So I’ve given Nasir enough listens to fairly judge it. Basically every time I’ve been in the car or played music at home for the past week, I’ve listened to this.
Thoughts:
Not For Radio - Eh. And that’s by Nas standards, which are very high. They were going for the epic “Nas is back!” type intro. Frankly, it was much better done on every level on the Stillmatic Intro(the standard for Nas is Back! intros) and also on “No Introduction” off Life Is Good. Lyrically strong, the beat is fine, just not special. Puffy and the Hate Me Now callbacks seem pointless and unnecessary. Nas flow - thought he seemed to struggle a little at times. Not a fan of the auto tune hook. The “epic” sample was nice. Take Puffy off and this one is much better.
Cops Shot the Kid - I’ve been able to move beyond the Slick Rick sample a bit. At first I found it distracting which may have been a subconscious thing where I expected the next line of “Children’s Story” to come and was frustrated when it didn’t. I do think it helps create a hectic, intense vibe which works for a song with this content. I love the way they use it for the hook. Verses and content strong. I like this one a lot now. “Talking big(B.I.G.) sh$t, Ready To Die”...nice. That’s a slick line.
White Label - Nas is still terrible at rapping about sex. Like...flat out gross, every time. He sounds pretty lifeless on this one. Beat is just ok. Why they thought this one deserved to be on a 7 track Album is beyond me.
Bonjour - Nas vocally sounds noticeably better and livelier than on the last track. I like the background vocals on the sample. This one is solid. Beat gets stuck in my head in a good way, hook is fine.
Everything - Great song, lets get that out of the way. I do think it’s overlong, and while I see what Nas was going for with the vaccination lines, I think he pulled it off a little awkwardly. Still I think his rapping was very strong here, and while I’m not a fan of singing Kanye, it works here. The Dream works too.
Adam and Eve - Still the best overall song here IMO. Great beat, great rapping, the hook works. No complaints. Reminds me of the stuff on the Nas/Damian Marley album, which is a good thing because that album was really good.
Simple Things- Really like this one too. The sample is magical, really like the content of this song too. I love when Nas is in this mode. Still think it’s too short and ends out of nowhere.
Overall - I’m glad we got this but I think my main issue is it’s been 6 years since Life Is Good, so a 7 track album needs to be bulletproof. This is not that. A couple songs are “eh”, and there’s things that annoy me about some of the songs I like too. Nas always has strong content and bars, but on this album he often doesn’t sound crisp with the flow. He is 44. Some of the beats go, some are mediocre and sound a bit out of place. Overall I think I'll feel better about this album if it's not the sole-follow up to Life is Good and is more of a stopgap holdover until a "real" Nas solo later this year/early 2019. I like it but I wouldn’t put it in the top half of Nas album catalogue.
