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...

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.

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

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".

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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"