New NaS Album

ubu · 17-11-2004 7:06pm #1

It's been leaked, downloaded it today, have it pre orderded but wanted to hear it anyway.
Only gave it one listen but wasnt too impressed, after the last two Stillmatic and God's Son were very good albums and massive improvement on the Nastramaus period I was expecting alot from Streets Deciple and it hasnt hit me as being so yet, ill give it a few more listens and see what i think.
It is 2cd's and i just thought there seemed to be alot of filler in there it mightn't be the finished product either and thats the reason it doesnt sound the best, wait and see i suppose

anyone else heard it?

Burago · 21-11-2004 6:32pm

Double albums are risky! I love the current single with his father. I hope the album you have improves with listening, ubu, I'm a big Nas fan.

ubu · 21-11-2004 11:45pm

ive listened to it a few times over the weekend and it has grown on me a fair bit alright but there are some songs that are just really annoying 'American Way' w/kelis is an example of this, the chorus just bugs me, the beat is fairly sh1t aswell but overall it has got better with a few listens

Still think it should be one CD of pure quality rather than 2cds of some very good songs and some bad filler

@burago I'm a pretty big NaS fan aswell, illmatic is one of my all time favourite albums but i expected a bit more from this maybe because i built it up so much, dunno, but like any nas album it has moments of brilliance and definatly worth the money when it comes out next week

Bri · 22-11-2004 12:17am

Most NaS albums grow on you...

If your right then I guess I'll be making a 'greatest hits' of this album and putting it on Minidisc!

Makaveli · 22-11-2004 12:26am

Most Nas albums are hit and miss.

Illmatic - great
It Was Written - meh
I Am - forgetable
Nastradamous - total crap
Stillmatic - pretty good
God's Son - good, better than Stillmatic, nowhere near Illmatic
QB's Finest - better to forget that one too

Bri · 22-11-2004 12:49am

We mighta had this discussion before but there are some decent tracks on almost all of those albums (although not all). Other artists get away with the same thing I think people just expect(ed) more from NaS because of Illmatic...all of which makes him a great (if overly commerical) rapper in my book

Obviously he has some seriously weak moments too!

ubu · 22-11-2004 1:20am

With the exception of QB finest(which doesnt really count) and Nastradamus all the NaS albums have been decent if not brilliant,

It Was Written - could never live up to illmatic and was always gonna get bad reviews when only other material to compare with was illmatic

I Am - had some solid tracks, 'NaS is like' springs to mind

It Was Written - nothing exceptional here but solid album

Nastradamus - bad

Stillmatic - Excellent album, some stand out songs Ether, Rewind, One Mic

God's Son - Again, Excellent album, The Cross, Get down, Dance all quality

The Lost Tapes - quality material here, how these songs get left out of the albums along the way i dont know

at the moment id be placing Streets Disciple in behind God's Son, Stillmatic and Lost Tapes, a cut above most other stuff out there but not exceptional

Makaveli · 22-11-2004 1:27am

I still haven't listened to The Lost Tapes, must get around to it.

Bri · 22-11-2004 1:29am

Very good examples there, had a quick look through the tracklistings and that's pretty much exactly what I'd mention too.

As for Nastradamus - God Love Us & Last Words are songs I still rate fairly highly. But I'd have to agree it's the lowest point of an otherwise notable career.

Kristok · 22-11-2004 2:02pm

listened to the new album once its ok probably grow on me after a while,

Illmatic - Pretty good i never really got the big deal about it

It Was Written - I liked this much more than illmatic

I Am - This is like the perfect nas album cant understand why people lump it in with Nastradamus its a totally different kind of album and the guest spots on it are excellent.

Nastradamus - Just boring fells like no real thought went into it

Stillmatic - This is his best album forget illmatic it was overrated

God's Son - Starts off solid then looses it about half way through but still good

The Lost Tapes - All classic songs

ubu · 22-11-2004 4:03pm

Kristok wrote:

Illmatic - Pretty good i never really got the big deal about it

How can you like NaS and not appreciate illmatic for the genius that it was.
40 mins of hiphop perfection

Kristok · 23-11-2004 6:55pm

Honestly i really cant see why people call it genius etc. its nice i like it but its not that great. I listen to it from time to time and its a good nas album but its not his best id rather listen too stillmatic or i am i think there both better.

Had another listen to his new album im really starting to get bored with it.

L!aM · 28-11-2004 1:23am

OK, First of all, barring QB's Finest, I Am was his worst ever album. Absolute junk.

Illmatic is just one of those albums that stands out as a landmark for hip hop, of course nothing he does will ever live up to the lyrical content of this, it's heralded as the greatest debut album ever and in my opinion it is. That said, I have a special place in my heart for It Was written. I Gave you Power, one of my favourite hip hop songs just for the originality. Whilst Nas has a very distinctive style, you have to notice that it's changed over the years, NY State of Mind would sound very strange on Illmatic as Rewind or Poison would vice versa but they're all genius songs. But I find most albums need a few goings through.

Superman · 28-11-2004 1:33am

Yeah I like alot of Nas stuff and think he is definitely good , but it seems that for every great song he has there are 10 ok ones, I definitely think that Illmatic and The lost Tapes are the best two, because they got real good lyrical flow.

The problem with nas's stuff is that its rarely crap, but not very good very often!

Kristok · 28-11-2004 3:37am

ah come on i am is excellent how can you call it garbage, ok illmatic is a good album to come out with for a debut but its no better than ready to die or 2pacalypse now etc etc as far as a good debut, all nas albums have lyrical content above the average rapper that dosnt make his debut his best it just makes it a good debut from a rapper that for the most part kept going in the same of direction. I personally think people like illmatic because the production was more raw than any other album he has done and people think its more real because of that, where as i think it was a good start.

Makaveli · 28-11-2004 3:54am

Illamtic benefited greatly from having no filler on it. Every subsequent album has had it's filler tracks, Nastradamous was a filler album.
2pacalypse Now is not that good, never really liked it that much at all.
Ready To Die is one of the best debuts ever. I like it alot more than Illmatic, but then I like Biggie alot more than Nas.

L!aM · 28-11-2004 8:34pm

I'm not a great Biggie fan at all, I must admit so I won't debate on Ready to Die as I don't respond to his music all that much. When I hear Big, I think of Jay Z and every other rapper to bite his style. In my personal opinion, Illmatic was one of the richest lyrically based albums of all time. 2Pacalypse Now was a poor album put next to his later stuff, it didn't outline his intelligence enough. Put it like this, in Illmatic, there was no corruption in his style, it was an 18 year old kid spitting honestly in a style all his own. His flow is almost poetic.

Seaneh · 03-12-2004 10:04pm

Kristok wrote:

Illmatic - Pretty good i never really got the big deal about it

For Someone NaS' age to come out with an album that good and launch it with a song like half time was and still is almost unheard of.

Kristok · 04-12-2004 4:49am

2pacalypse Now was what started everything its what got him noticed and it was far from his best album but thats the point im trying to get accross it was a great first album, and id say the same for ready to die great album but not his best but nas gets stuck with this classic 5mic first album and nothing will compare to it dispite the fact that most peoples favourite nas tracks are probably not from illmatic.

I just feel people think illmatic was just so great that he had to make something spectacular to compare to it, but the other albums are from different point in his life. Like stillmatic was his semi comeback album when it looked like he was becomming old news, all his albums are from different times of his life so they gotta be taken that way.

L!aM · 04-12-2004 5:01am

Well the thing is, Illmatic isn't just considered one of the best debuts. It's a hip hop landmark. It's one of those albums that you can really say is 'real'. It would feature in my top 10 hip hop albums of all time. I think one of the problems is that it's not that accessible to unseasoned hiphop lovers. The beats are simplistic and the rhymes are complex. Once you can just adapt to the flow it's just pure lyrical onslaught.

Kristok · 04-12-2004 11:13am

L!aM wrote:

one of the problems is that it's not that accessible to unseasoned hiphop lovers.

I believe that people accept it to easily as a masterpiece but i personally dont see the geneious in it i see clever ryhmes from someone who was comming up and I dont automatically accept that that makes it classic. Ive meet many people over the years who are as much into hip hop as i am and agree with me that its overrated, and ive meet others who believe it a classic but its just not for me.

Klimseven · 04-12-2004 8:38pm

forget illmatic it was overrated

yer ma's overrated...now shut up...

Bri · 06-12-2004 6:20pm

That's not very nice. Your quite the opinionated one arn't you.

Klimseven · 08-12-2004 4:08pm

no...die...

Bri · 16-12-2004 12:21pm

Does the new NaS album not work in a PC?!

I've got it here and I play all my music through my computer, yet both (legit.) discs read as non-audio, and the

\ has 0 objects. I know this can be the case but there's no warning visible that I can see and it even says about bonus features by putting it in the computer.

What the hell?

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV · 16-12-2004 4:24pm

the song ''virgo'' on disiple is great

Makaveli · 16-12-2004 7:33pm

Bri wrote:

Does the new NaS album not work in a PC?!

I've got it here and I play all my music through my computer, yet both (legit.) discs read as non-audio, and the \ has 0 objects. I know this can be the case but there's no warning visible that I can see and it even says about bonus features by putting it in the computer.

What the hell?

What are you playing it on?
It must have copy protection on it. Try ripping it to mp3 using Audiograbber.

Bri · 17-12-2004 1:56am

Explorer shows CD drive is blank - no title or files.
Winamp - no reading
Exact Audio Copy - Insert Audio CD

All for both CDs!

This is crap all I wanna do is play the original CD through my damn laptop speakers.

Does audiograbber have some ability that the above programs don't? Not being sarcastic here I'm just wondering why you mentioned it specificly.

Makaveli · 17-12-2004 4:54am

I just mentioned Audiograbber because it was the only program that would recognise certain cds I have as audio cds.
But my computer recognised there was a cd there.

Does it work in a regular cd player?

Bri · 17-12-2004 11:08am

Yeah I have it playing on a discman now.

Weird...I'll try it in another PC and maybe give audiograbber a go.

Thanks.

ubu · 17-12-2004 11:34am

Got my (CD) copy last week, never put it on the computer coz i had it already, ill try it later when i get home and see if it recognises it

New NaS Album

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