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Album Review
by SashaS
29-11-2004
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| Nas: the tunes and rhymes mega-blast! |
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Nas: 'Street's Disciple'
(Columbia)
Nas: the truest rapper, presently?
In contrast to pop schedule in the runup to the year's end the rappin’hood gets busy and albums drop with regularity, from Eminem to ’new’ Tupac Shakur [see News]. Unfortunately most of these albums tend to disappoint - Em’s ‘Encore’ is as good as Snoop’s ‘R&G’, something like 20% of cuts are worth bothering with in either case - but there is one Hip-hop master you can count on to delivery class.
Nas - or Nasir Jones, as he’s started to spell it on the cover - and his double dose of ‘Street’s Disciple’ that takes no time to start pumping huge, hassling tunes, blasting beats to shake speakers offa shelves and voicing rhymes to freak-out citizens who‘d rather make art than war… Yep, this is rap as we like it - loud, bassy, inventive, engaging and without compromising to any type of crap. The album cover is an urban recreation of ‘The Last Supper’, an obvious tonic for religiously thirsty Americans…
There is no room for blingology, infusion of R&B formula, ‘gangsta’ posturing… Nas remains faithful to his concerns, things that matter to him, from oppression by government and anti-integration morality to God and the period when the deity appears to have been on an extended vacation. There is plenty of life, violence and death [‘Live Now’ ends with a flat-lining signal]…
Of course the album sports the ‘Parental Advisory’ sticker but this is never for gratuitous effect, it is the reflection of the urban reality; it doesn’t glorify drugs but simply tell a story [‘Rest of My Life’]. Even when it gets intimate, ‘Reason’ (featuring Emily), ain’t a R&B ballad but sex-charged ode to bedroom and dying dramas…
Commencing with melodic ‘Intro’, it doesn’t take long to address the social forces on ‘A Message To The Feds, Sincerely, We The People’, this 25-track set visits many and wide range of sonics, with a selection of guests: Kelis on ‘American Way’, Busta Rhymes on ‘Suicide Bounce’, Maxwell on ‘No One Else In The Room’, plus Ludacris and rap-pioneer Doug E Fresh on ‘Virgo’…
Samples are often and as varied as George Clinton, James Brown, Chic, Run DMC, Marvin Gaye but also, bonus of the Disc 2 - entitled ‘Thief’s Theme’ samples Iron Butterfly’s ‘In A Gadda Da Vida’…
Nas, probably the bestest rapper right now and without much serious competition.
9/10
SashaS
29-11-2004
Nas’ album ‘Street’s Disciple’ is released 29 November 2004 by Columbia
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