written by Syn Dotcom
And, of course, NAS are the letters that spell…
What else can we say about Nas? Nas is arguably one of the, if not the, greatest hip hop artist of our generation. His debut album Illmatic has changed the climate of music and has been celebrated as a classic and timeless release. But the question remains. Does Nas get the flowers he deserves? Illmatic released in 1994. Think about that year: 1994, the year Disney’s The Lion King was released. Seinfield and Friends made its first debut. The Nintendo GameBoy was still a thing. The first Playstation was released. Movie tickets were slightly under five bucks. Fast forward to the year 2020, and Nas is still a topic of discussion.
Somehow he has been able to “Survive the Times.” He lasted throughout the different sounds and experiments of HipHop. The lyrical era, The boom-bap era, The West Coast Run, The Down South rise, The conscious era, the gangsta era… you name it, and Nas stood tall. Even when everyone counted him out. The rumors of issues with his marriage, baby mama drama, sharp undeserving criticism about his beat selection, and how can we forget the beefs with him and Tupac, Dipset, 50 Cent, and of course, his “Friend or Foe” Jay Z.
When it was believed that “Hip Hop was Dead,” Nas stood tall. His longevity says a lot. Nas is a testament to how you make a name for yourself and build upon that name. Set the mark. As a relentless businessman with many successes to his credit, Nas has invested and opened up innovative companies that will last as long as his music does, if not longer. In 2020 Nas is set to shock the world with his album King Disease. This will be his 12th album, and this came as a surprise to us all. He shares the stage with top Producer HitBoy but what’s even more surprising is the feature list. Big Sean, Charlie Wilson, Fivio Foreign, Asap Ferg, Anderson Paak, and all of us vintage Nas fans, he even recruited The Firm. His clique consisted of Foxy Brown, AZ, and Cormega or Nature (depending on the day).
For veteran and headlining artists, Nas reaching back to grab some historical features as well as some of the new faces in the music industry is rewarding. It could be a gamble because we haven’t heard these kinds of collaborations from Nas. If executed the right way, this can be another outstanding effort from Nasty Nas. The majority of his peers from 1994 have either disappeared, left off, passed away, or failed to survive today’s climate because of how dated they were. We celebrate Nas because he has never lost a step and is still at the top of his throne. His prophecy from his first few albums still holds true. Illmatic (In the beginning) It Was Written, I Am, Nastradamus. Salute to King Nas. Cheers to another album.
