if Nas has a damn Ego this rap world would look VASTLY different then it does now...

[18th letter]

Originally Posted by jhova718

a back seat criminal that passes the heat.

but for real, if it weren't for illmatic, Nas would just be another above average rapper. He inadvertently screwed himself by releasing illmatic as his debut album. Unlike other artist, when Nas came into the game he was at his zenith. You start out with perfection really the only direction you have to go is downhill, unless you can maintain that course and drop another classic, which is hard but a couple artists have done it. Nas' albums after It Was Written all seem like lackluster efforts with a lot of gems peppered in every album here and there. illmatic took Nas 19 years of scribbling other peoples lives into his notepad to create, it will probably take him another 19 years deliver another masterpiece.

 

[dead stokc]

^VIIHeaven's gonna eat ur *!% for brunch.

 

[finessesosa]

Originally Posted by abeautifulhaze

Nas a Virgo.

He don't care about the extra s_. Just wants to get his art out and chill.

We don't care about jumping in front of the camera, long as the work gets done.

basically.

him doing that he did a lot of dudes dirty especially the fan and for the art but i bet he dont feel like he did.

Nas coulda been GOAT EASILY had he just followed a simple common sense gameplan. He ruined it but he dont care cuz thats how Virgo's are. Its whateva though....

 

[ninjahood]

word...Nas is probably da worse rapper to put anyone on...its almost impossible for him to do so....smh

 

[All Ready]

For Nas to change his entire personality would create a different artist that you may not even like

His style and flow would possibly change

I doubt Nas ever envisioned being as famous as he is, he just created music outta love

I don't listen to Nas that often but I def respect his music

 

[ill legal operation]

What is this nonsense that Nas doesn't do features?

He's worked with everyone from J.Lo to Lil Jon...

...Nas is the rapper's rapper - didn't his baby momma write some book sayin' he'd have secret apartments with rhymes scattered all over the floor?

With Jay the way Jay is now - I'm glad Nas is Nas (if that makes any sense)...

...and ARIES FTW!

 

[send one]

Originally Posted by NostrandAve68

Originally Posted by EzFlash26

Originally Posted by MusicalExcellence

Originally Posted by ninjahood

how u say nas sucks at being commerical when "if all ruled da world" and phone tap STILL gets play on hot 97?

son doesn't like da limelight.....hate me now was da zenith to that type of escobar bravado that i wished he did more of...

those arent commercial songs genius... u just be sayin %+$* for the sake of saying it...

at that time, those songs definitely were considered mainstream.

The songs were a commercial success indeed but I doubt Nas recorded them for commercial purposes. The intent of them wasn't to be commercial. Its kinda like Meth All I Need I... I doubt he thought that track would ever win him a Grammy and be such a commercial success... it was probably just suppose to be a hood ballad.

I disagree.  Here you had what many considered the greatest ever and his debut,  saleswise, flops.  IIRTW and pretty much all of IWW I believe were recorded with commercial intent.  Nas caught a lot of flack for it at the time too.

As far as Meth, if you went in the studio with MJB and Puff in the 90's you pretty much knew what the result was going to be. Did he expect a Grammy,  probably not,  but he knew what he was doing....and I'm glad he did.

 

[championedition]

ninjahood... you a cool dude.. but you stupid.

you know who rocks with nas?
posers. yes i said it.
that %##+* done went thru about 11 phases.
he was a grimey whatever kinda %##+* who was dealin dope in the hood or watching the hood from his window or some %@%@
then he turned into a thug
then he turned in to nastradamus wearing leather pants with twisties and singin with ginuwine
then he turned into this "street poet" with this "famous father" who no one has ever heard of or mentioned
then he turned into a black panther
now he's jamaican.

you know who rocks with Jay -Z?
real hustlers and wanna be hustlers and up and coming hustlers.
he started as a hustler makin money.
and he's still the same thing today.

he evolved yet retained his sense of self.
the same %##+* hes always been. a hustler.
do whatever for the money.
money never gets old.
thats how real $+!%%+ get down. you from NY. NY to LA is all the same.
the real cats on the street are the hustlers.
not the gangstas, they die.
not the art heads, they broke.
not the school boys, they on some other %@%@.

the hustler will always reign supreme.
no one ever wants to be talked down to and made to feel like theyre stupid.
and one one wants to listen to someone who really dont know what theyre talking about.
did nas even finish high school?
did he even attend college?
and he tryin to kick knowledge?

JUST CAUSE HE WEAR A KUFI IT DONT MEAN THAT HE BRIGHT

 

[superswag]

bein a big nas fan i felt obliged to speak my mind...

i have to agree with several posts here. im glad nas is nas and different from everyone else because it gives us an alternative. everyone's talkin about the same thing jigga, weezy is talkin about and to hear nas still bringin poetry at this age and time, that makes him truly a gifted artist.. he chose to go against the grain...

imho he already had his fair share of "fame" or "spotlight" at a time in hiphop when those type of things are rarely given to the genre itself and much less to its artists. if you check the history, when hiphop was dominated by pac and biggie, he's the only other rapper that achieved double platinum status. when pac and big was still ALIVE he did that... so i think the reason he's no longer pursuing it is because he already have it crossed out his list. he just vibe and whatever attention, fame comes then so be it.

also, i think illmatic was a gift and a curse to him. i read a post above that because his debut was a perfection, everything went downhill because fans used that album as a standard in measuring if his succeeding albums are a success or a flop...but for me i look at it as a gift because illmatic somehow secured nas' spot in hiphop history. every rapper's dream is to have their own illmatic. even jay dreamt of it... yeah reasonable doubt was a classic (trying to avoid an illmatic vs reasonable doubt debate here) but it didnt bring jay the same attention, acclaim, and recognition that illmatic brought to nas... thats why jay's been tryin to create his own illmatic practically his entire career (blueprint & black albums imho were projects that left me the impression that jay's trying to follow the same formula illmatic had to achieve a "classic album" that we can all refer to as jay's "illmatic"). so what im basically saying is nas accomplished something (a "perfect" album) that most of the rappers back in the 90's and nowadays are trying to accomplish their entire life but always fall short.

another point that i would like to mention is that i think the main difference between nas and jay or biggie is that nas is an artist first, businessman second. biggie and jay, based on their demeanor, i could say are businessman first, artist second. thats why they appeal more to the mainstream compared wit nas. in biggie's interview in his life after death cd, he mentioned that he "creates joints for fans and not for himself since he wont be the one buying those cd's". and i think jay thinks the same way and considers what the fans would like to hear. in contrast, nas creates songs about what he wants to tell people. and then its upto to the fans if theyll consume it or not.

just my thoughts

 

[futuristic]

Originally Posted by ChampionEdition

ninjahood... you a cool dude.. but you stupid.

you know who rocks with nas?
posers. yes i said it.
that %##+* done went thru about 11 phases.
he was a grimey whatever kinda %##+* who was dealin dope in the hood or watching the hood from his window or some %@%@
then he turned into a thug
then he turned in to nastradamus wearing leather pants with twisties and singin with ginuwine
then he turned into this "street poet" with this "famous father" who no one has ever heard of or mentioned
then he turned into a black panther
now he's jamaican.

you know who rocks with Jay -Z?
real hustlers and wanna be hustlers and up and coming hustlers.
he started as a hustler makin money.
and he's still the same thing today.

he evolved yet retained his sense of self.
the same %##+* hes always been. a hustler.
do whatever for the money.
money never gets old.
thats how real $+!%%+ get down. you from NY. NY to LA is all the same.
the real cats on the street are the hustlers.
not the gangstas, they die.
not the art heads, they broke.
not the school boys, they on some other %@%@.

the hustler will always reign supreme.
no one ever wants to be talked down to and made to feel like theyre stupid.
and one one wants to listen to someone who really dont know what theyre talking about.
did nas even finish high school?
did he even attend college?
and he tryin to kick knowledge?

JUST CAUSE HE WEAR A KUFI IT DONT MEAN THAT HE BRIGHT

 Dumbest thing I've EVER read

 

[ill legal operation]

Originally Posted by ChampionEdition

ninjahood... you a cool dude.. but you stupid.

you know who rocks with nas?
posers. yes i said it.
that %##+* done went thru about 11 phases.
he was a grimey whatever kinda %##+* who was dealin dope in the hood or watching the hood from his window or some %@%@
then he turned into a thug
then he turned in to nastradamus wearing leather pants with twisties and singin with ginuwine
then he turned into this "street poet" with this "famous father" who no one has ever heard of or mentioned
then he turned into a black panther
now he's jamaican.

you know who rocks with Jay -Z?
real hustlers and wanna be hustlers and up and coming hustlers.
he started as a hustler makin money.
and he's still the same thing today.

he evolved yet retained his sense of self.
the same %##+* hes always been. a hustler.
do whatever for the money.
money never gets old.
thats how real $+!%%+ get down. you from NY. NY to LA is all the same.
the real cats on the street are the hustlers.
not the gangstas, they die.
not the art heads, they broke.
not the school boys, they on some other %@%@.

the hustler will always reign supreme.
no one ever wants to be talked down to and made to feel like theyre stupid.
and one one wants to listen to someone who really dont know what theyre talking about.
did nas even finish high school?
did he even attend college?
and he tryin to kick knowledge?

JUST CAUSE HE WEAR A KUFI IT DONT MEAN THAT HE BRIGHT

 

[jthagreat]

Man, i love Nas, but a few of yall delusional.

all this "what if" S!!! is played out. I mean, ive learned to accept it when it came to Biggie and Pac, but Nas still alive...

 

[finessesosa]

Originally Posted by jthagreat

Man, i love Nas, but a few of yall delusional.

all this "what if" S!!! is played out. I mean, ive learned to accept it when it came to Biggie and Pac, but Nas still alive...

but he fell off. at least go out of your career on a high note. this dude has digressed so much. I don't care what NOBODY say.

 

[datboi23]

Originally Posted by FinesseSosa

Originally Posted by jthagreat

Man, i love Nas, but a few of yall delusional.

all this "what if" S!!! is played out. I mean, ive learned to accept it when it came to Biggie and Pac, but Nas still alive...

but he fell off. at least go out of your career on a high note. this dude has digressed so much. I don't care what NOBODY say.

 

[datboi23]

Originally Posted by FinesseSosa

Originally Posted by jthagreat

Man, i love Nas, but a few of yall delusional.

all this "what if" S!!! is played out. I mean, ive learned to accept it when it came to Biggie and Pac, but Nas still alive...

but he fell off. at least go out of your career on a high note. this dude has digressed so much. I don't care what NOBODY say.

 

[18th letter]

You're in denial doggie. Like I said dude is still riding off that illmatic wave like what, 16 years after the fact? Without illmatic I doubt people are mentioning his name as the GOAT

 

[jthagreat]

when does Distant relatives drop? i know it leaked...

 

[finessesosa]

Originally Posted by 18th letter

You're in denial doggie. Like I said dude is still riding off that illmatic wave like what, 16 years after the fact? Without illmatic I doubt people are mentioning his name as the GOAT

Nah he aint riding that Illmatic wave. Last time he showed flashes of Illmatic was on Stillmatic. He's in a whole nother zone now.

 

[CUNNiNGH4M]

Originally Posted by jthagreat

when does Distant relatives drop? i know it leaked...

next week

 

[jthagreat]

Originally Posted by MusicalExcellence

Originally Posted by jthagreat

when does Distant relatives drop? i know it leaked...

next week

thanks, will be coppin.

 

[harlem on the rise]

NaS had an AMAZING career...

He continues to evolves as a man and artist...

I'm glad he still owns his soul, wouldn't have it ANY other way...

I prolly felt the way you felt in high school but NaS had one of the BEST careers in hip hop EXCLUDING NObody...

 

[deuce king]

Originally Posted by Harlem On The Rise

NaS had an AMAZING career...

He continues to evolves as a man and artist...

I'm glad he still owns his soul, wouldn't have it ANY other way...

I prolly felt the way you felt in high school but NaS had one of the BEST careers in hip hop EXCLUDING NObody...

  

 

[CUNNiNGH4M]

i thought kelis got his soul in the settlement???

 

[harlem on the rise]

NaS' Catalog... Soundscan #s & Bilboard Charts Positioning...

Even if you're someone one that ONLY bases an atist's success on record sales, NaS career is STILL nothin to bus ya nose @...

NaS Avg. 1st Week Sales = 258,995 Units
No matter how you cut it, almost 260K units moved ANY week weather thats in 1996 or in 2009, that is VERY good #... There's NO denying that.

NaS Avg. Billboard Chart Pos = #5
Debuting in the Billboard Top 5 MORE than speaks for itself... No matter when your album drops, regardless of industry climate, genre, or record label, this is something that EVERY artist strives for, a Top 5 debut... Thats something he has done consistantly throughout his career.

 

[calikev34]

Fell off after IWW?
he put out so much dope music after his first 2 albums it not even funny, too many songs to list that he completely bodied

Stillmatic is a CLASSIC btw

He's a poser who went through 11 phases?

get the %$#$ outta here 

It's called evolving. that's what people do.... ya know, changing over time; maturing, ya know, +%++ like that