Nas: Life is Good thread

mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
edited July 2012 in Strut Central
Discuss.

  Comments


  • KineticKinetic 3,739 Posts
    I'm thinking about buying it because 'The Don' isn't out on 12" - so annoying as I really don't wanna buy rap albums these days.

    Having said that, I'm copping the new KIller Mike.

  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    I want a vinyl release.

  • edpowersedpowers 4,437 Posts
    Feelin it...which means the next 3 Nas projects will sound like shit

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    great record... a little overlong, some tracks are redundant. but there's not one track that I thought was downright bad. and a very high level of

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    No likey. Sounds like Bruce Hornsby did most of the production.

  • djwaxondjwaxon 411 Posts
    Liking roughly half the beats quite a lot, the other half not so bothered - vocally he's on fire - haven't heard anyone with flows of the standard on this album for some time.

  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    ...Sounds like Bruce Hornsby did most of the production....

    I read this before listening and (at the time) I thought 'this must not be accurate'...but it kinda is, imo.

    The intros seemed really long and (to my taste) came off a bit cheesey. It sounds like an album that was more fun to make than to listen to. Lil' too much of an attempt to have an 'epic' sound...just my opinion. I hope it does well...I like Nas.

    That 'Nasty' record is realy fun to listen to, tho.

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    No likey. Sounds like Bruce Hornsby did most of the production.

    Ha!

    Had a listen through and it's a solid album without ever really impressing me. In fact it's pretty much exactly the kind of album I would expect from a rapper at this period in his career. It's in no way bad but I do wonder if people would be adoring it as much as they seem to be if it wasn't Nas who made a reasonable album with, by his standards, an impressive lack of missteps. Would actually have preferred him to take a few more risks as at least it keeps me interested, this just feels like there was a safety first motto all the way from production to guest rappers.

  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
    That's an excellent assessment, Junior. The only song that I really bugged on was "The Don," but that's because I'm a sucker for a Super Cat sample.

    I also saw him perform it on Colbert with a live band and was prepared to cringe, but man, he sounded great.

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    the only thing I take any issue with above is that the album is unimpressive - I'm impressed by the reigning-in that NoID seems to have done, and I think Nas for his part is kind of writing his ass off for this late in his career, especially considering the low bar he's held for himself over the years.

    "The Don" is pretty damn cool to me. "Locomotive" and "Nasty" are by-the-numbers but fun. I thought it was cool that he rocked the old Hot Day beat. Some of the emo shit he's got on there about Kelis, his daughter, his friends... I can get with. Old Head Rap.

    When you contrast this record against those of other Old Head Rappers, I think it distinguishes itself well.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    Old Head Rap.

    = Grown Ass Man Rap?

    b/w

    Elderly Blow Job Rap

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    Cheers hogg!

    Yeah I get where you're coming from JP and not trying to do it a disservice. I do think Nas sounds focused on this (I also like the Don) and it's a more complete album than would be expected from most rappers this far in, nevermind that it's Nas.

    And yet, once I got past the surprise that Nas was on form and the beats were of a certain standard I kind of lost interest. I'll revisit it anyway and give the tracks more time to breathe on their own but I personally felt that the album's professionalism left it all a little dry. I'd always take uneven highlights over a solid end to end and there just didn't seem much there which I wanted to revisit. Too polished for its own good perhaps, an issue I have with a lot of major releases these days.

    I realise I'm probably not the target audience for new Nas releases anyway but I'm always interested in what he's putting out. Guess my expectations may be part of his problem.

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Junior said:


    And yet, once I got past the surprise that Nas was on form and the beats were of a certain standard I kind of lost interest. I'll revisit it anyway and give the tracks more time to breathe on their own but I personally felt that the album's professionalism left it all a little dry. I'd always take uneven highlights over a solid end to end and there just didn't seem much there which I wanted to revisit. Too polished for its own good perhaps, an issue I have with a lot of major releases these days.

    I realise I'm probably not the target audience for new Nas releases anyway but I'm always interested in what he's putting out. Guess my expectations may be part of his problem.

    I kind of disagree with this take. I've read it from a few critics, saying they'd prefer the Nas that has a disastrous 2/3 of an album with two or three great songs. I think God's Son is a wreck and while "Made You Look" is great, isn't it rendered a little less so by the realization that this is a formula? It was just as much a formula when he made that record; we all just didn't think he still had it in him. (for me, the winner on that album is "Get Down", which is still a little formulaic but isn't quite as anthemic as "Made You Look".)

    I think if you look at his output, you've got one absolutely black-out incredible album; one uneven but pretty good album; and a East River barge's worth of total shit, with occasional shining moments. Surely there are well-published critics ten years my junior out there who are "You Owe Me" apologists, but between you and me, fuck all that.

    For a 35 year old guy with a daughter who still listens to Illmatic on a fairly regular basis and can occasionally be spotted wearing cargo shorts, I'm pretty satisfied with this record. I'm not sure I want the 7 song EP that we could ostensibly have if he had never made the other shit.


    *that said, this is hilarious: "every Salaam Remi track is like a breakbeat??? backed by a symphony??? backed by a flugelhorn??? with a rasta toasting on top"

  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
    I enjoyed reading NOZ ON NAS, too, but the real standout gem was clicking through the links in it to find this: http://www.complex.com/music/2012/04/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-nas-illmatic/nas-did-ny-state-of-mind-in-one-take

    Unbelievable! I'd never heard that story before.

    And since you brought up God's Son: I agree that "Get Down" and "Made You Look" are the only real joints on there, and Street's Disciple has a similar hits-to-misses ratio (with "You Know My Style" and "Thief's Theme" being the only songs I check for. But that may say more about me being old and preferring to hear him over some type shit.

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    Junior said:


    And yet, once I got past the surprise that Nas was on form and the beats were of a certain standard I kind of lost interest. I'll revisit it anyway and give the tracks more time to breathe on their own but I personally felt that the album's professionalism left it all a little dry. I'd always take uneven highlights over a solid end to end and there just didn't seem much there which I wanted to revisit. Too polished for its own good perhaps, an issue I have with a lot of major releases these days.

    I realise I'm probably not the target audience for new Nas releases anyway but I'm always interested in what he's putting out. Guess my expectations may be part of his problem.

    I kind of disagree with this take. I've read it from a few critics, saying they'd prefer the Nas that has a disastrous 2/3 of an album with two or three great songs. I think God's Son is a wreck and while "Made You Look" is great, isn't it rendered a little less so by the realization that this is a formula? It was just as much a formula when he made that record; we all just didn't think he still had it in him. (for me, the winner on that album is "Get Down", which is still a little formulaic but isn't quite as anthemic as "Made You Look".)

    I think if you look at his output, you've got one absolutely black-out incredible album; one uneven but pretty good album; and a East River barge's worth of total shit, with occasional shining moments. Surely there are well-published critics ten years my junior out there who are "You Owe Me" apologists, but between you and me, fuck all that.

    For a 35 year old guy with a daughter who still listens to Illmatic on a fairly regular basis and can occasionally be spotted wearing cargo shorts, I'm pretty satisfied with this record. I'm not sure I want the 7 song EP that we could ostensibly have if he had never made the other shit.


    *that said, this is hilarious: "every Salaam Remi track is like a breakbeat??? backed by a symphony??? backed by a flugelhorn??? with a rasta toasting on top"

    Ha! Probably could have saved myself some grey cells if I'd read Noz's summary before posting. Yeah to be fair my interest in a new album by Nas is casual at best these days so my assessment is no doubt affected by people I know raving about it to me before I got round to listening to it.
    It's going to stay in rotation for a bit on the IPhone and, as a 34 year old guy, I can't say I'm not pleased by the prospect of having a new Nas album that I don't have to try to forget about as soon as I've played it through. I just suspect that my own tastes have moved far enough away from this kind of production that it's registering more as a pleasant listen through than something I want to return to a lot.
    Quite possibly the audio equivalent of "it's not you, it's me".

  • SpacechoSpacecho 176 Posts
    I just heard this. Nas' lyrics and delivery were good but the production was pretty average. Favourites are Locomotive, Summer on Smash, The Don, Bye Baby and Nasty.

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    actually interested in listening to this

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    dude killed it on rozzay's album and this shit




  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,471 Posts
    As soon as I hear Khaled's voice, my reaction is, "Shut the fuck up!"

  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,331 Posts
    This album is not bad. Definitely has some heaters on it. Although I could probably do without half the melodramatic Nas styles.

    Locomotive is dope.
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