Nas "Hip Hop Is Dead" - At First Glance

Alright, I just got my hands on the leaked version of Nas' Hip Hop Is Dead, and felt compelled to give my review as I hear it, At First Glance.

"Money Over Bullshit" - iPod Rating - 4 Stars: This starts the album off wonderfully often reminiscent to Nas's It Was Written days with the production and delivery of lines like "affraid not of one of you cowards, but of my own strength." A very nice intro, as most of Nas' albums contain. The flow, and lyrics on this to me set a certain expectation for what is to come.

"You Can't Kill Me" - iPod Rating - 2 Stars: Nothing major to me honestly, I have heard Nas sound way better before, seems like it's too early in the album for a possible filler track but remember this is at first glance. The production to me is rather mediocre, but doesn't surprise me too much because to me Nas doesn't always pick the best beats to fuck with.

"Carry On Tradition" - iPod Rating - 4 Stars: Beat starts off not too amazing, but like I said above his tracks aren't always the best, but breaks down good every few bars. Sounds like Nas is explaining the current state of Hip-Hop and alluding to what he means by Hip-Hop is dead. It also seems like he addressed a few rappers with some subliminal lines in this track, namely the second verse. He mentions a line about new rappers, dissing folks on mixtapes and also says there isn't too many rappers familiar with Big Daddy Kane. I really like this track, to me it picks up where "You Can't Kill Me" left me hanging.

"Where Are They Now" - iPod Rating - 2 Stars: This song is dedicated to all the old school Hip-Hop acts, and has Nas asking where is everyone. He pretty much is paying homage to they artists who paved the way, and telling what influenced him. Honestly, this is a good way to school the youth about where Hip-Hop came from, but to me this track doesn't do much. The beat, again is not moving at all, which is not surprising at all. I think he is trying to set a standard about what Hip-Hop was before it "died." Not really feeling the song too much, but the meaning to it fits the album well I guess.

"Hip Hop Is Dead" - iPod Rating - 5 Stars: Like I mentioned above, the last song transitioned into this one very well, so I do see the importance of "Where Are They Now" even though I didn't feel it too much. Now this track, I tend to like will.i.am's production alot, so I am glad Nas chose him to callab with. The hook is good and very fitting for the track. I will say the first time I heard this a few weeks ago I was kinda leary about him using the same sample for this song as he did for "Thief's Theme" but it did work pretty well.

"Who Killed It?" - iPod Rating - 2 Stars: This track starts out with a nice little hop, kinda feelin' it and then a it gets a cinematic feel to it. But then Nas is kinda getting a bit weird, really. He changes his delivery a bit, which at first listen is weird. At first it sounded as if it was just a intro, but the whole song is rapped in this weird voice. He sounds like a old man, that's the sound he is going for, and the theme for this record is Nas telling a story about what happened to Hip Hop, dropping old school artists names, and song titles of classic hip-hop tracks, and LP's. Once again, a stretch for me personally. Maybe after hearing it I can get past the horrible delivery he went for, I think he tried with this, but didn't work. Not feeling it, bottom line.

"Black Republican" feat. Jay-Z - iPod Rating - 5 Stars: When I first heard this shit 2 weeks ago I bugged the fuck out. There 2 on the same track is epic, and it seems as if they really made a track. Not just the typical hip-hop callab tracks you get now-a-days too, this sounds like they wanted to make a song together for the love of music, and the end result shows. This song matches both Nas & Hov trading lines back and forth on the chorus, over a very epic sounding track. It sound so good to hear these two together, once again let me reiterate that. Jay sets a good standard for the track, and Nas follows on verse two, and keeps the track going very well and keeps the energy level up. If Def Jam was smart they would have threw this on both albums, Nas & Jay's shit, and made a video for it to cross promote both of them, but time will tell if they shoot a video for this. To me this song is too important to not be seen on video.

"Not Going Back" feat. Kelis - iPod Rating - 4 Stars: Good beat choice, first let me state that, hearing Nas mesh with this beat perfectly and hearing Kelis' vocals in the background works magic. Kelis comes in on the hook and it works very well. Nas opens the second verse with a few bars that I think are kind decent and says something about anyone coming into some money, "First thing that happen when you make a little paper//you think the Marriot is livin' in a skyscrapper//till you come across some even more flyer paper//realizin' 5 star telly's are even greater." This pretty much a story about a dude from the hood, who makes it out and is strugglin' to stay out. He even sends a jab his former record label Sony / Columbia saying "Sony.......I'm not goin' back to."

"Still Dreaming" feat. Kanye West - iPod Rating - 5 Stars: Kanye starts out spittin' on this track which gets my attention real quick over a track that I can't help but assume he produced as well. It ahs a real nice mellow, and soulful vibe to it. Nas attacks the second verse spitting "How you a man, waiting for the next man to get rich//your plan is to stick out your hand real quick." He pretty much gets at people who sit around waiting for shit to happen thinking the world owes them something. I like the message and vibe behind this track for sure. On the third verse Nas tells a story of a girl searching for a dream but gets caught up. Overall very good song.

"Hold Down The Block" - iPod Rating - 3 Stars: Songs starts out with another breakbeat which seems to be the theme or backdrop for alot of the Nas tracks lately, and even spanning back to his last album Street's Disciple (which was the worst LP I have heard by Nas ever by the way). Not feelin' the beat too much, as usual, and the hook is not very good, it's either a sample or someone singing for this track, kinda sounds like will.i.am maybe, but whoever or whatever it is, it's not very good. The third verse saved this song, and got it up to 3 stars.

"Blunt Ashes" - iPod Rating - 2 Stars: Slow type of double time beat that Nas attacks with a slow flow. This is another Nas story telling song, and to me from jump it kind of reminds me of "Small World" from I Am, but not as good. The hook is okay, once again nothing spectacular for me. Yeah the hook is not good, let me reiterate that, it's very hip-hop cliche-ish.

"Let There Be Light" - iPod Rating - 3 Stars: Another breakbeat go figure, nothing crazy for me. Another RnB feature is on this song for the chorus, dude kind of sounds like Anthony Hamilton, I like his voice tone. The second verse was good where he referenced every rapper wanna hang with old school drug dealers and shit. That verse definitely picks up the tempo of the whole song for sure.

"Play On Playa" feat. Snoop Dogg - iPod Rating - 4 Stars: This track starts off with a very weird sounding baseline which Nas attacks very well I must say. Snoop comes in on the hook and to me the energy picks up tremendously with Snoop's voice alone. The tracks sounds a little more fitting for Snoop honestly, even though Nas is doing his thing on it. Nice line alert "But we ain't into buying conflict ice." Snoop smashes the third verse and rounds out the track nicely.

"Can't Forget About You" - iPod rating - 4 Stars: This must be a Dre track right here, cause this shit was bangin' when it first came in. Then the tempo kinda switches up a bit as well, but still keeps my interest. The chick on the hook is nice and add's a good vibe. It's the same girl on Jay-Z's "Lost Ones." She got this old school 40's and 50's vibe to her voice, and she really brings alot to the track with her Billy Holiday-esque style. The "Unforgettable" sample made the track very good, this would have been a great track to complete the album definitely.

"Hustlers" feat. The Game - iPod Rating - 5 Stars: Track is crazy, beat is nuts, features are crazy. Nas does his thing on this, his flow and voice matches the beat perfectly, and the hook is classic if you ask me. The girl from Floetry who has been making features on albums here and there sure has a nice vibe for tracks like this. Game comes through with a good feature for sure, but at times sounds like he is patterning his flow after Nas' a little too much. But I do like this verse by Game straight up, it is good to hear him back on Dre's drum patterns and shit since he didn't even get a track for his LP. Nice line alert "I stopped beefin' with niggas//cause I am Ether to niggas," spits The Game. More beats and flows like the ones on this track is needed.

I keep ALL Nas songs on my iPod, just cause he is one of my favorite artists, but there are a few tracks I would get rid of if anyone else made them, but since it is Nas, I will probably give them a few more chances before I can them, even if I do. I wasn't too impressed honestly, and I find it very ironic Nas releases a LP called Hip Hop Is Dead, and doesn't contribute anything really new to it at all. I since Nas made such a huge claim, you would think he would be there to try and perform CPR on Hip-Hop or something right. You would think he would craft some ground shaking LP to back up the title, and Hip Hop Is Dead doesn't offer a solution on the current state of hip-hop. There are brief bright spots, but are few and far between, and kind of get over shadowed by the queensbridge emcee trying to hard to create something that is not there. He either didn't try hard, or tried too hard and overdid everything.

Maybe I will feel a bit more different about the album after getting to listen to it a few more times, but as of right now, at first glance, I wasn't impressed. For a new artists this would have been a decent album maybe, but you come to expect more from certain artists, especially Nas. If Hip-Hop is dead, then after listening to Hip Hop Is Dead, I would say it still is in the same condition after this LP, maybe in a coma or something, LOL.

Overall, I would say this album is 3 Stars, and that's kinda me being nice cause this is Nas. The only reason I give it 3 Stars is because the features to me made Nas step his game up a bit.

I know what Nas was goin' for with his Hip-Hop Is Dead theme, and it was a good idead, it's a good plot for the album too. But he just didn't pull it off with the music. I see where he was trying to go, but he didn't get in the car, get behind the wheel, and take us there. He gave us a idea, showed us breifly what he wanted us to see through binoculars, and stopped about 60 miles short of what he was trying to do. He missed the rest stop, forgot to fill up his tank, and ran out of gas before he could get us there.