Art Vandelay wrote:It was me that gave up on Nas, not DK. And yes, that's exactly when I did so, after Nastradamus. I've heard a few tracks from some of his albums since then, but he could release the best album of all time at this point and I wouldn't buy it.
I discard Nastradamus because that was a travesty to Nas, but it was made out of mostly bootlegged stuff. If you remember, Art, a lot of the "I am..." tracks got leaked before it was released, and so Nastradamus was just a throw-together of tracks. And yes, it was pretty bad.
Stillmatic, God's Son, Street's Disciple, & Lost Tapes are classic, very good, good, and good albums, even for Nas's standards. I mean, he made (IMO) three 5-mic albums (Illmatic, Stillmatic, and It Was Written), and other than Nastradamus Lost Tapes is his worst stuff, and it's still better than a LOT of people's work (I'd give it 3.5 mics)
For me it goes:
1.Illmatic
2.It Was Written
3t.Stillmatic
3t.Death of Escobar (a bootleg from 2002, I think... maybe 2001)
4.God's Son
5.I am...
6.Street's Disciple
7.Lost Tapes
8. Nastradamus
Best-case the new album is around Stillmatic, worst-case it's around I am.
Art Vandelay wrote:It was me that gave up on Nas, not DK. And yes, that's exactly when I did so, after Nastradamus. I've heard a few tracks from some of his albums since then, but he could release the best album of all time at this point and I wouldn't buy it.
I discard Nastradamus because that was a travesty to Nas, but it was made out of mostly bootlegged stuff. If you remember, Art, a lot of the "I am..." tracks got leaked before it was released, and so Nastradamus was just a throw-together of tracks. And yes, it was pretty bad.
Stillmatic, God's Son, Street's Disciple, & Lost Tapes are classic, very good, good, and good albums, even for Nas's standards. I mean, he made (IMO) three 5-mic albums (Illmatic, Stillmatic, and It Was Written), and other than Nastradamus Lost Tapes is his worst stuff, and it's still better than a LOT of people's work (I'd give it 3.5 mics)
For me it goes:
1.Illmatic 2.It Was Written 3t.Stillmatic 3t.Death of Escobar (a bootleg from 2002, I think... maybe 2001) 4.God's Son 5.I am... 6.Street's Disciple 7.Lost Tapes
8. Nastradamus
Best-case the new album is around Stillmatic, worst-case it's around I am.
I actually own It Was Written and my rap collection is pretty non-existant. Aside from that I have The Roots - Things Fall Apart, Busta Rhymes - The Coming, and When Disaster Strikes, and Wyclef Jean - The Carnival. That's probably the extent of it. I also have some turntablists that are sorta in the realm of hip-hop like DJ Krush.
acsguitar wrote:I'm not sure why but I prefer Reggae by far over hip hop
I really don't like reggae much at all. I'm just the kind of guy who prefers guys who can write over guys who can just blabber nonsensically over a beat. But that's just me.
I actually own It Was Written and my rap collection is pretty non-existant. Aside from that I have The Roots - Things Fall Apart, Busta Rhymes - The Coming, and When Disaster Strikes, and Wyclef Jean - The Carnival. That's probably the extent of it. I also have some turntablists that are sorta in the realm of hip-hop like DJ Krush.
You sound like you'd be an RJD2 fan. Dude is sick with production.
It Was Written is IMO one of the most underrated albums of all time.
acsguitar wrote:I'm not sure why but I prefer Reggae by far over hip hop
I really don't like reggae much at all. I'm just the kind of guy who prefers guys who can write over guys who can just blabber nonsensically over a beat. But that's just me.
I actually own It Was Written and my rap collection is pretty non-existant. Aside from that I have The Roots - Things Fall Apart, Busta Rhymes - The Coming, and When Disaster Strikes, and Wyclef Jean - The Carnival. That's probably the extent of it. I also have some turntablists that are sorta in the realm of hip-hop like DJ Krush.
You sound like you'd be an RJD2 fan. Dude is sick with production.
It Was Written is IMO one of the most underrated albums of all time.
You should hear Steel Pulse they are by far my favorite reggae.
Bijou's stuff is cool but a little more out there as I can't tell what he's saying half the time
Art Vandelay wrote:It was me that gave up on Nas, not DK. And yes, that's exactly when I did so, after Nastradamus. I've heard a few tracks from some of his albums since then, but he could release the best album of all time at this point and I wouldn't buy it.
I discard Nastradamus because that was a travesty to Nas, but it was made out of mostly bootlegged stuff. If you remember, Art, a lot of the "I am..." tracks got leaked before it was released, and so Nastradamus was just a throw-together of tracks. And yes, it was pretty bad.
Stillmatic, God's Son, Street's Disciple, & Lost Tapes are classic, very good, good, and good albums, even for Nas's standards. I mean, he made (IMO) three 5-mic albums (Illmatic, Stillmatic, and It Was Written), and other than Nastradamus Lost Tapes is his worst stuff, and it's still better than a LOT of people's work (I'd give it 3.5 mics)
For me it goes:
1.Illmatic 2.It Was Written 3t.Stillmatic 3t.Death of Escobar (a bootleg from 2002, I think... maybe 2001) 4.God's Son 5.I am... 6.Street's Disciple 7.Lost Tapes
8. Nastradamus
Best-case the new album is around Stillmatic, worst-case it's around I am.
It was Written was horrible, but I didn't think it was very good either. Then I Am was even worse, then Nastradamus was such a horrible piece of crap I swore off Nas. When Stillmatic came out people were telling me he's back, this is his best work since Illmatic, you've gotta check it out, etc. But by that time it was too late. To me Nas is like that friend who gets into drugs and starts to slip, next thing you know he can't be relied on for anything, then you find out he's been steeling from you, then he finally hits rock bottom so you cut your ties to him. Finally, a few years later your other friends start telling you how he got clean, got his life back on track, changed his ways, was back to how he was...only you can't forgive him for screwing you over and stealing from you, so you say 'good for him, I don't want anything to do with him.'
Art Vandelay wrote:It was me that gave up on Nas, not DK. And yes, that's exactly when I did so, after Nastradamus. I've heard a few tracks from some of his albums since then, but he could release the best album of all time at this point and I wouldn't buy it.
I discard Nastradamus because that was a travesty to Nas, but it was made out of mostly bootlegged stuff. If you remember, Art, a lot of the "I am..." tracks got leaked before it was released, and so Nastradamus was just a throw-together of tracks. And yes, it was pretty bad.
Stillmatic, God's Son, Street's Disciple, & Lost Tapes are classic, very good, good, and good albums, even for Nas's standards. I mean, he made (IMO) three 5-mic albums (Illmatic, Stillmatic, and It Was Written), and other than Nastradamus Lost Tapes is his worst stuff, and it's still better than a LOT of people's work (I'd give it 3.5 mics)
For me it goes:
1.Illmatic 2.It Was Written 3t.Stillmatic 3t.Death of Escobar (a bootleg from 2002, I think... maybe 2001) 4.God's Son 5.I am... 6.Street's Disciple 7.Lost Tapes
8. Nastradamus
Best-case the new album is around Stillmatic, worst-case it's around I am.
It was Written was horrible, but I didn't think it was very good either. Then I Am was even worse, then Nastradamus was such a horrible piece of crap I swore off Nas. When Stillmatic came out people were telling me he's back, this is his best work since Illmatic, you've gotta check it out, etc. But by that time it was too late. To me Nas is like that friend who gets into drugs and starts to slip, next thing you know he can't be relied on for anything, then you find out he's been steeling from you, then he finally hits rock bottom so you cut your ties to him. Finally, a few years later your other friends start telling you how he got clean, got his life back on track, changed his ways, was back to how he was...only you can't forgive him for screwing you over and stealing from you, so you say 'good for him, I don't want anything to do with him.'
...or something.
That makes sense...which was Nas is like on? Which had the egyptian theme cover
Art Vandelay wrote:It was Written was horrible, but I didn't think it was very good either. Then I Am was even worse, then Nastradamus was such a horrible piece of crap I swore off Nas. When Stillmatic came out people were telling me he's back, this is his best work since Illmatic, you've gotta check it out, etc. But by that time it was too late. To me Nas is like that friend who gets into drugs and starts to slip, next thing you know he can't be relied on for anything, then you find out he's been steeling from you, then he finally hits rock bottom so you cut your ties to him. Finally, a few years later your other friends start telling you how he got clean, got his life back on track, changed his ways, was back to how he was...only you can't forgive him for screwing you over and stealing from you, so you say 'good for him, I don't want anything to do with him.'
...or something.
You didn't like It Was Written? Seriously? It has one of the best tracks Nas ever made (I Gave You Power) and other than perhaps the worst album intro of all time it was a classic from start to end.
I am wasn't great but definitely had its moments of greatness.
DK wrote:You didn't like It Was Written? Seriously? It has one of the best tracks Nas ever made (I Gave You Power) and other than perhaps the worst album intro of all time it was a classic from start to end. I am wasn't great but definitely had its moments of greatness.
I didn't dislike it, per se, but it wasn't anywhere great. It was a solid album, but started his decline. I didn't give up on Nas because of It Was Written. And I've never understood the almost-universal love for I Gave You Power. I wont go so far as to say that it was a blatant rip-off, but it was far from the original idea that it seems to get credit as. Plus Pharoe and Prince Po's version was simply a better song.
DK wrote:You didn't like It Was Written? Seriously? It has one of the best tracks Nas ever made (I Gave You Power) and other than perhaps the worst album intro of all time it was a classic from start to end. I am wasn't great but definitely had its moments of greatness.
I didn't dislike it, per se, but it wasn't anywhere great. It was a solid album, but started his decline. I didn't give up on Nas because of It Was Written. And I've never understood the almost-universal love for I Gave You Power. I wont go so far as to say that it was a blatant rip-off, but it was far from the original idea that it seems to get credit as. Plus Pharoe and Prince Po's version was simply a better song.
Well when you start off with something like Illmatic, you're going to decline no matter who you are or how talented you are. That's just the kind of album was.
I guess we'll have to disagree on IWW. IMO, it was an absolute 5-mic classic album, but since it wasn't Illmatic, nobody noticed.
Cafe Home
Fantasy Football
Fantasy Basketball
Fantasy Hockey
by DK » Wed Nov 29, 2006 7:08 pm 
it was a classic from start to end.
