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Nastradamas
Nas |
Nastradamas is
Nas's fourth album, and he has changed quite a bit since his first
effort way back in 1994. Nas has been a leader in East coast rap
since the beginnings of raps accent into the mainstream. While Nas
was a leader of Hip Hop accent to the mainstream, he also has changed
over time to fit better in with the mainstream. Nastradamas
is a strange mixture of old and new Nas Old Nas represented his
street origins, and the new Nas is the flossing Nas who's gonna
buy the hood. Here we get a little of both, it changes from song
to song.
The album is split into
two very separable styles one is the flossing/gansta Nas who did
the tracks, "Nastradamas", "Come Get Me",
"Shoot 'em Up" "Family" (the weakest track
on the album), "Big Girl", and "You Owe
Me".
The other Nas is the
Nastradams Nas, who is trying to tell the story of getto culture.
This Nas did the tracks, "Life We Choose", "Some
of Us Have Angels" (second weakest track), "Project
Windows", "Last Words", "God Love Us",
"Quiet Niggas", "New World", and "The
Outcome".
Now I am not here to
debate which Nas is better or even which one I prefer, but it still
has a large effect on this album. 6 to 8, fairly even division of
tracks, but when you mix them up it is a little hard to follow where
Nas is trying to go with this album. While I don't mind rappers
dealing with multiple dimensions in their music, what I don't like
the schizophrenic nature of switching back and forth with every
song which is prevalent in Nastradmas.
With all of that said,
Nas is one of my favorite rappers. I like his style, how his lyrics
mesh with the solid beats that almost all of his song seem to have.
This album is no exception, while there are no breakthrough songs
on this album there are a group of solid tracks. While the content
of Nas work might be slightly lower in it's standards than his older
albums, his style and the 'modern' beats have adapted well to Nas's
new style. Songs like "Shoot em' Up" have bumping beats
that can blow your speakers, still it is a great beat with the piano
in the background and the pumping baseline.
Now that I have commented
about how much Nas has changed over time, it can still be said that
Nas is still one of the best lyricists out there. Nas still lays
it down for us on this album, this combined with some great beats
makes for a very quality effort. The track "Last Words"
mirrors his earlier effort "I Gave You Power" off
of It Was Written, in which he tells a fascinating story
of getto life. "Last Words" is the story of prison
life and the sad effects that it has on it's people. This is one
of the stronger songs on the Album.
While there are some
great lines and meaningful content in "Last Words", Nas
also lays down the track "Big Girl" which is an utterly
laughable track in terms of content. The chorus sings ....
"Your a big girl
now
your really growing with your hormones now
You got
your own home now and your all alone..."
"Your a big girl
now
she's sexy she's got it she ride it
every nigga wanna be inside it
no more daddies' little girl
I need her
I'll eat her do anything to please her..."
The sad part is that
in terms of beat and Nas laying down these rhymes the song is almost
good. If he would have just changed something up a little bit the
track would have been top notch. This is a common thing for Nas
there is always some glaring problem with most all of his songs.
Some time the chorus is very bad ("Big Girl" and
"Shoot em' Up") while others suffer from bad beats
("Some of Us Have Angels" and "Family")
Nas is unable to keep things consistent through out the album.
Favorite line[s]
"When bed sheets
become your woman"
- A great line from
"Last Words", where prison life and the social ramifications
of incarceration are told in stark realism.
Favorite track
"Come Get Me"
This track has some great samplings, with one of the best
beats that I have heard in a while. Solid song that gets me hyped
ever time that I hear it.
Total Tracks: 15
Skipped Tracks: 5
Recommend: But It
Overall this is a very
quality CD, with a good mixture of a lot of Rap styles (with a little
R&B as well) that makes a album that is easy to listen to and
enjoy.
- The
Abbot 
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