Yessir… The legend that is Nasir Jones has been hard at work recording material for his forthcoming LP Life Is Good (the title might change). A few weeks ago, to the pleasure of all off his fans (including myself) and Hip Hop heads a like, he let loose the first single off his tenth album, “Nasty“. Below, courtesy of the good folks over at The Life Files, are images from the video shoot taken in the God Son’s home town of Queens, New York. Ohh and yes… that is AZ putting up the trigger finger.
Nas ft. Keyshia Cole - More Than I Can Say
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Nas' fans have been pleading for more material from the Queens lyricist ever since he dropped new single 'Nasty' last month. Somehow, 'More Than I Can Say' has leaked onto the internet and features fellow New Yorker Keyshia Cole.
The collaboration between the rapper and singer is - unbelieveably - six years old, but has only been released now. Because of this it is unlikely that the track will appear on NastyNas' 'Life Is Good' album, but depsite it's age, it still sounds relevant today.
It is believed that the unfinished track was due to appear on P Diddy's 2005 'Press Play' LP, however, it was scrapped at the last minute.
In the wake of her untimely death yesterday, Amy Winehouse left behind her a mark on Hip Hop that not only contributed to the culture, but made her part of it. The beehive-sporting soulstress not only got props from Jay-Z and Ghostface Killah on remixes to her vintage-sounding tracks, but she had a deep love for Hip Hop that shone through in work with producers Salaaam Rem iand Mark Ronson. Not only that, but her schoolgirl crush on Nasproved that she was a B-girl at heart.
Winehouse didn’t hold back when it came to pledging allegiance to Nasir Jones. On her debut albumFrank, she teamed with producer Salaam Remi for the cut “In My Bed,” which touted a soft-edged interpolation of the beat for Nas’ “Made You Look.” Her Escobar stannery didn’t stop there, with Winehouse taking an opportunity to pay respects to the Queensbridge MC on “Me & Mr. Jones.” With its emblematic opening line “What kind of fuckery is this?” Amy let loose an excoriation of some chump who broke a promise to take her to a Slick Rick gig. Now, her plus one to a Nas show was in danger, too, and she wasn't having it. She eventually got her wish to meet Nasty Nas in real life - only this time, no guest list required.
Nas & Common - 'Ghetto Dreams'
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Nas took to Twitter to unleash "Ghetto Dreams," The No I.D.-produced collaboration track between the New York spitter and Common that we've been on the lookout for. Impatient with his track partner's apparent reluctance to drop the song so early, Nas took matters upon himself. He first called Common out on Twitter with a request, then issued an ultimatum:
I'm giving @common 15 minutes or I'm putting this sh*t out myself! #GhettoDreams
Keeping his word, Nasir Jones dropped the song 20 minutes later. Listen below to the first single off Common’s forthcoming The Dreamer, The Believer, his 9th album and first under Warner Bros. It's expected to see a Fall release.
Nas - Life is good
The American star’s new single Nasty is paying tribute to New York in the late 80s and early 90s and raps with an intensity that is reminiscent of his early days in the music indusNtry.
"It's like Tom Ford, the designer, who is one of my favourite designers. I read somewhere he's inspired by the '60s and '70s and that's why his line looks like the future now. Because he came from a great time in fashion and he turned it into his interpretation and it gives you the future," he told MTV News. "I came up in a great era, so I'm always gonna live with that and that's always gonna live inside of me.
Nas also said that he wanted to return to the basics of hip-hop on his latest album, which currently bears the working title Life Is Good.
When asked if the ‘hunger’ that was so audible in his earlier music went away as he became successful and experimented with different styles, the rapper explained he simply pushed it to the back of his mind for a while.
"Nah, I just tucked it. I tucked it because I wanted to do other things, experiment with other sh*t and didn't want to do the same sh*t over and over," he said. "Hip-hop got so big that it's important to open it back up, that real sh*t. No dis [disrespect] to what nobody else is doing, but it's important to open this real shit.
Nas, Life is good.
Nasty Nas is back
The Big Dog is back! Returning to gritty rhymes while taking lyrical jabs bar-for-bar. Nas remind us exactly why we call him "nasty Nas" on his rather disgusting (in a good way, of course) track, 'Nasty'. This cut serves as the first street single from his upcoming album, 'Life Is Good'. Nas seems to be hungry as he rhymes over a classic old school production from Salaam Remi, leaving no room for hook...
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There's no R&B chord, A-list feature or catchy chorus. On "Nasty," the first single from Nas' 10th solo album, The Good Life, the rapper takes things back to hip-hop basics: hard rhymes over an infectious loop.
The song, which leaked online Monday night, is reminiscent of New York's 1980s infamous park jams and starts out with a DJ asking the rapper's native Queensbridge housing projects, "Are y'all ready to see Nasty Nas?" The question is, of course, rhetorical.
After Nasir pushed rap's envelope in 2008 on his politically charged Untitledalbum (originally titled N---er), fans have clamored for new solo material. Thankfully, "Nasty" lives up to its name, as the track's opening bars paint a picture of New York's pre-gentrified crack era: "Late-night candlelight fiend with diesel in his needle/ Queensbridge leader, no equal." Nas continues to toss numerous nods to the '80s and '90s on the Salaam Remi-produced track. There's a shout to Queens street legend Thomas "Tony Montana" Mickens, the now-closed Tunnel nightclub and the late Notorious B.I.G.
Still, "Nasty" isn't just a trip down memory lane. In fact, Nas remains with his feet firmly planted in 2011 as he reflects on his growth from a wide-eyed boy looking out of his project window to rap's upper echelon, while still leaving room to grow."We ain't going backwards, we're staying forward though," Nas said in a June interview with DJ Envy on MTV2's Sucker Free.
With the song's lyrics, he stays true to that notion. "Silent rage, pristine in my vintage shades/ I'm not in the winters of my life or the beginning stage," Nas spits before revealing his lustful interest in actress Antonique Smith, who played Faith Evans in the 2009 Biggie biopic "Notorious."
Nas continues to fire off quotables in rapid succession. "I'm so high, I never land like Mike Jackson's crib" and "Your flow's cheap as limousine liquor" are just a few examples of Nas' spirited wordplay.
If the new single is any indication of what fans can expect from the new Nas album, then for hip-hop fans, life is good.
Nas’s “Lost Tapes 2″ Should Sound Like This
Though Nas has released nine solo (studio) LPs over his 16-year career, the Queensbridge legend’s non-album resume is nearly as celebrated within hip-hop’s inner circle as his retail output. Just ask diehard God’s Son fans about The Lost Tapes, his 2002 collection of unreleased tracks, all mastered and finally available crisp in sound and legitimate in presentation. Several XXLstaffers, in fact, believe that The Lost Tapes is one of Nas’s best albums to date.
That’s why the news that surfaced last night has us chomping at the collective bit. Nas announced, via Twitter, that he’s looking to drop The Lost Tapes 2 on December 14. What he didn’t reveal, however, is the set’s track listing. It’s not as if there’s a scarcity of unreleased Nas material that’s hit the Internet since The Lost Tapes impacted eight years ago. He’s put out several mixtapes since then, on top of loose mp3s that have shown up on various blogs or right here in the Bangers section.
Here, XXL compiles what we’d love to hear on The Lost Tapes 2, fully mastered and without the DJ tags and, at times, less-than-desirable sound quality. First, revisit these 11 rare Nas cuts, and then take the comments section to let us know what other songs of his you’d like to hear in all their official glory come mid-December.
King of New York, (undisputed).
I belive it is settled now, the argument has been blazin' for years about who the true king is, and yeah every one has their own opinion but I think Nas has won so many battles now that the war is won. The biggest sticking point for me is Biggie (R.I.P), I don't think anyone can say Nas is better than Biggie but the fact he has done so much more than Biggie tips the balance in Nas favour. I found the artical below and had to post it, thanks Alan good work.
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He is the undisputed King of N.Y. If you don’t agree, then you haven’t been listening closely. Nas does not lose; not when it counts. He’s like Kobe in that way (yea, I said it). To those of you who are outraged and yelling at me through the computer, hear me out. I respect Jay-Z’s hustle and flow; I think 50 Cent had a great 1st album and is a genius; nobody does hip-hop entrepreneurship better than Diddy; and, God rest his soul, I love and respect everything the Notorious B.I.G. blessed us with musically. But Nasir Jones holds the key to the city as far as the culture is concerned. Nas is the people’s champion, a true global ambassador for hip-hop. Oh, and did I mention he is a lyrical monster? If you ain’t know, keep readin’…
“Analyze This” (3rd verse)
Nas and Jay-Z had their war, (which Nas clearly won) but in a time long before that the two were once friendly acquaintances. The first time Nas spanked Jigga’s a$$ is actually on this record, they were just on better terms. I discovered this song a while back, but I believe it’s out of print because I have never found it on an album or any type of purchasable release; I think it was pressed on vinyl only.
Many people say Stillmatic was the rebirth of Nas as a dangerous MC. If there is another track besides “Ether” that definitively illustrates that fact, it’s this one. This song is basically a career biopic, as Nas outlines his constant pushback from haters, imitators, and even his own oft-troubled soul. “Wish I could flap wings and fly away, to where black kings in Ghana stay/ so I can get on, my flesh rot away, but that’ll be the day/ When there’s peace, when my gat don’t need to spray, when these streets are safe to play…” A king’s job never ceases.
“Verbal Intercourse” (1st verse) from Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Raekwon and Nas have always had a mutual respect and admiration for each other, and have adopted parts of each other’s styles over the years. This track on the Chef’s classic solo debut has the two plus Ghostface Killah going at it. For me it’s hard to say there was clearly a best verse, but I do feel like this beat matches Nas’ voice so his flow is butter on the track. If he could’ve gotten more beats like this throughout his career, y’all naysayers might respect my dude more.
“I Gave You Power” from It Was Written
This entire song is a metaphorical painting of Nas comparing himself to a gun… but in what sense? It’s always intriguing and powerful when art can be interpreted in multiple ways (I don’t know if Nas has ever commented on it or not), because it keeps people talking and thinking. That is a rare feat in rap, which is why this song is so unique. I think it’s a metaphor for the conundrum of being an artist signed to a major label, dealing with the politics and what not…what do you think?
This is the most underrated Nas song in my opinion; no one ever talks about it but the flow is crazy nice. Granted, the song sounds like a freestyle in the traditional sense (not off the dome, but literally free of style and all over the place content-wise), but there are SO many dope quotables and deep metaphors. This is one of my all-time favorites jams to just ride out to.
“It Ain’t Hard To Tell” from Illmatic
This is the closing song to the arguably the greatest album in hip-hop history. It’s hard enough not to put all of Illmatic on this list, but for me this song defines how raw and fresh the entire album is.
“Live at the Barbeque” (1st verse) from Main Source’s Breaking Atoms
This song from Main Source contains Nas’ inaugural verse, his first appearance on the rap scene. It was immediately labeled a classic cut, and for Nas it’s been on ever since. Imagine this being your first verse you ever spit on wax, and then you follow up with an album like Illmatic, and you’ve got to try to continue to live up to that type of hype – that’s pressure. But Nas has continued to excel and remain true to himself and hip-hop.
(Written by Alan Royal)
NAS and DAMIAN at Hammersmith Apollo, London, England
The police were out in force for this concert bringing together superstars of two musical genres not particularly celebrated for advocating compliance with the letter of the law: hip hop and reggae. Perhaps it was the explicit declaration of opening number ’As We Enter’ that had Her Majesty’s constabulary concerned, when rapper Nasir Jones declares “I got the guns” and Damian Marley gleefully responds “And I got the ganja.”
Any apprehension that this might prove anything other than a celebratory union of exceptional talents was misplaced. Hammersmith Apollo was packed with the loudest, happiest, most upbeat audience I have witnessed in a while, and it wasn’t all down to secondary inhalation. Black and white, dreadlocked and baseball capped, the crowd was deafening in its singalongs and roars of approval, dancing in the aisles, holding lighters aloft (reggae fans are old school in this regard, disdaining the current vogue for raising mobile phones), smiling at strangers and generally displaying all the hallmarks of folk having the time of their lives. Indeed, the equally familiar response to classics from both band leaders suggests there was actually little tribal division. One love, as Marley’s father would have had it.
It has been the inspired idea of Nas and Marley to exploit the strong connection between rap and reggae. Marley, the youngest son of reggae legend Bob, has already shifted his fluid, commercial sound towards urban music with his 2005 album, ’Welcome To Jamrock’ and has latterly united with veteran New York hip hop legend Nas on a new, African themed album, ’Distant Relatives (out now on Island). The nine piece band is essentially Marley’s and they have the virtuoso chops to effortlessly encompass soul and hip hop grooves into their sinuous rhythmic patterns and melodic arrangements. This proves of particular benefit to Nas, who delivers trademark solo hits like ’If I Ruled The World’ and ’Got Yourself A Gun’ to a musical backing much richer than hip hop gigs usually provide. For his part, Marley demonstrates that he is a frontman the equal of his father. Sporting dreadlocks so long he could almost double as stage-sweeper, he energetically bounds around, cajoling and teasing the audience, and delivering poetic lyrics with a voice that can turn easily from soulful melodiousness to aggressive street-wise toasting. Together, the contrasting styles of the dynamic duo allow them to interact both verbally and physically, trading couplets and striking heroic poses. There is a real sense of mission about this uniting of forces, with Nas putting the police presence to shame with statements like “this is our world, so let’s act like it!” Songs of social consciousness like gorgeous ballad ’Patience’ and anthemic ’Africa Wake Up’ put real heart in a party that ends with a rafters raising version of Bob Marley’s ’Could You Be Loved?’ The set was loud and raucous, lacking the musical finesse of the album, but it was the kind of gig where you really know you’ve been at a gig, the audience emerging ears ringing, smiling and damp with perspiration. There were, to the best of my knowledge, no arrests.
cant wait for the album if tha single anything too go by