Modern day classic

[SoberMindedMuzk]

Y'all prolly already know, but the new Nas album is amazing

 

[Lord Lav]

To be fair I really need to check it. Some of the snippets I've heard sound good

 

[2GooD Productions]

It would be good to hear some good nas, I hope his beat selection has picked up.

 

[God]

It would be good to hear some good nas, I hope his beat selection has picked up.

I love Nas, but his beat selection wasn't very good. I agree his lyricism is amazing, but he had uninspiring beats. You can hear the album stream here: http://www.xxlmag.com/reviews/2012/07/nas-life-is-good/

He reminds me of cats like Motley Crue who used to play their 80's style Spinal-Tap style rock in the late 90's during the heyday of grunge. I really don't think Nas is making music for the youth. That's a problem because there are rappers just as old as him making great modern-sounding tracks.

Beat selection is his worst enemy.

Imagine if Nas was given this track to rap over, it would have been one of the coolest tracks put out this year:

Instead, Rick Ross picks up great beats and keeps moving forth in his career, picking up other rappers who have lyrical talent but had bad beat selection, like Wale. I'm not saying Ross is as good as Nas, because Ross is a mediocre lyricist.

Why do I mention Wale? He was dropped by his label and Ross picked him up.

Rap is equally as much about beat selection as it is about lyricism. In fact, I could argue beat selection is likely more important, as our example, Nasir Jones. has demonstrated over and over again. Tight lyricism doesn't carry an album by itself.