Best Nas Album

Raekwon

......apart from 'Illmatic' of course which IS his best album by a long way.

I'd personally say that it's between 'It Was Written' & 'Stillmatic' but I also like 'The Lost Tapes' even though it's not really classified as an official album release.

So what do you think? Also do you have high expectations for 'Life Is Good' or do you think it will just been an average album from one of the greatest MC's ever?

mufcboy1999

the lost tapes for me man, really love listining to it. its his best piece of work since illmatic imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uWwLX4j970

conor.hogan.2

I am not going to vote in a poll which does not include all his albums as it is kind of stupid.

Raekwon

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

I am not going to vote in a poll which does not include all his albums as it is kind of stupid.

Illmatic would win by a landslide so it would be kind of stupid adding it to the poll.

Bobby Baccala

It has to be it was written for me, the only one of his albums after illmatic that i liked enough to go out and buy.

Raekwon

As for 'Life Is Good', hopefully he teams up with DJ Premier again as he always seems to up his game rhyming over Premo beats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKjj4hk0pV4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0K9hzDf_78

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbeUd4k6C-k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLzIe1Lrkew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TllbGtempQ4

jonneymendoza

What a shame that 9/10 rappers over the past 10 years are all wack and nowhere close to Nas's level.

Eminem comes close but his been in the game for a while so not really a recent newish rapper.

Jimmy Iovine

jonneymendoza wrote: »

What a shame that 9/10 rappers over the past 10 years are all wack and nowhere close to Nas's level.

Eminem comes close but his been in the game for a while so not really a recent newish rapper.

Is the 1/10 rapper Chris Brown by any chance? :pac:

There are plenty of amazing rappers around if you go and look for them.

Bobby Baccala

jonneymendoza wrote: »

What a shame that 9/10 rappers over the past 10 years are all wack and nowhere close to Nas's level.

Eminem comes close but his been in the game for a while so not really a recent newish rapper.

Go underground and you'll find talent you'll never dreamed existed.

Midlife Crashes

jonneymendoza wrote: »

What a shame that 9/10 rappers over the past 10 years are all wack and nowhere close to Nas's level.

Eminem comes close but his been in the game for a while so not really a recent newish rapper.

IMO Lupe Definately has the potential to be one of GOAT's so long as Atlantic quits f*cking with him.

Jimmy Iovine

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

Go underground and you'll find talent you'll never dreamed existed.

Case in point being Emcee Jermaine. He has insane skills. 23 minute long EP that's better than almost everything I've heard this year.

jonneymendoza

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Is the 1/10 rapper Chris Brown by any chance? :pac:

There are plenty of amazing rappers around if you go and look for them.

like tyga? lil wayne? rick ross? big sean? list goes on and on.

Bobby Baccala

jonneymendoza wrote: »

like tyga? lil wayne? rick ross? big sean? list goes on and on.

They're 4 of the worst rapper alive.
Please, keep the list going, redeem yourself in my eyes

jonneymendoza

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

They're 4 of the worst rapper alive.
Please, keep the list going, redeem yourself in my eyes

yea thats my point LOL. i think out of the last couple of recent rappers i tink T.I is probably the best out of the new generation of rappers and T.I is not even in the same league as eminen, nevermind NAS.

anyways i have been listening to NAS all day long at work via spotify. His is epic and i think his first album is the best.

ItsNugget

jonneymendoza wrote: »

yea thats my point LOL. i think out of the last couple of recent rappers i tink T.I is probably the best out of the new generation .

You really need to look a bit deeper. There's rappers out there like R.A. the Rugged Man, Apathy, Reef the Lost Cauze, Slaine, Blaq Poet etc that are miles better than T.I.

conor.hogan.2

Game, Kendrick, Sage Francis, Lupe, Aesop, Tonedeff, Chamillionaire, Elite, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz etc

These are only the ones of the top of my head who came out around 2000-ish or really started making way 2000 or after.

jonneymendoza

Joe Budden? lol

Bobby Baccala

jonneymendoza wrote: »

Joe Budden? lol

Yes joe budden, raps circles around the majority if not all the mainstream rappers you'll hear on the radio or see on mtv.

He just made some dumb choices like dissing meth. It got him a black eye.

jonneymendoza

Ok cool i will check out these rappers. sick and tired of hearing big sean and co. bloody annoying .

We all know chris brown is the best rapper alive...

conor.hogan.2

Joe Budden is a really really good rapper. I prefer Crooked, Royce and Joell but Budden is good too.

jonneymendoza

Royce is quality. diddnt he do a duet album with eminem called bad vs evil?

Bobby Baccala

jonneymendoza wrote: »

Royce is quality. diddnt he do a duet album with eminem called bad vs evil?

I know they had a song together on one of eminems earlier albums and then they followed up on that last year as far as i know, i haven't listened to it yet though.

conor.hogan.2

They had several songs together no EP or album afaik. Bad Meets Evil: The Sequel came out a while ago and the title is a reference to a line on the SSLP.

Jimmy Iovine

jonneymendoza wrote: »

Royce is quality. diddnt he do a duet album with eminem called bad vs evil?

Well it was an EP. It's good in places. Haven't listened to it in a while. They float in and out of each others verses very nicely and you can see that they've a great chemistry. If others tried it it'd be a disaster.

Have a look at Blu, Fashawn, Sims, Wax and P.O.S. while you're at it. Don't bother with the charts. You'll just end up tearing your hair out at how bad it is.

horsebox09

It Was Written for me, Nas was sharp as a blade throughout that album

danbrosnan

For me it has to be hip hop is dead!!!! I know ye all won't agree with me, but it hit a lot of nerves and the whole jay z thing, with him signing has to def jam had a good effect on me... Some good beats and serious lyrics too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAKxjTRV6ms

conor.hogan.2

They are all about everything except the album. Most influential album in hip-hop of the past several years but best? Few would agree.

Paul1979

lost tapes followed by it was written, however both pale into insignificance in comparison to Illmatic.....

KangoSkank

Lost tapes for me.

I'd say <5% of mainstream rappers that have come out in the last ten years are worth listening to, hence the reason why my Big L, Public Enemy, Wutang etc CDs constantly need to be reburned due to scratches from overplay

jonneymendoza

OMG NAS IS BACK!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3wIJ774gJs&ob=av2e

Orizio

ItsNugget wrote: »

You really need to look a bit deeper. There's rappers out there like R.A. the Rugged Man, Apathy, Reef the Lost Cauze, Slaine, Blaq Poet etc that are miles better than T.I.

Of all the rappers you could list, you list that lot...?

conor.hogan.2

Orizio wrote: »

Of all the rappers you could list, you list that lot...?

Could you list a better list of not very well known rappers / rappers who do not sell well despite skill?

(personally I would have a mostly different list but I would post it not just criticize somebody else's list)

Bobby Baccala

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Could you list a better list of not very well known rappers / rappers who do not sell well despite skill?

(personally I would have a mostly different list but I would post it not just criticize somebody else's list)

Don't mind him conor, his opinion is greater than everybody else because he used to be a mod here.

conor.hogan.2

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

used to be a mod here.

Really?!

Orizio

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Could you list a better list of not very well known rappers / rappers who do not sell well despite skill?

I must have missed something, but the point of the above list was the best of the newest generation, or rappers better then TI? I mean, hardly any of the rappers he listed were better then TI, nevermind being the best rappers of the last decade. Blaq Poet is in the running for one of the worst rappers of the past decade, for example. Anyway, the likes of Kendrick Lamar, K.R.I.T., Freddie Gibbs, Shad, Elzhi, Fashawn etc are the best of the new generation, and none of them sell well bar Lamar (not that he sells much either).

(but I would post it not just criticize somebody else's list)

Congrats to you dude.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

conor.hogan.2

Orizio wrote: »

I must have missed something, but the point of the above list was the best of the newest generation, or rappers better then TI

Yeah, but according to the poster. Most of us would have different lists. But the rappers he listed are all better than TI but that is only because TI is not a high bar and are up there in a long* list of good rappers of the last 10-ish years.

*If you asked 10 people you would get 100+ rappers mentioned.

jonneymendoza

i dont think TI is all that actually. not even a 5th of Nas imo.

Boom_Bap

I'm gonna say what people are afraid to say. If It Was Written was interfered with by label politics and having catchy chart songs, it would be better than Illmatic. So It Was Written gets my vote. After that, you could take a couple of tracks of each album and come up with a good album.

conor.hogan.2

I agree with most of that besides the end. Stillmatic and Gods son are as good as IWW and Illmatic (overall, they are all quite different so hard to compare) and the rest of his album are good but not great.

Illmatic is illmatic, a great album but if it came out after IWW it would be hailed as great but no IWW.

Wiirdo

To be honest, I love IWW more than Illmatic. I think he improved his lyrics and especially his storytelling ability.

pragmatic1

God's son would probably be my favourite after illmatic. Get down is one of his best songs ever.

danbrosnan

pragmatic1 wrote: »

God's son would probably be my favourite after illmatic. Get down is one of his best songs ever.

Very very good opinion, love that album too but i am the only one that voted for "Hip Hop is Dead, so what do i know... :rolleyes: