Ok, here's someone who, until a few weeks ago, knew little of rap other than Public Enemy, Run DMC, and the Beastie Boys. Then, a few months ago, the kid gets me to listening to rap like 2Pac, BIG, some CD called Wolf (don't know who that is), etc. I mean, sure, some of it's good, some OK, and some very good to great. The one I really liked is Nas, particularly the first Illmatic- very jazzy sound and lyrics that brought me back to living in Queens/Brooklyn as a kid. So, I proceeded to listen to all of his CDs- so I'd be able to judge best-to-worst w/o having someone tell me. This is my list: 1. Illmatic ** The Lost Tapes 2. God's Son 3. It Was Written 4. Life is Good 5. I Am 6. Stillmatic 7. Street's Disciple 8. Nastradamus 9. Hip Hop is Dead 10. Untitled Have no idea if this is similar to others- it's not like Led Zeppelin, where I know exactly how most will rank them. Only thing I know is that even the Untitled one is pretty good.
You should watch the new Nas documentary Time is Illmatic. Illmatic, Stillmatic, God's Son, It Was Written, and Life is Good are probably my top 5.
Well...... You really don't. Lol Lots will say their debut is the best, others IV, and others Physical Graffiti. Nas? Yeah... Pass.
Illmatic and the anniversary editions are a clear first Then all others are equal 2-10 .. makes no difference whether it's 2 or 10. It's a Nas record
I'll throw my opinion in. These are my PERSONAL favorites. Don't get your panties in a bunch if you don't agree... Top tier 1. It Was Written - Nas' flow was at its absolute best on this album. I felt like every single word in every single verse was rhymed with another. Personal favorite, but I recognize this isn't Nas most complete body of work in terms of content, theme, and production. There is a little nostalgia in my ranking but this album reminds me so much of my youth that I don't care. 2. Stillmatic - One of the greatest comeback albums in hip hop. Great singles, great production, great content. Definitely the Nas album that I would play for anyone who didn't know anything about him. (I'd skip the Bravehearts song though) 3. Distant Relatives w/ Damian Marley - I love this album. Just really good music. I can listen to this any time any place any where. Really good concept that is well executed and not gimmicky. This album can be played through without hitting skip once. I'm surprised at how many people don't now about this one. 4. Untitled - Loved the content minus the singles. 5. Illmatic - Unquestionably great but too short for me. And a little too 'old school' for my taste. (ducks rotten tomatoes thrown from crowd) 6. The Lost Tapes - A collection of leaked tracks from the original I Am... album. Really good stuff. Pretty much an Illmatic part II in my opinion. 7. Life is Good - Damn, this album is really, really good. I listened to it while writing my responses. I was originally just gonna leave it unranked since I hadn't spent too much time with it. I had only listened to the singles, shame on me. This is one of the best full length Nas albums in terms of being filler free. Loco-Motive, Stay, The World is an Addiction, etc. really good stuff. Second Tier - 8. I Am... - Hate Me Now, NY State of Mind II, Nas is Like, Favor for a Favor.... this album had so much potential. Sucks that the original version got leaked. Still very good but some of the tracks that were obviously made to appease the record label drag it down. If the original version came out with the songs that ended up on the Lost Tapes this would be in the top tier as well. As it is, the filler is too noticeable as all the crappy songs are back-to-back in the mid-late portion of the album 9. God's Son - Loved 'Get Down' and 'Made You Look'. I thought this album was gonna be a classic until I heard the Bravehearts and the 'I Can' song. I always liked this album but it never got me the way some of the others did. 10. Street's Disciple - Streets Disciple, A Message to the Feds, You Know My Style, Theif's Theme, etc. If only Nas took the 16 best songs from here and made one awesome album. It would probably be one of his best. As it is, its too long and the very inconsistent. 11. Hip Hop is Dead - Not my cup of tea. Still a very good album though. A concept-driven album that didn't work for me as I disagreed with the titular sentiment to begin with. The albums starts slowly but picks up toward the middle. 12. Nastradamus - This album isn't as bad as people think. It was obviously rushed but the bad songs are just REALLY REALLY REALLY bad and the good songs just aren't great enough to overcome the filler. I really like Come Get Me and Project Windows get overlooked in the Nas catalog because they are on this album. For the record I actually liked You Owe Me, just not on a Nas album. That should've been a feature on a Genuine or Timbaland album or something. NR. The Firm - The bars on this album are good but the concept get tiresome almost immediately. They shouldn't have committed so hard to the whole mafioso theme. If this album was just Nas, AZ, Foxy, and Nature making songs naturally it would've made a much bigger impact. As it is, I like about half of the songs individually but have no interest in listening to an hour of Firm Biz.
Stillmatic I Am It Was Written Illmatic Big Nas fan. Never understood why I Am was dissed, but that CD had tracks. Hate Me Now wasn't my thing, but Small World is BEAST, Nas Is Like, then Scarface reppin Houston on that Favor for a Favor... CD had 10 tracks. Don't focus on the filler. Illmatic was great lyrically, but those beats!?! Subpar overall IMO. I prefer NY State of MInd II over the original. Illmatic was good though and didn't have any filler. Stillmatic speaks for itself.
Agree with this. Distant Relatives is a great album. Should have gotten Grammy nominations. BTW here's a new Nas song: <iframe src='http://www.audiomack.com/embed4-thin/nas/the-season?'scrolling='no' width='100%' height='60' scrollbars='no' frameborder='0'></iframe> And a new Nas Hennessy Commercial: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/U5g7nDB65-E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Cool breakdown 1. It Was Written was nice. I didn't even like the radio tracks and still like it. 2. Agreed except the Braveheart track. Mary J Blidge!! Nice to have a dance song on a CD. 4. Decent... not "fun" enough. Knowledge was everywhere... Nas is a genius with that knowledge. 5. Agreed 100%. Too short and too "old schoolly" with those beats. Awesome lyrics and flow... he's just had better albums. 8. Mostly agreed. There's filler, but he had some of his best music here. I counted 8 tracks I like. 9. Didn't like God's Son. I liked all the radio tracks including I Can. Very inspiring track. 10. Agreed 100. 12. Agreed. Some BAD tracks on there. I can rotate about 4-5 songs on Nastradamus. The other albums I've never really heard.
I prefer The Nazz... <iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GtNQvt99P2w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Actually, I do, it's going to go like this 90% of the time: 1. Led Zeppelin IV 2. Physical Graffiti 3. Led Zeppelin II 4. Led Zeppelin I 5. Houses of the Holy 6. Led Zeppelin III 7. Presence 8. In Through the Out Door 9. Coda
illmatic, stillmatic, it was written, god's son, lost tapes, i am gets honorable mention for having nas is like on it.. either im sleeping on the rest of his catalog or i just didnt like em.. i did catch time is illmatic in theaters.. thought it was great, and well put together. i left the theater informed about nas' life deeper than what he put in his music, unfortunate they steered clear from his divorce would have loved to hear about his decision behind the life is good cover the album these men put together is timeless.. would love to do more of these threads...
The ladies in the black hair forums spilled some tea on Nas. -Nas' losing streak goes back to the early 90s. Used to get made fun of cause he was in love with a crackhead, why he eventually dropped out -Noreaga got so sensitive when Nas called his music trash. Vaguely remember word of him throwing a flower pot at him in the club -
i remember the breakfast club had nas' baby mother on the show, carmen.. they talked about her ****ing nas, jay-z, and iverson (me and the boy ai got more in common than just ballin and rhymin, get it? more in carmen).. she said jay was third leggin it, and AI was the best lover of the 3 lol.. nas was taking L's tho.. i also am a strong believer that takeover shat on ether but thats another discussion..
