In the music industry…
There’s gonna be some noise tomorrow about how many units that NaS did, or did not sell in the first week of his latest CD’s release. There’s certainly no way that he will have sold the billion albums that Lil’ Wang pushed out. This is by no means indicative of NaS’ greatness. I consider NaS the greatest rapper of our generation because of the content (and controversy) that he can put on a mainstream musical platform. There are certainly rappers out there that project even more reflection on socio-political problems, but those rappers exist well under the mainstream media radar. NaS is out front and he still uses his platform for stirring debate and discussion.
I find NaS to embody all the aspirations of the African American. From attempting to achieve status and wealth to reflecting on what these things mean in the grandest scheme of life. Is this why NaS has been so difficult for the masses to ingest? Do the masses want their entertainers to exist in only one sphere of thinking? Why can’t people describe the materials they have accrued and still describe the struggle that remains for freedom? Some critics of NaS complain that he only pays lip service to the latter, but honestly, why isn’t the story of conspicuous consumption only a dream as well? We assume that NaS owns the Maybachs and helicopters he rhymes about, yet we don’t allow him the fantasies of revolution or social change.
Why can’t we have it both ways? Why can’t we have economic access and socio-political change? I understand why white fears this. White thinks that they will be subjected to the same genocidal tendencies they have promoted for centuries if they ever retracted their supremacist idealogy. The universe will have to balance itself one of these days but the truth is that the overwhelming majority of the oppressed just want the foot off their neck without seeking to return the disservice. NaS represents that.
For my mind, NaS greatest achievement was breathing life back into his father’s career. Our parent’s give us birth and they infuse us with our hopes and dreams. How church must that be to be able to return that gift to the ones that first gave it to us? It’s even bigger than buying your moms a mansion or a car or anything with money. It’s about giving them a chance to pursue life on their own terms. NaS has been doing that ever since he first released ‘Illmatic’. That album was the looking glass for Hip-Hop and rap music. He hasn’t changed who he is in all this time. NaS still dreams of living life lavish and turning tragedy into triumph.
‘Untitled’ is a collection of ideas that cover race, and class as well. It won’t end poverty or racism if the listener is someone that only wants to nod their head. For some people however it will change the way they see the world and themselves in it. At the end of the day that is really all you could want from art. The rest is up to us to secure. What do you value for your life? Let that be your goal.
first
does anyone know where i can download be a n!66er too?? all the spots i have found have had it removed……someone help me
The Nas album is, in my humble opinion pretty dope. I literally almost choked when the girl at the counter handed me a copy of the Lyric Book (cover down of course, you know I live in Denver, the whipped back was apparently too much for the youngin ), it’s like a Nas Text book. His way of bringing knowledge to the masses.
Dallas, I submit my co-signature to this drop.
This is one of the more important albums to come out in recent memory and any true hip hop fan will be doing themselves a disservice by not giving Untitled a full listen.
WHY does everyone stan on Wayne’s first week figures as if Universal didn’t buy a shit load of it to hype up the LP?
seriously b, Universal copped enough to make it reach a milli sales.
wayne sucks. NaS is the shit and shouldn’t be in the same sentence/blog/drop as that monkey looking rat boy yall stan for called Dwayne Carter.
the end.
and i fully cosign this drop about “Untitled”
Shit, if y’all seen my Nas posts the first week of July then you already know how I feel. I’m Dart Adams and I approve this blog post.
One.
Best place for reviews.
Am I the only one not feeling this album? I know haters like Bol and Pitchfork hated it, but I mean the only guy who actually enjoys music?
I wish more people cared about Nas. I also wish Nas made consistently great hip-hop albums.
Are you all saying that “Untitled” is a good record? I haven’t heard all of it, so I won’t pretend to have anything very substantive to contribute to that discussion. Are Bol and Pitchfork haters? If so, why?
When we look back on Nas’s career, will we remember him for for his courage and personality or for making great music? He is such a fascinating and enigmatic character. I’m just not sure about his product.
Do I spend my $15 on “Untitled” or “Deuces Wild”??
You do what ever brings more value to your perception of life.
That sounds deep and shit but at the end of the day it is all about what you value.
The discussion over at the X spot was going like this…
Tony Grand$ said…
“Nas is an interesting cat. His career has lasted much longer than the average one-hit wonder types, and that alone is quite an accomplishment. He’s appearantly intelligent, articulate and opinionated about very relevant things in todays world. Always has been. And that,also, is not the easiest thing to do in this fickle society. Now, true NaS fans will note that he has always tried to conform to the current flavors, from then to now, no matter how awkward it was for us to digest. I can’t knock the nigga for that. @ least he was tryin to stay with the giddy up, and somehow he remained Nasty NaS. Those of us who truly fucked with his music can spot the messages in his “pop ya cris’, pop ya gun, getcha doe” songs, as well as “Black girl lost”, “I can”, “I gave u power”, etc. He may possibly be one of hiphop’s greatest dichotomies. A walking contradiction. But for those who take hiphop for face value, w/o to much dissectin, he is exactly what most MC’s aspire to one day become. A poet. A voice. An escape artist with words, able to remove any trace of our reality, and transport us n2 his imagination. Assuming u take everybodys words seriously, he’s like the worlds greatest liar. But there’s a problem in that thinking process. Hiphop began as a means to take us away from the reality that’s hounds and pounds us. It started off as a vehicle that led us from the duldrums of life. It released us into places where we could get to or would rather not actually be, either or, it was our escapism. Say it with me; Entertainment. All of the sudden the mainstream media outlets have an army full of hypnotized minds walkin around mumblin the word “real” over and over. We’ve been hoodwinkled, bamboozled, clusterfucked even! Does it all have to teach and preach? Does it all have to be true to life accounts of grisly murda and mayhem? Do we have to take one man’s journey thru his own world so fuckin serious? I hope not, cuz that means my rap collection is null and void! That’s too much pressure for one nigga to shoulder. He’s a proverbial artist, who’s canvas is our comprehension, and gottdamnit, that’s a skill! His catalogue is a spectrum of creativity, not the lost books of the bible (or koran, or whatever). He pisses on the toilet seat just like I do. Now when he starts rappin terrrrrible, instead of just havin obscure subjects or mediocre beats, then we have a problem. He aint runnin for mayor of the universe, he just a nigga who’s nice with a pen and pad. That’s all. Let him have that. I will. Just kick back and listen to a nigga with a knack of fire spittin. And relax dudes, its only music !?!……”
BXS said…
“Tony Grand$,
See that is what I am talking about, but it ain’t just music and it ain’t just entertainment.
NaS doesn’t have just the luxury of treating rap simply for bullshit. NaS obligates himself to show images of real, REAL life on the canvas.
There is NO contradiction. Man, the original asiatic Black man is the DNA for life on the planet. This includes everything that man is and can be. Good, bad, trife, vainglorious. All that and a bag of chicken wings from Kum Kau, the Chinese kitchen in Brooklyn.
[ll] to a place called Kum Kau.
True story is that NaS ain’t the only real nigga left, but he is mos def holding that lighter up so people could see where he at in all the confusion.
It’s your (and mine) responsibility to figure out how to do the right thing in the confusion, or you will remain confused.”
Exactly. Anybody dissing Nas right now is lost, ignorant and full of self-hate. And that doesn’t have to apply to black people at all.
The only thing worse is all the people dissing the album content without listening.
The true fall of Nas wasn’t a fall…it was a push. I think we would have gotten much better from him if people had been ready for It Was Written. I liked it then, but I now more people that accept it now then when it came out. Then most of us just wanted another Illmatic. Happens to the best artists…see Basquiat. I think that is why he went back and forth so much. When he tried to grow up initially we didn’t want him to.
Nas has always been dope. The frustrating thing about dude though, is that I rarely feel his beats. I know, I know, looking past the forest for the trees, but dude, in my opinion, stay with the sub par production vibe. Is it that dude is considered such a prodigy that no strong a&r’s dare guide him, or is he just unguidable behind the booth?
I need them beats mayne!
Nas is great, his album is already available for download on several darker corners of the net . . . And that’s the determining factor that has just as much influence over hip hop as the genius of its artists.
http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2008/07/the-darker-knig.html
Rich at Four Four compared this album to the Dark Knight. Interesting read.
Cosign C Jack, I need good beats. Cats like Blue Scholars or Akir or Invincible talk about “interesting socioeconomic shyt” also, but they have good beats.
To me, the primary point of music will always be beats. If you just want the discussion of society, cop a book that discusses race from a classic author like WEB Dubois. Or get a current nonfiction book that tells about the focked up society, like Naomi Klein “Shock Doctrine”.
At least Nas did make 3 albums with good beats, Illmatic, Stillmatic, Hip Hop Is Dead.
Co-sign the cosigns… I’m really enjoying this album. Its one of the first rap albums in a while I’m enjoying as a cohesive album and not a collection of singles on the same disc. Sure there are some slow points here and there but over all I enjoy it alot. It harkens back to when rap was made for “us” and not rife with crossover intentions. I think the mere scheduled title for the album scared alot of pretenders off, and the cover added on to it. Great job Mr. Jones. Buy it y’all don’t be a putz and DL it.
“You hide behind ‘8 Mile & ‘The Chronic’…” & “Get rich, but die rhyming…” & “50 porch monkeys ate up at the same time…” from “Queens Get The Money”… Nasty Nas still effortlessly throwing out that ether on fools…
PS -Dallas, does this invalidate Clarence Willams III claim to this title???
The Nas album is fire! The lyrics are powerful and the album was released at a perfect time. Much respect for Nas.
SALUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!