God's Son [PA] - Nas

...wrong with the release of God's Son, as we see Nas single-handedly bring his career from the depths and ressurect it like Jesus Christ himself. Never fear Nas rans, Murder Inc and all of its subdivisions are void from this album. Stillmatic began the rebirth, and God's Son gives Nas life once again...

Nas decides to kick off God's Son with a bang with the legendary "Get Down". In my personal opinion, this track is a classic ...
...Nas career appears here on God's Son in the form of "Last Real Nigga Alive".

Nas makes a huge jump in the way-back machine here, taking us back to 1994-1997 time period, moving us up to a bit more of a recent time period, but thats later. Nas basically goes all out and gives us pure honesty, revealing the truth about his very much hidden past. Nas goes on wax speaking about a very interesting situation with Raekwon the Chef, ... more

Nas took a humongous break but struck back hard with Stillmatic, which found Nas returning to his roots. Fans welcomed Nas back and awaited his next album, which was highly anticipated. Unfortunately, his parade was a bit torn down. Rumors circulated all around about Nas selling out and signing with commercial hip-hop label Murder Inc. Not to mention that his collaboration with Ja Rule and Ashanti didn't exactly help matters out. However, Nas proved everybody wrong with the release of God's Son, as we see Nas single-handedly bring his career from the depths and ressurect it like Jesus Christ himself. Never fear Nas rans, Murder Inc and all of its subdivisions are void from this album. Stillmatic began the rebirth, and God's Son gives Nas life once again...

Nas decides to kick off God's Son with a bang with the legendary "Get Down". In my personal opinion, this track is a classic and the perfect way to start a Nas album, in similar fashion to "NY State of Mind", showcasing lyrical dominance by Nas.

The instrumental is a key-part as to what makes the track so good. The track is a beautiful medley of guitar rifts, thumping bass, and some background horns truly make this memorable. Im sure you would recognize it on first listen as it is the opening of the video for "I Can". During the second verse, the beat notably changes once. On the first change, its stripped down a bit with a more highly impactful bassline for a few bars, then switches to a beautiful keyboard accompaniment for a few more bars. This notable change only adds to the energy and seemingly makes Nas' lyrics stronger. Making lyrics seem stronger or lead in a direction is what separates a very well produced track from a weaker track, and this is nothing close to being weak.

However, the track itself excels more on the lyricism of the newly reborn Nasty Nas than of the beat, which is still equally excellent. Nas, as usual, opens the album with a view right out of his project window. Nas adapts a multi-syllable flow and uses narratives and storytelling to describe a variety of happenings that occured in his neighborhood, adapting a perfect self-storytelling element mirroring the style of "NY State of Mind", but with a twist. The James Brown Sample adds to the chorus as well as the verses, placing them within key lyrical moments to showcase action. For those of you who have no clue what the hell im talking about, listen to the f*ckin song and see if you like it. To me, its nothing short of stellar.

Nas joins up with Eminem to man the boards for "The Cross".

Eminem hits us with a hard-hitting, dark beat fitting the illuminary lyrics of Nas himself. The opening effects sort of give it an epic feel, put its soon hit thumping hard with a darkening beat, fitting Eminem's style. The dark, druid-like production is excellent, featuring a completely thumping bassline, and haunting piano keys, somewhat influenced by Dr. Dre.

However, as expected, Nas' lyrics are what makes the track shine. Kicking things off with a memorable chorus, Nas spits a perfect, multi-syllable flow with an extreme, head-bobbing form of advanced vocabulary giving us an amazing mental image of the state of hip-hop and how poor it is without Nas himself. This is the track where i fully realized that Nas had absolutely nothing to do with Murder Inc whatsoever, as he lays down disses towards commercial rappers and explains his direction of hip hop, the way it should be taken. His lyrics speak for themselves: "I changed it up from that pop sh*t it's hard to see R&B rappers arguably, started f*ckin up the game horribly, Cause, I parted the sea, then these novices targetted me", and of course, the sarcastic memorable line: "And I don't need much but a Dutch, a b*tch to f*ck, A six, a truck, some guns to bust, I wish it was that simple, the last emperor, hit yo' a** with the Nasty Nas, diary, get out my path". Besides all of that, Nas also decides to lay in some halfway-disses towards former friend Cormega, with hot lines like: "What I've discovered is my brother's tryin to be, the next me, yeah I support him but he's blinded I see, jealousy he love me to death am I buggin I love him for life, We both still mournin on our mother's, life".

"Made You Look" is the obligatory lead-single, which is virtually void of any commercialism. Im very sure the majority of you have heard this track. The memorable slamming beat is a perfect fodder for Nas' view of hip-hop as he explains that his rhymes are indeed, much more powerful than weapons. Nas basically freestyles on this track, without sticking to one particular subject matter, except maybe old-school braggadiocio. Either way, this track is definetely a head-bobber.

Possibly the most honest, and in-depth track in all of Nas career appears here on God's Son in the form of "Last Real Nigga Alive".

Nas makes a huge jump in the way-back machine here, taking us back to 1994-1997 time period, moving us up to a bit more of a recent time period, but thats later. Nas basically goes all out and gives us pure honesty, revealing the truth about his very much hidden past. Nas goes on wax speaking about a very interesting situation with Raekwon the Chef, Notorious B.I.G., Steve Stoute, and of course, Jay-Z. Nas' lyricism is amazing as each and every rhyme is well-written and thought-provoking. It is very interesting to hear Nas' confession to these events that occured, including the fact that his fiance did indeed have an affair with Jay-Z, his eventual sell-out status, and what brought him back to the game. Basically, Nas thanks Jay-Z for bringing him out of retirement. This is far from a diss track, but honestly speaks the truth about all of these events Nas alluded to. If you purchase this album, be sure to not pass this track up, because it is one of the most revealing in the industry.

Up Next we find the album dropping in quality with "Zone Out" and "Hey Nas". The first of the two is a Bravehearts crew joint which is one of the most boring examples of lyricism ever. Yeah, ok, it might belong on some commercial Bravehearts collabo-album, but not on an album where Nas is searching spirituality. No No.. skip it. As for the second track, its pretty hot, but easily fast-forwardable.

Quickly pull your draws up, wipe your a**, and return to the album for "I Can", as Nas gets focused once again.

This track is the second single from God's Son. Immediately the old school drum / snare loop hits you, and you get a beautiful piano interpolation of Beethoven on the track. The track's production is dramatic and beautiful, and the subject matter matches perfectly. Besides the somewhat annoying chorus (which i still like), Nas raps some real intellect on here. Nas lives up to all of his expectations as a prophet and an intelligent street poet on this track, as he speaks clearly to the children of the world, educating them on their futures. He studies the effect of drugs, explaining the right direction to take, as well as goes to a more social consciousness, sort of political narrations of the history of Africa. The lyricism is masterful and really sends a message. This is a perfect showcase of how a song which has a true positive message and a catchy beat and easy-to-sing-to chorus can also be a hit-single.

Nas joins up with Alchemist on the excellent "Book of Rhymes", which is a perfect showcase of Nas' creativity.

Featuring a beautiful beat by Alchemist with a nice interpolating synthesized keyboard, along with a pounding drum loop and bassline, its perfect for Nas' uniqueness on this track. Nas decides to bring a few books to the studio and show them off. Of course, im speaking of rhyme books, which I myself am proud to own two full notebooks of rhymes (even though some just plain out-suck, its still fun to read). But that isn't the case for Nas, as it seems like none of his lyrics were weak, yet even he himself goes on to critique his own work. The majority of his lines are introspective and intelligent, as well as honest, definetely up to par with his newly reborn street poetic style. His lyrics range above average to superb, and one of the verses from the book is extremely memorable: "I'm jealous of you how come you so beautiful?, Smelling fresh youthful intelligent while I'm stressin' and sh*t, Aiyo I envy you 'cause all you do is smile and things come your way, Such a innocent child is what some say
I get upset 'cause I just want to be treated the way you are, Like a star not a worry in this world thus far, But wait a minute we both need ya mother's attention, I must be crazy jealous of my own baby infant". Amazing twist.

Nas joins with 2pac on the Post-humous classic "Thugz Mansion (NY)". Nas and 2pac join up to give us a beautiful classic. The accoustic guitar is a beautiful medley and perfectly fitting for the saddening, yet happy subject matter which can be summed up to one word: Hope. Basically, Nas and 2pac claim that there is heaven even for a thug and that a shady past can always be forgiven. 2pac seemingly speaks from Heaven to his mother himself, which gives sort of a creepy vibe, specially since this track was a single and also featured on 2pac's Better Dayz album.

2pac is incredible on the track, but Nas shines like no other as he paints a picture of a perfect heaven with tear-jerking lines like this: "See I'm a good guy, I'm tryin to stick around for my daughter, But if I should die, I know all of my albums support her, This whole year's been crazy, asked the Holy Spirit to save me, Only difference from me and Ossie Davis, gray hair maybe, Cause I feel like my eyes saw too much sufferin, I'm just twenty-some-odd years, I done lost my mother and I cried tears of joy, I know she smiles on her boy, I dream of you more, my love goes to Afeni Shakur, Cause like Anne Jones, she raised a ghetto king in a war, And just for that alone she shouldn't feel no pain no more, Cause one day we'll all be together, sippin heavnly champagne, What angels saw, with golden wings in thug's mansion". Beautiful track.

"Mastermind" is a bit on the mediocre side, in my opinion. His lyrics are nice, but nothing extraordinary like we've heard throughout the album thusfar, as well as a somewhat average beat, i have no choice but to rate this track lower. Its still worth a few listens, but i usually skip it for the constantly underrated "Warriors Song".

Im honestly befuddled as to the response that this track has recieved. Personally, i love this track and its a true highlight of this album. Alicia Keys gives us the production and some background vocals, as well as truly memorable chorus. The instrumental is a beauty in its own right, with an amazing medley of thumping drums, bass, and a perfect, seemingly melodic piano loop. Alicia Keys' chorus is perfect in my opinion, even if she looks like a chipmunk. Nas lyrics are amazing, as we delve deep into the mind of Nas as he spills his guts on the track, throwing out everything thats on his mind, claiming that you have to have the mind of a warrior to live through what he has lived through. He touches on a variety of topics including his mental renniasance, as well as the death of his mother. I might get a lot of bullsh*t flak, but this track is enjoyable as hell for me.

"Revolutionary Warfare" is filler to me. The track isn't disposable whatsoever, but its lacking a good beat and creative subject matter. Nas switches between subject matter one-too many times on this track, switching from gangsta lyrics, to raising children. Personally, i dont like this track, though some of my peers might. I prefer to skip to the next classic.

Nas refuses to let his mother go, and gives us a true tribute on "Dance", which is about as emotional as we're going to hear Nas in history. The first thing you notice is the atmospheric, saddening production that Nas hits us with, not to mention the extremely saddening harmonicas to close the song. The sheer emotion that Nas shows in his well-written lyrics and whispering tone of his voice, as well as his delivery, is something that Nas doesn't often utilyze, but does it masterfully. Nas reminisces on the good times with his mother, and he grieves her loss extremely heavily. Its amazing as i can seemingly hear the tears drip out of Nas' eyes as he raps, with a very thought-provoking, tear-jerking track and definetely one of my favorites on the album, maybe even one of the best of Nas' career, and thats a big thing. This track is the definition of beauty and human emotion.

Nas closes out God's Son with the sheer classic "Heaven".

The emotional, atmospheric beat is saddening, and the vocals are nothing less than stellar. Nas delves into the social problems of the planet, touching on racism, and the detetioration of society itself. Nas gives us hope, with well-written, seemingly extremely poetic lyrics and one of the most memorable and haunting choruses in Nas' career. Nas experiments with a faster flow, switching to triple-cadence style. However, Nas never drops a syllable through-out the track's 4:43. Nas rhymes are on-point and his delivery is stellar, as well as his choice of vocabulary. The track's chorus is haunting itself, featuring an amazing vocal where they speak some extremely poetic lines: "(If Heaven was a mile away), Would I pack up my bags and leave this world behind?". Damn good question.

But we're not done yet... we still gotta listen to the limited edition bonus disc!!

"Thugz Mirror Freestyle" is Nas freestyling some very commercial and uninspired lyrics, which deviate from the main album, but he makes up for it on "P*ssy Kills", which is a narrative explaining the dangets of unprotected sex, and takes it deeper speaking of greedy women. Nas' lyricism is intelligent and well-written, as well as honest. The Bonus Disc is capped off with "The G.O.D.", as we find Nas once again apologizing over his commercialism, and shining light on his recent beefs with Hot 97 and a few emcees, as well actually slam all of the Murder Inc rumors with this line: "In the papers you read that Nas is crazy, Lost his mind as he leavin Sony, The INC got him signed, It's only a figment of your imagination, Went to way with New York's Hot radio station, Lost my patience, had to zone out, Rappers blown out, I have the throne now, The real shall reign, I feel your pain, You R&B, follow me, spell my name"

God's Son is a solid, in fact, above average release from Nasty Nas. In looking past its mediocrities and bad tracks, we have a nice collection of classics. Its obvious that Nas wasn't trying to top Stillmatic or to craft another Illmatic, but he just wanted to make good, intelligent music with a touch of emotion, which is rare. This is one of those albums that grows on you the more you listen to it, and it definetely has grown on me. Nasty Nas is back, so stay the hell out of his throne...

5 

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