Nas Article..........

Im huge fan of hiphop mostly past but some present. One of my favorite rappers is NAS. Been following him for a minute now and I'm pleased that he some new music comin in the form of Distand Relatives with Damian Marley. In my mind its gonna be a dope album. I was online on one of my favorite sites www.allhiphop.com and came across this article that i thought was interesting. Here is the article in its entirety.


EDITORIAL
We Need Nas
Monday, March 29, 2010 11:11 AM | 69 comments
By Good Guy AKA Everyman
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Nas rapper
We Need Nas.
We Need Nas.
We Need Nas.

There, I said it.

A lot of people want to forget about Nas now, act like he's fallen off. They - behind computers - sit and laugh about his marital issues. They still want to talk about Carmen from time time. He signed under Jay-Z when his former adversary was president of Def Jam, they type. They use terms like "Nas stay losing."

They love to tear him down for some reason.

They do this to others as well, but not quite in the same way as Nasir Jones.

But, we need Nas...you know, if you still love Hip-Hop. I'll admit, Nas isn't the "Jesus-snuffing-Illmatic-Stillmatic" dude that we once knew and revered. His body of work has been somewhat spotty. Frankly, his rocket ship didn't quite make it to Hip-Hop Heaven.

But, we need Nas.

I look at the landscape of O.G. rappers that are still doing it and doing it well. There's Jay-Z, Kanye West, there's Jadakiss, Scarface, Snoop Dogg and others that are still doing work. Lyrically, and I do mean purely lyrically, none of them seem to be as thought provoking and provocative as Nas. And that's not disrespect, because most of them have more flair, business acumen, style and personality than Nas puts on display.

What is dope, as well as frustrating, is his natural tendency to be private. He remains mysterious in an era that seems to abhor enigmas. I love the fact that I don't know what Nas' daughter looks like. Sure, I know Nas has a hefty support bill with Kelis, but I don't quite know if they get along. Nas isn't twittering about it. Hell, we don't even know if he was supposed to be on the original version of "Empire State of Mind" with Jay-Z.

I like that. I like not knowing too much. I like a rapper that pays attention to lyrics. I like a rapper that's not afraid to take a break. Not afraid to be an attention whore. Not afraid to take musical risks.

This leads me to the end of this column.

A few months ago, this collaboration with Damian Marley was the worst thing Nas could ever do, in my humble opinion. First off, I am not the biggest reggae fan, even though I used to do the bogle dance. Glad there was no Youtube back then. But, I have changed my mind on that. This album, titled Distant Relatives, is probably going to "save" Nas' career. After seeing the videos of his performing at SXSW, he's got a renewed energy. He's also got a new cause, a new message and even a team to help him pull this off. This album is more significant than his recent albums.

The main complaint I have with Hip-Hop is the lack of balance in the music. There is no hatred for The South or gangster rap or skinny jeans rappers or whatever else is popular right now. I like it all. And that's all the more reason why we NEED A NAS.

Now, there are other rappers - such as J. Cole, Pac Div, Pill, Juice, Jay Rock - that give hope for that balance we need on a larger scale. There's a lot of hope. But I also hope that we as a community will stop feeding into the desire to deconstruct Nas so much. Let dude be Nas, an amazing lyricist that happens to be the opposite of all that you complain about. Perhaps the hate is some form of displaced love. Maybe we failed to recognize Nas as a human from the onset of his career and really bestowed him with power he never had.

Nas can still make it to Heaven, but we're going to have to help him navigate the ship this time around.

Real talk. We need Nas.



Peace

Hip Hop Sighting.........

Last night I had the opportunity to see one of my favorite groups of all time perform: Brand Nubians. I been a fan since around 92' when i first heard One For All. I remember workin wit my pops and when we got finished and he paid me I asked him to take me to the record store and thats where i got the Brand Nubians tape and we listened to it all the way home. I was hyped when I got home and played it again with my brother and my friends. There were plenty standout tracks on that albun and when I heard it I was instantly hooked. Their lyrics were strong and to some controversial. Ive always been a person that was proud to be Black but this one one of the albums that made me even prouder. Even to this day I recognize know and understand their music on so many levels. They deinitely have had an affect on me.

Fast forward to last night and I was crazy hyped to check the show. I went solo cause none of my people wanted to hang out and its been a minute since I been out so I had to go out but thats here nor there. It was a nice crowd in the spot. The DJ was doing his thing and i was lovin it. There were a lot of local cats that went on and they did their thing. One group in particular was The Cornel West Theory. They had a live band and everything so I was in the zone. They even had cats break dancing so people were enjoying themselves. During the performances all the Brand Nubian members were in the crowd just vibin with the people taken pictures signin autographs and everything. When Brand Nubians hit the stage the place was crazy packed and ready to go. They ran thru joint after joint after joint and they had the people in a frenzie. definitely an A+ show. I was happy when I asked if a new album was comin and they said yes..........

Peace