“Lost Tapes 2”
Just about a week ago, well known New York Rapper and lyricist, ‘Nas’, gave us a sneak peek from his newest project. It is entitled “Lost Tapes 2”. The “Lost Tapes” series are the songs that Nas had locked away in the vault, waiting to be released. Every so often he takes it upon himself to release them as albums for the public to enjoy. Nas gave us a taste of his song “Jerreau of Rap”, in which he attempts to connect to the hip young whippersnappers and show us that ol’ Uncle Nas still got it!
Maybe This Isn’t It!
Let me go on record, by saying that I haven’t been this annoyed, disgusted, and appalled by a song release in QUITE some time. Every time the song comes on I smile, and no it’s not the smile you think it is. This isn’t a “wow what a refreshing song; it brings me such joy” smile. It’s a “someone REALLY gave this man studio time, with this beat, and allowed him to release this song”, type of smile. This song makes me question whether Nas has anybody on his team who respects him enough as not only an artist but a MAN, to tell him that maybe this isn’t the one.
He Immediately Smiled…
The first time I was exposed to this was in the car with Jonathan, a fellow Disctopia writer. During a casual conversation, he stopped me and said: “have you heard the new song Nas dropped?”. Seeing as I rarely keep up with the releases of Nas in the year 2019, I told him I was not aware that he had dropped anything. He immediately smiled. And yes, it’s the EXACT smile that I described before. At this point, I knew I was in for trouble.
With Nas being one of the top MC’s in Hip Hop for me, I would think he would never lose his touch with flows and lyrics. He tried to imitate a “Skatt Attack” as he calls it, where he lyrically scatts on the track. While this isn’t the best idea, I can see where the creative juices were flowing. I won’t condemn him for trying this out. What I WILL condemn him for is, the fact that he slows down in between the “Skatt Attack”. He takes quick pauses in between certain bars. I think he was trying to emphasize them, but I swear, it made absolutely no difference. Nas broke out the old “lyrical miracle spiritual individual” rap, that I dread. Rappers that aren’t very deep or thought-provoking, often try to fit as many big, rhyming, words into a sentence. This gives the false perception of depth to their songs. Artists like Kyle and Big Sean tend to do this. Eminem in his prime did it as well but perfected it to the point that it was enjoyable.
If It Were Anyone Else…
To all my Nas fans out there that are going to crucify me for this review…I understand. I can see why you’d disagree with my view, and I promise you I don’t think you’re incorrect for thinking that. But before you dismiss me entirely, I want you to sit and ask yourself this question: if ANY rapper from this recent generation dropped this song, would you TRULY enjoy it? I’m not talking about OG rappers that have hits under there belt. I’m talking, ‘Yung TimmyDaKid’ dropped this as his FIRST song; Would you give the same song the seal of approval? If you haven’t heard this song yet, I urge you to listen to it at least once, to understand where I’m coming from.
