Nas - God's Son

Nas. Has there been an artist that has been so up and down? What I mean is, Nas will put out a record that will be considered one of the best hip hop albums of all time, then put two out that basically garbage. Oh, then he'll put out another classic. Very inconsistent. In terms of raps, I've always appreciated his ability to flow. And one of his better flows can be found on this album, in the track 'Made You Look'. He also showed his ability to capitalize on the hip hop/pop crossover in the track 'I Can'. Even my college roommate who only listened to country and pop enjoyed that track. My one big dig on Nas is his long lasting feud with Jay-Z. I understand as a more underground based New York artist, Nas would naturally gravitate toward dissing Jay. It makes sense from a beef standpoint. But you gotta understand, you're going after a monster. Jay is arguably the biggest hip hop artist of all time. I think if Biggie and Pac weren't to have died - they'd own that title - but since they are deceased, Jay is huge. Nas had to have known he was going to lose that battle. And some people wouldn't buy Nas stuff or even listen to it because of the Jay feud. And then no one wins. Anyway, this my friends is one of the Nas classics. Definitely one of my favorites by him, if not the best ever for me. Top to bottom, his records are never 5+ stars, but the really good ones flow so well and are a great listen. This is in that category. There are 3 or 4 tracks that blow my mind, then there are four or five weaker ones. But all together, still compile a pretty solid record. Check it out today..I'll fully concede that if you're not big into rap, this isn't for you. If you enjoy it, you'll like the album.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Get Down
2. Cross, The
3. Made You Look
4. Last Real N**** Alive
5. Zone Out
6. Hey Nas
7. I Can
8. Book of Rhymes
9. Thugz Mansion
10. Mastermind
11. Warrior Song
12. Revolutionary Warfare
13. Dance
14. Heaven

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Made You Look
2. Thugz Mansion
3. I Can

FINAL RATING:
3.5 out of 5 stars

Nas and Damien Marley - Distant Relatives

Due to my lack of posts, I'll go with another New Music Tuesday entry. That brings me to a hip hop and reggae mash-up that features Nas and Damien "Jr Gong" Marley. A little background on each fella, Nas has been putting out rap records since 1994's 'Illmatic'. The knock on Nas is simply that he goes from dropping top 10 of all time type records and then the next one will be total trash. For that reason, I've never been a huge Nas guy, but I admit that when he drops a mixtape or a new single, I'm all over it. He's done some great callabo work in the past, so this cd doesn't surprise me all that much. Damien however is as much known for his humanitarian work as his musical prowess. (and if you think that's no big deal - he's won 3 grammys) Bob Marley had about 2,000 kids, and Damien is one of them. Devotees know that his name was Bob 'Tuff Gong' Marley, so he's got a play on that going. He only has 4 studio records including this one, and all of them have gotten solid reviews. Anyway, the marriage seems to kind of make sense - Damien has done some really hard hitting stuff with The Game in the past that everyone enjoyed. Nas is a fairly spiritual man as well - which seems to flow into Damien's beliefs. My comment on this album is - I don't get it. I mean, I expected each track to have some influence of each artist, but that isn't the case at all. Some tracks have a beat and a hook and some tracks are pure reggae that Nas isn't featured on. I think the best selling callabo record ever is Jay-Z and Linkin Park - and they did a nice job at imposing each style on the listener at every turn. Even if the result was less than stellar, that was the style. This one can't seem to make up its mind. They should consider sticking to individual works, as that will sell better. I'll give this one a couple more chances, but I don't expect to jam on it too much more. Check it out as it's semi neat - just don't expect the world.

TRACK LISTING:
1. As We Enter
2. Deadly Equation (Tribal War)
3. Strong Will Continue
4. Leaders
5. Friends
6. Count Your Blessings
7. Dispear
8. Land of Promise
9. In His Own Words
10. Nah Mean
11. Wisdom
12. My Generation
13. Africa Must Wake Up

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. As We Enter
2. My Generation
3. Tribes At War

FINAL RATING:
2.25 out of 5 stars