D.R. (Dante's Reviews): Nasir by Nas

by Dante Borsari

Nasir by Nas

(6/10)

NaS is a Queens rapper who is well known for his debut rap classic, Illmatic, a 39 minute album considered by many to be the best rap album ever. After he dropped Illmatic, he was trend hopping, making both improvements and non-improvements. In particular, his 2012 release Life Is Good, in which he rapped over really bad beats and what he was spitting was boring. But after I heard he was dropping an album produced by Kanye West, I was hype because Kanye dropped three great projects this summer, each only seven tracks. So I was hoping for NaS to actually deliver something good.

He shows his quality on the first two tracks, “Not For Radio” and “Cops Shot the Kid.” He delivers straightforward bars about police brutality, but after that, the quality falls off. The other songs are nothing special beside using Kanye Production. However, on “Everything,” he brings a cool concept in which he doesn’t want his kids vaccinated because he believes the child is brought into this world only to be introduced to pain. However, he screws this song up by saying this line, “Why'd you let them inject me?" "Who's gonna know how these side effects is gonna affect me?” If we know the side effects, we could decide whether to use the vaccine.

The track “Adam and Eve” has a good sample and and really good hook. He talks about his daily routine of life, where he walk every morning, and getting girls. However, this album is supposed to be about the seven deadly sins, and i don't know what sin this track is suppose to be. Similarly, this confusion occurs on the track “Everything.”

The closing track “Simple Things” seems to be about the sin envy, in which he talk about his ex-wife, who claimed that he hit her and cheated on her. Look, I don't know what is going on with these claims, but I see where he coming from because if you didn't do what was claimed, it is unfortunate. And at the end, he says he want peace for him and his kids, which is a good way to end the album.

This album is lost potential, certainly not worth the six year wait. That said, it is better than Life is Good. The only people who would enjoy this album are old heads who defend Biggie about the “daddy” line.