney -- explain?
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:06 (fourteen years ago) link
i've always meant to start a thread or something grandstanding this (possibly challenging) opinion, but Nas albums post-Stillmatic >>>>> Jay albums post-Blueprint
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:15 (fourteen years ago) link
i mean, Stillmatic has stories, wicked battle raps, and the call-it-a-comeback vibe. God's Son has 'Pac-style poetry. They're way more emotionally affecting than the grumbling of HHID and have touched WAAAAY more rap fans on a sincere and personal level, which is is pretty why we elevate guys like Nas in the first place
― secret smdh-i (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:27 (fourteen years ago) link
i just like Hip Hop Is Dead because the beats are real lithe, throwbacky and it's kind of cranky in a cool way.
I mean, even in 2001, sampling the crappy Sopranos song was CoRnY aS fUcK
― secret smdh-i (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:29 (fourteen years ago) link
the fucking worst theme song of a great show. dude would have been better off sampling the theme from The Nanny...
HE'S THAT BROTHER IN RED WHEN EVERYBODY ELSE IS WEARING TAN
― secret smdh-i (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:30 (fourteen years ago) link
I'd probably vote for God's Stepson, 9th Wonder's reworking of God's Son, if it was an option.
― Parenthetical Grillz, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Stillmatic also interpolates the Tears For Fears song that was the theme to the Dennis Miller Show at the time, leading to my theory that Nas was sitting around watching a lot of HBO during the long break between albums
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:39 (fourteen years ago) link
ahahahahaha
― ksh kale (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:41 (fourteen years ago) link
too bad he didn't flip Arli$$
Also, Whiney hilariously OTM.
xp
― Parenthetical Grillz, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:42 (fourteen years ago) link
I never had HBO (or heard that Tears For Fears song) until after Stillmatic, so I was just as clueless to those reference points as I had been 5 years earlier. Always dug "Got Urself a Gun" tho.
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:42 (fourteen years ago) link
rev, you do know if you're gonna be a successful critic you have to start pretending like you know everything, not braggin about all the stuff you don't know
personally, i was actually born with a working knowledge of the john zorn discography and all the eighties afropop that didn't appear on Indestructible Beat Of Soweto
― ksh kale (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:46 (fourteen years ago) link
I didn't know shit when I was a kid, I do now!
― im on the moon btw (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:50 (fourteen years ago) link
it was written. hhid is a turd
― am0n, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:59 (fourteen years ago) link
should probably give IWW a listen. I was among those who was convinced by nas stans saying everything inbetween illmatic and stillmatic wasn't worth it
― noted schloar (dyao), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 16:02 (fourteen years ago) link
lol @ nas the pharaoh though
― am0n, Tuesday, March 2, 2010 10:59 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
u still have a copy of your whirlwind of beef photoshop? i just looked for it but the URL i had doesn't work anymore.
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 16:31 (fourteen years ago) link
more challopsing xposts but bone thugs suck
― 80085 (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 16:43 (fourteen years ago) link
nice trolling
― ksh kale (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 16:46 (fourteen years ago) link
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, March 2, 2010 11:31 AM
haha what thread was that on. i'll be bummed if that got lost to the ether (no pun) of the 'net
― am0n, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 17:17 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm not even sure, i looked but it doesn't appear to have been on any of the 3 threads about HHID
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 17:25 (fourteen years ago) link
― 80085 (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, March 2, 2010 8:43 AM Bookmark
sb 51 eternal, amirite?
― cloaca darkness (The Reverend), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 17:26 (fourteen years ago) link
maybe it was a rolling thread. was that 2k6 or 7?
― am0n, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Rolling 2006 Hip Hop Thread
lol
http://www.crailtap.com/c3/newrandoms/1-3-05/hyphy.jpg
― am0n, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 17:28 (fourteen years ago) link
ah it was on the sandbox. i must have nuked that flickr acct :(
Rolling Temporary Hip Hop Thread
― am0n, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 17:38 (fourteen years ago) link
damn, classic material though
― waka yoga flame (some dude), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 17:45 (fourteen years ago) link
god's son, just for the first three tracks + the alicia keys one and 'revolutionary warfare'
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 17:54 (fourteen years ago) link
firm slice pies, couple of trife guys in tinted up white 5s
i had the firm cd for forever without bothering to listen to it, but i got the bootleg-ass az/nas duets cd a while ago and the last 20 (out of 60, i think-- another 20 of the 60 are az drops for the no name dj that put it together, then another 10 are remixes of 'life's a bitch'...) tracks are just the firm album.
some of it is CLASSIC nas, like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy-s0dCbEYY
nas late 90s super arrogance organized crime raps
JEEPS TAHOE, SHOES BE SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
some of it's good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ByY849CeNI
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKKqKTM7RqQ
az verse is ridiculous
― dylannn, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 00:49 (fourteen years ago) link
too bad nas wasn't on those bravehearts albums more, or we'd have a consensus pick for worst album.
anyways, here's something with bravehearts with everyone coming pretty credibly on a beautiful beat. i'm feeling this so much right now. this is my soundtrack today. ha, EVERYONE is good on this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2uG4nWCzw
― dylannn, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 01:01 (fourteen years ago) link
sorry for making a mess, posting nas youtubes here, unreleased or guest tracks or whatever, but, you see, i'm generally making a case for post-illmatic nas.
KOOL G RAP FT. NAS AND AZ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOU8RXGQ1LI
and i'm gonna just put this here because we're talking about nas and that's a good enough excuse. this is the realest piece of music i've ever heard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umf0jJSMXnQ
― dylannn, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 01:10 (fourteen years ago) link
post away man, nothing makes an argument better than aural proof!
― Ballistic, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 05:38 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't think digging nastradamus is some crazy fringe thing. man, it's got some good songs on it. if nas released 'life we chose' or 'project windows' as a single right now, what would it sound like? these still sound really fresh to me, really real. what are the really lame tracks on nastradamus? even 'you owe me' is aight now and it's stuck way at the end of the album so you know it's just the radio song like the lauryn hill one was (also stuck at the end of the record).
come get me (premo beat) <-------- just hope ur favorite rapper's consensus worst album has a track like this on it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpuVaCA8_gg
life we chose <--------- top 10 nas verse, sorta it was written vibe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL4lLFoDJx4
project windows ft. ron isley <------ sensitive nas shedding tears for the streets, for illmatic loving crew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV_-aemTtTc
family ft mobb deep <---------- tinny beats (dame grease), p and havoc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9GPbXllBLc
― dylannn, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 22:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq2aHcDkYkE&NR=1
so i waited with them sigs blat blat blat
― dylannn, Thursday, 11 March 2010 10:16 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 12 March 2010 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
pretty good results
― super smash brother (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 12 March 2010 00:02 (fourteen years ago) link
kinda surprised by the strong showing for HHID, liked it at first but have come to regard as the weakest of his '00s albums
― some dude, Friday, 12 March 2010 00:10 (fourteen years ago) link
ha weirdly i had HHID on in the car today. it's a good album but it's definitely flawed and corny as hell at times ("who killed it?" in particular has aged even worse than i'd expected). probably liked it more when it came out than i do now.
totally forgot how gay "black republican" is
"esco, what up""what up, homie"[nas and jay grunt and moan in synchrony]"yeah, that's perfect" [grunts][more grunting][laughing]
― hip negative (k3vin k.), Friday, 12 March 2010 00:21 (fourteen years ago) link
hahaha
― guapism rules (The Reverend), Friday, 12 March 2010 00:26 (fourteen years ago) link
i totally don't remember "Black Republican" sounding at all like they were ever in the same room, let alone any "Coming of Age"-style pillow talk
― some dude, Friday, 12 March 2010 00:32 (fourteen years ago) link
haha it's in the intro, listen to it
― hip negative (k3vin k.), Friday, 12 March 2010 00:36 (fourteen years ago) link
that black republicans intro sounds like it was cut and pasted from dj drops and other intros.
preemptive updated "myths nas stans believe" entry:
nas murdered jay on black republicans.
― dylannn, Friday, 12 March 2010 01:19 (fourteen years ago) link
finally checked out I Am. think this one's a little underrated. obv not a patch on God's Son, Stillmatic, or It Was Written but a worthy addition imo
― show me your ticks (San Te), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 02:55 (thirteen years ago) link