Nas Returns To Criticism and Praise With The Release Of Magic 2.

When the greats return to release music in Hip-Hop culture there seems to be a stigma attached to them because Hip-Hop is always seen as a young man's sport. Hip-Hop was born from the youth rebelling against the system of racism and classcism in the inner city of New York City. The youth took the charge in leading the voices of the people against the establishment.

As Hip-Hop has evolved and matured generations have been established and the birth of eras have come from the culture. Terms like True School, Golden era, mixtape and blog eras and so on has come from the culture and the emergence of the new voice has always captivated the culture while American culture has influenced the overall genre of always upholding the new and not focusing or respecting the elder of something within it. This by far is not a "Hip-Hop" thing but something done in American culture where always wanting the newest things and throwing something older away is the norm Unfortunately in music this happens so often that it is common practice. With "Black" music, older artists are always thrown away due to marketing and the lack there of, when it relates to veteran talents. With women they are measured on looks, and the measure of sex appeal they can bring growth to the wallets of the label owners in power. In Hip-Hop we are seeing a genre that is turning 50 years old this year, evolve in front of our eyes. With this we see in real time the evolution of the genre, for those of age, to remember the cardboard on the ground with children dancing on it. To now seeing women and men become business execs and entrepreneurs representing something that was birthed out of the pain of inner city youth. Nas was one of those youth that took Hip-Hop serious and has turned it into his life style, funding his different ventures from documentaries to investments and also of course making music. As being one of those legacy artists, Nas has faced criticism on his longevity in Hip-Hop and has been questioned on his relevance within the modern Hip-Hop culture.

Nas is an old school artist and many people in the modern age of Hip-Hop do not know the album, Illmattic. While there are some music purists that do, there are others that know only the past 20 years of music so the 90s era is foreign to them. The people I have talked to when it relates to write this piece are scattered in age and I have heard testimonies like, "Nas is the God", "I know Nas from Stillmattic", or "Nas the guy from Life is Good", and lastly "Nas is old and corny I don't fuck with Nas." So there is a scattered thought about him because his relevance to this conversation spans a 30 year career and with names like God's Son and the messiah of rap, Nas is held in the highest regards of Hip-Hop legacy. His legacy has always been tarnished by his beat selection though as people have stated for years lyrically Nas is 'Amazing" but his beats do not hit. In recent years Nas changed his formula and has worked with Hit-Boy creating 2 series of projects King's Disease and Magic albums.

Nas usually drops albums years at a time but his work with Hit-Boy has seen him drop 5 projects is 3 years which for Nas is life changing to his career. His delivery and rebirth into this new space of Hip-Hop has seen Nas drop classic songs like Ultra Black, Nobody featuring Lauryn Hill, Speechless, and Thun. But in relation to the volume of music dropping from this rap team, Nas still is compared to today's artists and the criticism comes with an album that is dropped hours into the day of release. Critiques like "this album is fire" to "lazy", has dropped and the polarizing spectre of Nas has returned to being the most beloved and often questioned artist remains on his resume. People have questioned Hit-Boy's sound to even Nas' lyricism on this new project. Magic 2 was released 7/21/23 and the flood gates were released on the beat selection, Hit-Boy's sound, Nas subject matter and he opened up the project talking about the hate placed on him since working with Hit-Boy on the song Abracadabra. Magic 2 has been attacked for many reasons but the one that bothers me is the question of why Nas is important to Hip-Hop currently?

As stated earlier Hip-Hop is growing in front of us in real time. 50 years is still young in relation to time. Nas represents someone making it from an era where Hip-Hop was still first beginning to make its way into the world view. Nas is one of many to make it from the 90s we can not discount Jay'-Z, Diddy, Ice Cube, E-40, Master P., Queen Latifah, and so many others that have shown us that Hip-Hop is more than just music. It is a life style and an inclusive industry that has brought in Hollywood, beverage companies and more. Method Man is an example of aging gracefully in Hip-Hop using canibus culture and health to be a physical example of caring for self and bringing a new diversity of youthfully aging in strength, and business into Hip-Hop representation.. Nas has always been held high and with that comes the most sharpest criticism.

Returning to age, Nas is defying the young man's game opinion. He is 30 years in the game and he represents something to his era of Hip-Hop, and a lot of people will miss that point until it is their time to be pushed to the back for something new. Nas is the story of endurance in a music culture that seems to always label something old and to not appreciate or cherish the time in which something happens. Nas' lyrics, and word play come from more age and experience and a lot of music pushed today is solely drug related and violent. A lot of artists that are great today do not make songs like this but due to age in the music scene Nas does not fit that subject matter and I have heard him discounted from top artist conversation due to that opinion. 21 Savage made a statement that Glorilla is more relevant than Nas and the age debate and era conversation came to the forefront in the culture. Thankfully Nas and 21 Savage did a song together which is on Magic 2 to talk about that topic that topic as well.

Hip-Hop may have regional opinions and bias but the fact remains Nas is a pillar to the culture and love him or not, his mark on the culture is stamped. This run inspires many of the veteran artists of this new era to create and keep going when age is an issue and people are shut out due to their timing of release in the culture. We recently had a conversation with Hero of HipHopHeroes podcast on Twitter Spaces about this topic. Click the link below to hear this conversation :

Link:

https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1OwGWwwLXwkGQ?s=20

Is Magic 2 Nas' best work to you? Is Nas and Hit-Boy's work credible or subpar to you in today's climate of Hip-Hop? We will let you decide as Hip-Hop further evolves and we see elder statesmen and women return to a youth driven culture and continue to push the boundaries, opinions and views or the culture forward.

Magic 2 is availbale on all music platforms to purchase and stream.

Nas' New Album Magic makes Hip-Hop Feel Pure Again.

Whenever Nas decides to drop an album the world stands still for the generation he represents. Nas for many is old school and he is pure Hip-Hop to others. But where all generations of thought will come to one conclusion on Nas, is that he loves the culture and you can hear it within his music. With a renewed sound and a Grammy win documented on his legacy, Nas continues to do what OGs are supposed to and that is to be truthful without regret in all his moves.

The new music shows more of his perspective as a man that lives and has lived many lives in his time. The scary thing is that in this crazy world where we never know when time may stop for any of us, the moments to teach, and to be taught are becoming more necessary as the days seem to move on. So in today's era of music where music is always given to the youth it is good to see someone that upholds the culture to a high level still making moves to show the world how special Hip-Hop is by giving needed messages in the music. Where Hip-Hop has went into the shake your ass and get high emotional era, Nas teams up with Hit-Boy again to release another great release that talks about the truth of Nas' legacy and how he is inspired by the doubt that was put on his name for years in the game.

Magic is 9 tracks of lyrics and musical scripture meant to feed the mind while Hit-Boy produces the sound that gives the rhythm of life to the heart and ear of the listener. With lines like "...feeding the buzz till KD3 comes out..." It seems like Nas and Hit-Boy are making the statement of "Keeping Real Hip-Hop Alive", while using skits from conversations of people sating Nas killed Hip-Hop by him proclaiming Hip-Hop is Dead. In my opinion this is where we grow from the death of Hip-Hop talk to now how do we nurture the genre and culture to keep moving it forward?

Nas used Magic in my opinion to once again show us how to be a master while mastering his craft. With the "Video Music Box" documentary out now on Showtime, Mass Appeal Records putting out music and podcasts, The Bridge, and putting out music we have seen Nas more now than ever before. With investments and media putting him in the public eye, Nas is becoming one of the true monuments of Hip-Hop Culture, Music Culture and more importantly Life's Process to teach all people especially from the inner city that the world IS yours and you have the power to make it into whatever you choose through inspiration and finding your purpose. Hit-Boy delivers masterfully in the music and with quotes like Nas and Hit-Boy are the new Gangstarr there is a lot to focus on and to look forward to on King's Disease 3. With all the talk of who can beat who on a Verzuz stage, I will say this for anyone that is seen as untouchable put Nas in there as he adds to masterful catalogue and keeps the culture pure by adding wisdom to the sound that comes out of it year after year with quality music. Magic is out right now on all music platforms, this is one to buy not rent from your phone or computer. Thank us later for this advice.

The Cream Always Rises to The Top. Thank you Jadakiss and Nas.

The past week in NY Hip-Hop was on fire due to 2 events that made the game change it's opinion on the importance of being able to deliver on 2 opposite sides of the same cultural dynamic of being an MC. The live performance and the album/body of work argument that is always made when someone is asked to perform for the Hip-Hop Culture. Jadakiss and Nas not only answered the call to what NY Hip-Hop and most East Coast purist have been calling for when it comes to the culture, but the delivered in ways artists dream of and made their cases for Greatest of All Time nominations in the culture. Let's start with the Verzuz.

On August 3rd 2021, Verzuz put on an event that featured The Lox vs. Dipset. Dipset is composed of Freekey Zekey, Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, and Cam'ron while The Lox is comprised of Sheek Louch, Styles P, and Jadakiss. This was built as a battle between 2 of the best crews to represent the NY Hip-Hop streets. Harlem vs. Yonkers and the world was waiting in anticipation to see who was going to win the epic battle. The problem is that while Dipset may have hits they missed what the Lox had: Chemistry and a plan. The plan seemed to be be to let Jadakiss take control of the event. He did alone what the Dipset could not do and that was to Master the Ceremony or in other terms, MC. Jadakiss measured the temperature of the crowd and brought the essence of Hip-Hop to the forefront. He attacked the Dipset for rhyming over their vocals, He went acapella and did Freestyle verses, he took the crowd under his wing to make the audience apart of the performance while giving everyone that watched the verzuz an example of how a REAL MC, not only performs but gives the wow feeling of speaking life into an audience. 2 major parts of the performance came when Jada kiss freestyles over the Who Shot Ya? instrumental and when he did his verse from Ja Rule's Song I'm From NY. Jadakiss became the Mamba that night but dropping The Dipset in the Garden and elevating the argument that he deserves to be amongst the greats in Hip-Hop. Then Escobar Season Returned.

Nas has been every rappers favorite rapper from the beginning of his career. He has seen the best and the not so great come from his career. From a Masterpiece debut to people questioning his beat selection also being engaged with the the top MC in the game, Nas has journeyed through Hip-Hop like no other MC to date. When it seemed like Nas could do no right, he teamed with Hit Boy and they created a Grammy Winning album, King's Disease. August 6th 2021 Nas returned with King's Disease 2 and he gave Hip-Hop more of what is needed and that is a mature perspective of what life is through the eyes of a man that is maturing into age, and more importantly life as he sees his legacy take shape inside and outside of the music. With so many artists dying prematurely and the newer generation has been suffering with the loses of Mac Miller, Juice WRLD, Pop Smoke and so many others, too many to name, this generation is not getting the chance to appreciate and grow with their favorite artists in their time of growth and development. Nas has successfully embraced his role in this part of his life by revamping his sound, incorporating new artists on features and bringing back favorites of the past like The Firm, Lauryn Hill and Brucie B. Nas put the greatest MC focus on making an album and not just a hot song every now and then. With songs with 3 verses on them and talking about minding your business, taking care of family, health and giving back we see and hear the mature voice of Hip-Hop and that is the OG talk Hip-Hop has needed for a long time.

People have always argued what is the difference between a rapper and an MC. 2 examples of MCs were on display this past week and I think the argument can be put to rest now hopefully. By Jadakiss' performance and Nas' streak at making music that counts not just for the vibe we can now give further reference to how it should be done to those that do not have the answers and are still asking the same questions. If Jadakiss' next album continues this hot streak he is on now then the Top 5 Dead or Alive title will mean more to not only his fan base but to those that love this culture and document its' legacy. Nas is aging gracefully taking his role as an elder statesman in Hip-Hop to the next level. With great music produced on his last 2 albums, a budding business empire through investment and his own label, Mass Appeal, Nas is showing how an MC moves and gives back to the culture. Being the Greatest is not only self proclaimed or a title given by the people. It is displayed in the hard work, the dedication to the craft and the art you create and the appreciation of that work paying off. Dipset and Hip-Hop in general learned to great lessons this week. Hip-Hop is not what you say but how you live. Preparation and delivery will always beat a trend. People will remember hits for as long as they are hot, but legacies transcend hits. What Jadakiss and Nas accomplished this weak makes the culture stronger while the songs may be eventually forgotten, the moments will stack up and this is how the cream always rises to the top. The songs will fade, and the beats may change but the experience and influence given by an MC is life changing and the culture was made stronger by what these men accomplished and raises the bar for it to continue further.