Hip Hop Is Dead (Parental Advisory) [PA] - Nas > Reviews > had to write review after looking at the others

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Made rappers question themselevs
Disadvantages:	not nas at his lyrical best (for nas, still better than most/all)

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I had to write a review on this album after looking at the other two reviews as it is clear they have not got much experience of hip hop and the art form that it is and that greatness of nas and how this album rates among his others. I AM ONE OF NAS' BIGGEST FANS and i love illmatic it was written, stillmatic, god's son, and this, 'hip hop is dead' is probably one of his weakest lyrically.
YES nas has matured bla blah blah and he cant write about the same vivid descriptive hood stories we're used to and this is good in a way except for the fact that now what he has to describe, things such as his life the political situation in america and the state of hip hop, he cant do with nearly as much wit lyrical genius and concept that he did before. Though this album is better than the like of nastradamus street disciple and possibly i am (though of the strength of 'nas is like' alone kills many other albums), it is still a weak effort for nas as he set the bar probably the highest anyone has ever set it with his debut
illmatic and perhaps the quality was so great because he took 2 years to finish but anyway......
However nas' ear for beats has FINALLY got better on this album with will.i.am, kanye and scott storch producing and doing so well (though still doesnt compare to the premo, large proffesor and pete rock day) because lord KNOWS nas has picked some terrible beats to go with his dope rhymes in previous years.
Money over bullshit - this is one of the tracks i liked, its got a dark sounding basline beat, gives the kinda feel like nas is grabbing hip hop by the arm and pulling it off the edge of the cliff as he speak, with every rhyme aiding in bringing it back, he comes hard on this track talkin about various things such as hip hop being dead asking us to 'join me in war',his life as it isnow, and sellouts among other things.

You can't kill me - pretty average track that i neither hae or love, for any other artist this would be great story telling though for nas this is pretty normal, and the hook (chorus) isn't that great and to be honest the title and theme of the track really doesn't suit or represent nas' personality 'you can't kill me'

Carry on tradition - ahhhh now this is a good song, nas basically talks about carrying on tradition of the pioneers of hip hop and how people in the industry today are not carrying on this tradition, again its got one of those 'i'm back and here to sort this sh@* out ' sounding kinda beats.

Where are they now - speaks of old skool artists and where they could possibly be now he talks about alotta hood famous artists on this track and the people he group up listening to that influenced him into writing rhymes, it used a james brown sample which is pretty cool 'hit me', this track suggests that we, the hip hop community, have left these great old skool legends disintegrate into the background without paying proper respect.

Hip hop is dead - one of the best beats on the lp and nas spits at a faster pace on this track and it is easy to see why it had considerable commercial success, it even manages to slip the classic break beat (for breakdancers) in there, i'll let you see if you notice it. The lyrics are fire and this is the track that produced the most backlash and tracks such as 'hip hop lives' and 'hip hop police' and i will explain at the end of the review the effec of this track and the labum as a whole'

Who killed it - you know how some rappers are also very very funny and can pull of stupid voices and foolin around on skit tracks like redman, method man, odb, well nas ISN'T one of those typa rappers LOL oh dear god he sould have stayed away from this one but still its not that hard to press the skip button, what he's sayin is cool if you can get past the annoyin stupid funny (because its not funny) accent/voice he puts on'

Black republican - as a hip hop head this is a stand out track for me, they (jay and nas) both bring the fire on this track, with the beat being similar to some kinda of music the russians would have played when starlin was in power, a military power kinda song, and thats why i love it coz its saying we are the best right now we are on top we own this shit.

Not going back - one of my least favourite tracks, because i dont like the disfunctional type of beat, kelis' background vocals are good although think nas' lyrics are a bit all over the place although i do like when he lists all the things he's not going back to in one sentence.

Still dreaming - a kanye produced track, so you know its gonna be hot, and chrisette michele vocals in the background are as per usual with her GREAT (check her album) she is the next big thing. Though when nas begins spittin it can quickly become a background music type of track and the concept of the track is a little un-clear but worth listening to for the beat and chrisette.

Hold down the block - nice vocals in the background, and if nas were 20 again i could take this like dang, this is how this kid feels right now, as he describes whats going through his mind and what he about to do, though nas is in his 30's so i can't do that though it is nice to hear nas talk about how he felt back then (lol i hope he doesnt mean how he feels now coz dude living in a mansion)

Blunt ashes - one of the hottes and darkest beats on the album especially when it kicks in at the chorus, though i am not really feeling the song as a whole beacuse i dont really care for the topic 'did i keep it gangsta', and he talks about other gangsters and their lives.

Let there be light - this is one of those 'we're gonna make it through the struggles' type beats similar to nick cannons 'can i live' type of beat and yes this is a decent track with anthony hamilton's vocals, nastalks about types of people from QB and how they should get out of that life, also of his own hollywood type story, futhermore he talks of those from QB (his neighbourhood) who envy him and name him as sellout

Play on playa - dont really feel this track i don't like the beat i mean c'mon this is the lyrical genius nas and you know its not like him to be talkin about 'playa's' so you know when a track is named 'play on playa' its not going to be nas at his best mainly because what his he supposed to talk about on this subject, and that no surprise that it is a weak track as it features snoop dogg one of the weakest on album rappers in history with his only decent album being doggystyle, lets face it, someone who has to make up their own vocabulary and gimmicky songs to sell isn't that great.

Can't forget about you - good song, good video for it too, nas talks of how he has matured his past experience in the game including raps great achievments (first grammy etc.) and what he will do when he retired, this track helped open the world to chrisette michelle who's vocals on this track are REAL CLEAR she has that old skool 50's kinda sounding voice on this track, dope all round track.

Hustlers - this song is average the beat sounds like something from the london grime scene, game spits some nice history about how he first listened to nas and new york music, nas is verse is average ..................for nas!!!

Hope - Nas goes accapella, and you know when you go acapella you gotta go hard coz you aint got nothing to back you up or save your verse and the song from being totally wack, though i think his verse here is ok it tells the story of how hip hop will never die and things nas did as a youth indulged in the hip hop lifestyle, though the track is decent its not lyricsm at its greatest which is what you expect every time you pop a nas disk in the deck. Though he makes a statement that need to be made at the end of his verse, ha ha you'll have to cop it to find out what it is.

So you'll probably be wondering if you read this whole review well at the start he said he didnt like it that much, but he said that pretty much all the track are decent , so whats the deal, well the tracks are decent for any other rapper, but for nas some of these tracks are very average and even skippable as i anticipated so much for this album and it only partly lived up to the hype. THOUGH this is an important album for hip hop right now because people might be sayin blah blah nas is just ranting on that hip hop has died and he's moaning sayin how much better it used to be, but what they dont realise is that by titling his album this way and giving most of the racks this concept he has made them raise their game because they wanna react and form a backlash to this by saying 'no hip hop is not dead' so alotta rappers don't realise nas has made them raise their game with the help especially of the track 'hip hop is dead' as i mentioned earlier i would explain why this is so important.....so there you go, as the other reviewers were so hyped up calling it such a great album i just had to bring oyu all back down to the ground and let you know this is not nas' greatest album by far BUT it is a decent lp and an important one so i would reccoment copin.
my nas list (not including mixtapes but i will include the demo tape ha ha) :
1.) illmatic
2.)it was written
3.)pre-illmatic demo tape
4.)stillmatic
5.)hip hop is dead
6.)god's son
7.)i am
8.)streets deciple
9.)nastradamus