











NAS ALBUM DONE?!? Well yes, it is, finally. Here we are on with the four of the five albums that Kanye was working on up in Wyoming and it is Nas's twelfth album, man I've been waiting for this for a long ass time. Nas is one of my top five favorite rappers of all time so anticipation for this was at an all-time high. I was curious how Nas was gonna sound on an entire album full of Kanye production, so the hype was real. Enough talking let us get into this review, IM READY!





NASIR kicks off with the intro track "Not For Radio" and I love the grand opera vibe in the sample of the production, Nas tackles a lot of political topics ranging from financial and racial issues in the industry with a very powerful and dark statement. He mentions Abe Lincoln saying he did not free the enslaved, cause years later it was talked about how he wanted the slaves to only live in the south to please both sides back in the day and I love how Puff Daddy/Diddy just screams "FUCK YOUR PROCLAMATION" after that line which was funny as fuck to me. Nas also spits how the SWAT was invented because of the black panther movement, Edgar Hoover was a black man, Willie Lynch never existed, and that Fox News was founded by a black man which had me confused at first the cause I couldn't find any proof but I think Nas was trying to say was Fox News success grew cause of Obama, clever. 070 Shake returns again as she does the hook and I love her vocals, Diddy's ad libs were pretty good and added a lot to the track, a powerful opener to kick off the album and the name of the song fits the theme perfectly.





"Cop Shot the Kid" comes through with an opening with the late great Richard Pryor from on his stand up albums talking about dealing with cops and the beat drops with Slick Rick saying Cop shot the kid over and over and over again mixed in with the beat, It got annoying after the first couple of listens but I was able to tolerate it after a few more listens. Nas and Ye trade verses about the current situation going on in America with police brutality, Kanye's verse was the one that stood out to me the most. I love the line "Tell me who do we call to report the crime when 911 doing the drive-by", puts you into this perspective like "who do you trust then if the people who are supposed to protect do this type of shit", powerful shit. Kinda shocked me a bit that Kanye was spitting this, mainly cause of all the antics he was doing with supporting trump and all the other odd left field shit he was saying a couple of months, so good job, Ye. Nas verse is solid don't get me wrong, I like the summer line cause statistics does show that people do get more violent and crime rates go up in the summer heat, Kanye verse was just better in my opinion but both did a great job to get the message across.





"White Label" is easily my least favorite song on this album mainly cause to me Nas wasn't saying anything deep or meaningful like the two previous tracks. One moment he's rapping about eating tuna salad to talking about how a girl is a swallower, it's a very odd track to me. From what I read a lot of these songs have relation to the seven deadly sins and this one is about gluttony, which I do get the sense of this with the whole album thus far but this doesn't excuse the fact that the track he's wasn't saying much of anything, plus the mixing of this track needs some work cause the production is very nice and all it but dominating over Nas's vocals. "Bonjour" does a better job with fitting the narrative of lust with Nas rapping having a lot of wealth and describing the sexual attraction of ladies. I do love the clever bar that Nas saying "She didn't see me coming, now she's an eyewitness.", I know it's immature line but it's damn funny too cause it's Nas saying this. I love how luxurious the beat is and Tony Willams sounds excellent on this song, makes me want a Tony Williams album entirely produced by Kanye.





"everything" is one of the longest track on this very short album, with The Dream and Kanye taking half of the song up. Kanye vocals sound great on here, sounding like some of the more polished songs from 808's and The Dream sounds pretty well on here, probably the best I've heard from him since the 2000's. I love how the chorus fits the theme saying they wish they can have everything so they change the world. Instrumental is very epic and Nas storytelling is well displayed here. He raps the Starbucks incident that happened earlier this year, where a Starbucks employee called the police cause two men were using the restroom and waiting for a friend but didn't purchase anything. Nas also spits who would've thought a president respected him as an artist and person, Nas also rapped how he wanted to buy the land his ancestors lived on when they were slaves and since he's rapper it would be a big deal from the media which it would be a very powerful decision to make. I love also love the line about inclusion being a hell of a drug, where people will do a lot of stupid choices and take risks just to get acceptance from their peers. "everything" is the biggest highlight of this project and fitting the whole narrative of greed makes the whole song perfect.





"Adam and Eve" reflects on the next deadly sins, Sloth. Nas raps about spending a lot of cash to impress the girls, morning walks, smoking cigars, not eating bacon, etc. I love the sample and the piano is a very nice touch, raps having grey hair and using the expression the older you get the wiser you get which he feels right now in his life. I love the hook and the meaning with the old saying "don't fall too far from the apple tree" saying how the current generation don't stray away from their roots of their parents which I can relate to my father who was known for being lazy and not motivated which I hate to admit but it is true in way for myself.





"Simple Things" end the album and the main theme is about Envy. Nas takes shot at people who recently had discussed him being the worst beat picker in hip-hop history, mainly DJ Vlad who had been the face of this topic for the last couple of years. "Never sold a record for the beat, it's my verses who they purchase" pretty sums how most of his fans feel about that topic and that he doesn't sound like a top 40 hit song and you just gotta deal with it. I also like the bar where he talked how his lyrics are so great that some of the bigger university's are talking about him in the classes, I think he does mention his ex wife who made some allegations recently and some of the other women he's been with in the past, at the end of the day he just wants peace with himself and his kids and to appreciate the simple things in life that make me at peace.





Final thoughts are awhile I wished the album was longer, felt a bit rushed, a couple of low moments here and there, and the terrible delays and album rollout I am satisfied with this album. I think if this would've been the average length of your normal album my thoughts would've been different but I am with the results of this. I am not sure where I would rank this with other of Nas's past work, it's better some of his duds but not as a good as his great albums. Nas and Kanye had good chemistry with a lot of the production and the raps on here, it was like a true match made in rap heaven. Shout out Maga West and thank you, Nas, the wait was worth it.









Favorite Tracks: everything, Adam and Eve, Cop Shot The Kid, Not For Radio, Simple Things





Least Favorite Tracks: White Label































