Stillmatic - Nas

.../> **OUTRO: EXCITING RUMOURS ABOUT STILLMATIC - WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND**

So far the INTRODUCTION predicts that on 'STILLMATIC', there will be a lot of interesting tracks enriched with great subject matter and metaphors. But wait, questions still remain unanswered. How great are the producers and their production scheme throughout 'STILLMATIC'. Would their beats sound ill (i.e. excellent) to my eardrums to match Nas' high quality ...
...Nas' story of rhymes in STILLMATIC terms.

The verse begins gracefully with Nas describing how he regains consciousness, using amazing wordplay, packed with biblical metaphors and similes. As Nas lies in a coma, in the graveyard, under the hot blazin' atmosphere, ' _….blood of a slave…._' boils thermally in his veins and activates a heartbeat. The natural, Life-saving effect soon results in Nasty Nas waking up with divine poetry and ... more

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THE QUEENSBRIDGE ALBUMS (Columbia Records): STILLMATIC

The Nas Album Collection - Part I

Author: DJ_primo

Published by DJ_primo for DIJEH inc. / Works of Art

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INTRODUCTION

Back in 1994, amidst the foul neighbourhoods of Queensbridge in New York, a 'young prince' named Nas ( real name: Nasir Jones ) emerged before thousands of rap listeners. As the great Nasty Nas, he released his debut album, 'Illmatic'. His debut album was to be CROWNED an all-time royal, masterpiece, a legendary classic and a memorable 'work of art'. Packed with excellent wordplay, metaphors, fascinating CHILDHOOD stories and mind-blowing lyrics over ASTOUNDING production, 'Illmatic' fully proved Nas to be the future King of New York in the rap sector who would one day wear the CROWN. Rap experts (i.e. Hip Hop purists) announced Nas as New York's new leader and master of rap voices for the ghetto community.

But as years progressed through the rest of the 90th decade (i.e. 1996 - 1999), Nas fans were being left disappointed. In 1996, Nas abandoned his Nasty Nas image and went for the gangsta / mafioso prototype, Nas Escobar. He changed his poetical style of rapping and tried to lyrically describe himself as being a druglord and hustler (similar to what Jay Z did on his classic debut album - 'Reasonable Doubt'). While the mafioso image worked successfully for Jay Z, the same did not triumphantly happen for Nas in 1996.

Nas followed up his 1996 album three years later with an even more commercialised and mediocre album, 'I am….'. A few months later in 1999, Nas released what many of his fans feared would be his WORST EVER album, 'Nastradamus'. Nas was branded a SELL OUT and was no longer worthy to sit on the throne. His debut album (i.e. 'Illmatic') was becoming his forgotten CHILDHOOD and loyal rap listeners thought Nasty Nas was buried alive by Esco's trash (commercialised Nas Escobar ).

By 2001, Jay Z seized his golden opportunity to attack Nas with his diss track - 'Takeover' (in 2001). Hoping to humiliate Nas, an egotistical Jay Z thought he would become more famous than he already is and become next in line to the Hip Hop throne. But in an ironic twist, Jay Z's arrogance on 'Takeover' merely encouraged Nas to make an amazing return to his CHILDHOOD days of ILL lyricism. In other words, the revival of Nasty Nas with a new, political rap album (released December 2001) and this is where 'STILLMATIC' enters the equation!

Speaking of 'STILLMATIC', allow me to explain the prophecies of how I was destined to purchase this valuable album:

**INTRO: WHY I PURCHASED STILLMATIC**

In March 2002, during my employment at Matalan Ltd, there was a LOT of hype about the quality of 'SILLMATIC' amongst half of the Matalan staff who were Hip-Hop fanatics. Most of the hype centred on Nas' creative diss track ETHER, a response to Jay Z's 'Takeover'. One work colleague strongly recommended I check out Nas' REWIND, one of the SUBLIME tracks off 'STILLMATIC' superbly written by the prophet himself (i.e. Nas).

**OUTRO: EXCITING RUMOURS ABOUT STILLMATIC - WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND**

So far the INTRODUCTION predicts that on 'STILLMATIC', there will be a lot of interesting tracks enriched with great subject matter and metaphors. But wait, questions still remain unanswered. How great are the producers and their production scheme throughout 'STILLMATIC'. Would their beats sound ill (i.e. excellent) to my eardrums to match Nas' high quality of rhyming? To answer these questions Ciao readers, we must read the scriptures of 'STILLMATIC' in the next section (see below).

WHAT I EXPERIENCED

One day in March 2002, I opened up the 'STLLMATIC' CD and studied the musical contents and narratives written by Nas the prophet. Here is how I EXPLODED my thoughts over each track….

1. STLLMATIC (THE INTRO) (2:14 min)

The INTRO track hits my eardrums right away with a blast of refreshing, light electronic bass with hard drum loops playing on the frontline. Simple violins play loosely in the background, behind the dazzling electronic bass lines. The group of producers responsible for these instrumentals, is Hangmen 3 ( real names: J Bynoe, J. Backues Neal and R. Scott ) and they create a magnificent beat fit for a KING (i.e. any talented lyricist like Nas). Besides being exceptionally GREAT, the production has a spiritual feel to it and is designed to fit with Nas' flow and narrative subject matter. This especially applies to Nas' lyrical concepts of rising back to life as 'Nasty Nas' who previously lay dead in the GRAVE. Furthermore, Hangmen 3 have crafted the beats to sound like a real INTRO for Nas' story of rhymes in STILLMATIC terms.

The verse begins gracefully with Nas describing how he regains consciousness, using amazing wordplay, packed with biblical metaphors and similes. As Nas lies in a coma, in the graveyard, under the hot blazin' atmosphere, ' ….blood of a slave….' boils thermally in his veins and activates a heartbeat. The natural, Life-saving effect soon results in Nasty Nas waking up with divine poetry and rapping skills, reminiscent of his past. According to Nas' subject matter, the talented Queensbridge lyricist soon crawls out of his grave wiping the dirt of his shirt. With this interesting topic at hand, Nas describes his resurrection to life in a similar manner to Jesus Christ rising from the dead after his crucifixion. Hence, Nas makes an excellent choice of employing ' ….blood of a slave, heart of a king….' as similes in his wordplay.

Further on in the lyrics, Nas turns his voice up to answer Hip Hop fans who assume that he will ' ….make another ILLMATIC….'. Instead of creating another ILLMATIC, Nas explains lyrically to us that he is merely moving forward with future prospects of crafting another modern, classic rap album. Thus, Nas drafts up 'STILLMATIC' as his modern version of ILLMATIC in this new millennium rather than go backwards to 1994. The prophet stares into his crystal ball and forsees his album as sending positive messages about laws and lost tribes of people in the ghetto, trying to survive.

Nas flows hungrily through the rest of STILLMATIC (THE INTRO) in intelligent fashion as he uses yet more SICK metaphors and spiritual wordplay. He also declares that the Escobar character is slashed in favour for ' ….Nas the executive poet….', who knows the streets better and will reign supreme forever. In this context, Nas' subject matter marks the death of Nas Escobar / Esco's trash.

Once again readers, STILLMATIC (THE INTRO) is a magnificent and NOBLE way for Nas to begin his story on his behalf. In light of this, I foresee many classic, tracks ahead in this album.

Words from the pharaoh Nas - "Aiyyo the brothers STILLMATIC!"

Rating: 10/10

2. ETHER (4:34 min)

ETHER is the first genuine, classic music track to be found on 'STILLMATIC' and so my positive predictions from the INTRO are true! It represents Nas' response to the diss track, 'Takeover' recorded by his big rival, Jay Z (Shawn Carter), the leader of the Roc-a-fella crew.

As it was written in the scriptures, Nas the Queensbridge rapper was destined to emerge victorious in his battle against Jay Z, the Brooklyn rapper. Okay readers, let's cut to the chase....

Nas commences his battle rapping, by spitting a chorus whereby he aims to put Jay Z's boastful enthusiasm of being a popular rapper to SLEEP (i.e. like the effects of ETHER). At this point, he is an ANGRY prophet ready to seek REVENGE against the 'Jigga' man.

The chorus sets Nas up perfectly for the first verse as Nas tells Jay Z to ' .....brace yourself for the main event....'. He then follows that up with factual subject matter to briefly explain that NO rapper is the best in world, regardless of whether they are from the ' ....East, West, North,....' or ' ....South....' coast. Further along, Nas spits out a line that questions Jay Z for calling Nas garbage in 'Takeover' while rhyming that with cartilage metaphorically. The most notable qualities of Nas' first verse that caught my attention were the brilliant, complex wordplay combined with Nas' furious delivery. In the second verse, the MIGHTY Nas get even more irate as he continues to his lyrical fight with Jay Z.

The true highlight of ETHER in my opinion is the third verse. This verse alone holds the KEY to largest set of battle rhymes Nas has ever rapped in his career. In fact readers, this where Nas eventually destroys girl-loving Jay Z with memorable and SHOCKING punchlines like:

' ....Foxy got you hot 'cause you kept your face in her pu*s
What you think, you getting girls now 'cause of your looks,
Ne-gro please....'

(Note: Foxy refers to Foxy Brown who appeared as a guest rapper on Jay Z's 'Sunshine')

The message in the punchline that Nas gets across to us rap listeners is that Jay Z is OVERRATED when it comes to being handsome. Nas further disses Jay Z's looks and facial appearance by accusing him of not being able to grow a moustache like a REAL man. So he throws in yet another vicious punchline that compares Jay Z to Beanie Sigel, another member of Roc-a-fella who is one of Jay Z's followers. He describes Jay Z as being a baby face, '....no mustache having, whiskers like a rat....' and that compared to Beans (i.e. Beanie Sigel) he looks like a wimp. Note that Beanie Sigel has a moustache, has a bigger build than Jay Z but is NOT recognised as the leader of New York rap or the Roc-a-fella camp.

The first time I listened to ETHER in 2001, this became one of Nas lines' that instantly grabbed by attention:

' ....Eminem murdered you on your own sh*t,
You a d*ck-riding f*ggot, you love the attention....'.

The interesting theory about these factual lyrics is, Nas compares Jay Z's verses to EMINEM's superior verses on 'Renagade. This is ironic because Jay Z, who felt he is worthy to be the KING was lyrically outplayed by Eminem on a track off his OWN Blueprint LP. Eminem was just making a guest appearance as a West Coast rapper and yet still stole the show. This fact, should make the situation quite embarrasing for Jay Z. That goes especially where Jay Z is bound to get fans attention for being outperformed by a 'white, rapper' from the West coast.

Furthermore Nas disguises most of his disses at Jay Z in funny metaphors and writes them in multi-syllable fashion further showcasing his skills as a battle rapper. Nas also used his book of rhymes to cause Jay Z's whole Roc-a-fella umpire to come crashing down like a tonne of bricks. In other words, as Nas puts it ' ....Your whole damn record label gunned up and clapped quick....' and dissolved in a solution of ETHER!

Besides the lyrics, ETHER is also notable for the good beats crafted professionally by Ron Browz ( real name: Rondell Turner ), a Hip Hop producer from New York. Ron Browz uses a combination of gun shots, concert violins and a sample of Tupac's voice (i.e. Tupac Shakur) to signal the beginning ETHER. The phrase ' ....f*ck Jay Z...' corresponds to Tupac Shakur's sampled voice that Ron Brownz incorporates into his production scheme. This fits Nas' main subject matter perfectly. The violins play in clergy fashion in the background with keyboard percussion clapping in the forefront.

According to the statistics issued by New York Radio station Hot 97, Nas' ETHER won 58% of the votes from the public to just 42% for Jay Z's 'Takeover'. This further accomplished Nas' victory.

Rating: 9/10

3. GOT URSELF A... (3:48 min)

After Nas successfully defeated Jay Z on ETHER, he figured it was time to celebrate by creating a lead single to further raise the profile of 'STILLMATIC'. GOT URSELF A.... eventually became Nas' option for the first single that he released on 4th December 2001 (Jay Z's birthday). The Queensbridge poet, Nasir Jones, chose wisely.

On GOT URSELF A.... Megahertz Music Group ( real name: Dorsey Wesley ) provides a single piano note and single percussion to signal the beginning of the production. After 8 seconds into the track, the production bursts into a beautiful melody of 17-18th century style, piano loops fit for a King's ritual. Soft electronic bass lines play like a dark horse running in the background while the royal piano loops play pleasantly on my eardrums. Clapping drum loops play like a modern carnival over the 'King coronation' piano loops. Production-wise, GOT URSELF A..... sounds commercial and radio friendly upon my experience of hearing it. It is therefore not surprising that Nas organised a single and video for this track.

Fortunately enough, over commercial beats, Nas raps advanced lyricism with a plethora of multi-syllables and inspiring wordplay, showcasing his skills. His delivery over the piano driven beats is lively as well, much more like an enthusiastic PRINCE'. Over three verses, Nas describes his status in the rap game as one of the best emcees and ' ....Golden Child....' of Hip Hop. In this context, the Queensbridge lyricist (i.e. Nas) gives a subject matter that centres on braggadocio (i.e. bragging) . The first and second verses find Nas rapping braggadocio lines with a lot of creativity. This applies especially where he emphasises that he is the true savior and ' ....son of a blues player....' and that he and Tupac were soldiers of the same struggle. He follows up these brags about himself by letting his enemies know that he is the ' ....boss of rap....' with a whole collection of records under his belt.

The slight disadvantage of Nas' performance on GOT URSELF A..... is Nas takes the braggadocio formula a little to far. He decides to have a laugh by rapping about his PORSCHE car (yep I mentioned it!), money (' ....chips....') and expensive tennis shoes:

[Nas]
' ....sip criss, get chips, wrist gliss, I floss
stick shift look sick up in that boxsta Porsche....

....It's not only my jewels, ice anything, plenty chains
Look at my tennis shoes, I iced that...'

Ooer.... those topics in Nas' lyrics seem to be dangerously reverting to THE NASTRADAMUS TIMES here. It even sounds like it was tapped from Jay Z's 'Vol 3...Life and times of S. Carter'.

The chorus that revolves around a sampled voice chanting ' ....GOT URSELF A GUN....' to complete Nas' sentences, is very catchy to my eardrums. But at the same time, I dismiss it as being quite overrated because I feel it sends the wrong message to kids (especially in the UK).

The video for this track, features Nas arriving at a modern church in his Porsche and approaching a black PRIEST in steady mode. The Queensbridge prince then proceeds his conversation with the priest in the confessions box with reference to GUN murders involving Tupac (1996 footage) and Biggie (1997 footage). In the final scenes of the video, Nas and his Bravehearts crew appear in the GRAVEYARD. Nas pours empties a small bottle of liquor over Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur's grave while rapping in front of the video camcorder.

Rating: 8/10

4. SMOKIN' (3:47 min)

After celebrating and partying with GOT URSELF A.... in ceremonious fashion, Nas was tired. So the Queensbridge King decided to relax in his throne and spit lovely, contemplative poetry while SMOKIN' his pipe. Check this out....

Nas starts SMOKIN' by spitting a complex chorus that questions the actions of various people in the Hip Hop industry about making meaningless, drug records. Hence, he uses these creative, intelligent lines ' _.....Now tell me what y'all smokin, what kinda heat y'all holdin
....._' in his ghetto, American language.

Nas then takes on the prophet persona and proceeds to use complex metaphors and similes to describe how much the rap industry is deteriorating before his eyes. He expresses his views of the excessive exploitation of drugs and weed references in albums in the growing trends of commercial, Hip Hop. (Does anyone remember Afroman's second single?)

What I found sincerely astounding about this track is that Nas delivers his political lyrics in the form of biblical parables, making him sound like New Yorks' Street's Disciple! He spits metaphoric lyricism with non-stress syllables in gospel format like, '....

[Nas - second verse]
' ....If he cough he might die, passin me trees
The liquor bottle's almost empty
We about to collide, with the enemy
Only way you die if it's meant to be...._'

which is highly reminiscent of his Illmatic days.

From a lyrical standpoint, SMOKIN' is a brilliant track invented by Nas the prophet but at the same time it is underrated, especially when compared with ETHER or ONE MIC. If any rap music fan who owned a copy of 'STILLMATIC' was asked to name their favourite track(s), they would not mention SMOKIN' . This is probably because SMOKIN' is often misjudged as being Nas' attempt at making a weed track, bragging about SMOKIN' blunts or spliffs. But based on DJ_primo's analysis of the lyrics, Nas' intelligent subject matter goes into more depth than that. In short, SMOKIN' has a message!

Nas makes a wonderful choice working with Precision ( real name: Larry Gates ) to produce this track. Nas plays his part as a self-producer for Ill Will Music, while the more experienced producer, Precision crafts the beats for Precision Crafted/Davert Entertainment.

Precision plays a lullaby of soft, church-organ notes, keyboard percussion loops and chimes to blend with Nas' laid-back flow. The execution of refreshing instrumentals also blend nicely with Nas' gospel like lyricism with high accuracy and PRECISION. With respect to this, the beats are definitely SMOKIN' (i.e. beautiful).

So I reiterate the Queensbridge prophets words to ask all the unoriginal rappers (e.g. 50 Cent, Big Ali, Lloyd Banks, Murphy Lee etc.) this question:

NOW TELL ME WHAT Y'ALL SMOKIN'?

Rating: 10/10

5. YOU'RE DA MAN (3:26 min)

Yes Nas YOU'RE certainly DA MAN right now as I come across yet another classic, Hip Hop track....

Nas the pharaoh, continues his testament of recruiting talented producers to his 'STILLMATIC' studio record. This time round, he hires the Large Professor ( real name: William Paul Mitchell ) to man the boards. In case you Ciao readers are unaware, Large Professor is better known for his role as one of the producers behind Nas' high quality rap album, 'Illmatic'. Furthermore in 1992, the Large Professor produced Nas' first ever classic single - 'Halftime'.

The Large Professor creates a relaxing, Mexican-style, soulful beat for Paul Sea Productions. He starts off YOU'RE DA MAN, with a combination of soft harps and violins and soon adds dove whistles to the equation. These musical elements have a cinematic edge and sound like they were sampled from a classic, 1970s Western movie. After 18 seconds, the production eventually kicks off in high quality with scaling drum claps played over relaxing mixtures of Mexican harps, violins and mourning dove sounds. The beats provide a pleasant, laid-back atmosphere for Nas to narrate a tale about his current status in the rap game. Furthermore, Large Professor samples a mourning voice of a man who sings '....You're the man....' eight times in the hook.

On YOU'RE DA MAN, Nas employs classic street poetry, fantastic metaphors and conscious lyricism to describe his serious mistakes of crossing heavily into the mainstream. In the first verse, he mentions his pastimes (presumably 1996 - 1999) of how turning commercial influenced other rappers to become his enemies:

' .....Soon as I popped my first bottle I spotted my enemies tryna' do what I do....'

In the second verse, Nas stresses to us rap listeners that he allowed FAME and commercialism to take over his mind and is VERY regretful for his sins. He admits this through his thoughtful, intelligent lyricism that rapping about women, fast cars and diamond rings poisoned him when he was in his Nas Escobar phase. He also speaks to us lyrically, wishing that he could ' ....flap wings and fly away....' from all the disapointment he has caused for trading his skills for money.

Nas wraps up his second verse of fascinating street poetry of being DA MAN in the rap game with a magnificent, prayer-like ending:

' ....When everything around me got cloudy, the chair became a king's throne
My destiny found me
It was clear why the struggle was so painful
Metamorphosis, this is what I changed to
And God, I'm so thankful....'

YOU'RE DA MAN shares a similarity with GOT URSELF A.... in that both tracks feature Nas rapping:

' ....I'm the N the A to the S-I-R
If I wasn't I must've been Escobar....'.

In addition, YOU'RE DA MAN was a B-side track included with Nas' lead single, GOT URSELF A..... (A-side).

Excellent piece of work Nas, YOU'RE DA MAN!

Rating: +10/10

6. REWIND (2:13 min)

The plethora of Queensbridge classics continue as Nas engages in his street chemistry with Large Professor. On this track, Nas hits the REWIND button on his lyricism by spitting a story backwards that starts from the ending. This is a refreshing skill that REWINDS Nas to his 2ND CHILDHOOD of artistic, old school rapping.

The REWIND story itself is based on one, long verse. The concepts of Nas', tale revolve around a black man (i.e.' ....ni**a....') being targeted by the Queensbridge lyricist himself, holding a gun. It also describes how bullets flow back into Nas' gun while the hole (i.e. wound) in the black man's chest repairs itself. This event is a reverse to the realistic effects of someone being struck with bullets and consequently becoming wounded. As Nas describes this in his own language, it's like a VCR (video casette recorder) REWINDIN a hit! This is a very creative and innovative idea invented from Nas with high quality lyricism to show for it.

Other, original, beautiful wordplay that came to the mind of Nas, include:

' ....The smoke goes back in the blunt, the blunt gets bigger in growth
Jungle unrolls it, put his weed back in the jar
The blunt turns back into a cigar....'

or the even more creative,

' ....The clock went back from three, to two, to one
And that's about the time the story begun....'

As I studied the manuscript of lyrics for REWIND, I came across something special that further established Nas as a creative music writer. While Nas writes an account of what he did from BACK to FRONT, he STILL manages to keep his subject matter in poetical format. Whenever it comes to street poetry, no matter how the lyrics are written, whether its in REWIND or FAST FORWARD mode, Nas is just ILL (i.e. too good). Apart from that, the high use of multi-syllables in poetical format strongly suggests that Nas uses an unmatched, charismatic flow for his delivery on REWIND. Yes readers, that is exactly what caught my eardrums, when I listened to Nas rap on this track in REVERSE gear.

Large Professor selects the ideal production to fit Nas' entertaining poetry. He laces, his typical classic, old school production equipped with streetwise bass thumps and smacking drum loops layered over sick, radio bass. This musical scheme has an elated feel to it and provides a lively atmosphere for Nas to give his entertaining story line, using fascinating poetry and scintillating delivery.

My only complaint is that this track is brief.

Rating: 9/10

7. ONE MIC (4:28 min)

I now arrive at one of Nas' most familiar classic Hip Hop tracks (alongside ETHER) that comes in the form of a ONE MIC (microphone). ONE MIC was the second single that Nas chose to release off 'STILLMATIC' (16th April 2002) and this helped him to recover a lot of the fans he lost. Furthermore, ONE MIC being as socially honest and excellent as it is, has neutralised the toxic effects of Nas' earlier single - 'You Owe Me', that nearly destroyed Nas' career.

Production-wise, the atmosphere of ONE MIC opens up like a dark concert with eerie sound effects, soulful bass lines and rattling, percussion loops. After about 46 seconds into the track, simple bells and violins play faintly and softly in the background. The faint bells and violins only come into play while an emotional Nas gets into his stride of spitting passionate poetry (which I will elaborate on soon).
All of these instrumentals together transform a passionate melody.

The passionate beats are produced by Nas and BAD BOY producer, Chucky Thompson ( real name: Carl Thompson ) who team up together like Jesus Christ and John the Baptist. Chucky Thompson for Chucklife productions, combines his musical work with Nas for Ill Will Music in the studio. Both men also decide to borrow musical samples from Phil Collins' pop song, 'In the Air Tonight' to produce ONE MIC. As a result, the production though good and passionate also comes across as being somewhat generic and radio-friendly. Nevertheless, it definitely serves its purpose for ONE MIC, especially as it fits Nas' concepts within an emotional edge.

Speaking of the Queensbridge prophet himself, Nas spits flames of street poetry and intelligent, 'words of wisdom' lyrics. In the second verse, Nas touches on the fact that ' ....Jesus died at age 33....'. But further along the second verse, Nas skillfully twists that theory into a creative simile to decribe himself as GOD'S SON who may retire from Hip Hop at 33. Hence, Nas follows up his theory of Jesus Christ, with these memorable lines with a lot of PASSION from his heart:

' ....Twenty-seven hit your crew, six went into you
Everybody gotta die sometime; hope your funeral.....'

Firstly, let's remember that Nas crafted his 'STILLMATIC' album in December 2001, when he was 27. Nas has SIX more years to ago before he finally makes the option to retire fro, the rap game. I believe this will be sometime in 2007! In this context, Nas was predicting his future, where he may make a tearful decision to let his Hip Hop career rest in peace after making a series of great records (e.g. 'God's Son', Hip Hop is Dead etc.'). This theory may explain why Nas is sometimes nicknamed the prophet.

But what really makes ONE MIC very special to my eardrums is Nas' tremendous flow and innovative delivery. Nas' begins his first two verses by rapping his lyrics in slow motion, almost as if he is just whispering. Then after about 25 seconds into verses one and two, he SPEEDS up his delivery and explodes into a rage. After the end of each verse, Nas comes to a sudden silence as he whispers ' .....All I need is ONE MIC....' for the hook. Nas' progressive delivery kind of feels like driving a car at 10 mph, stepping on the accelerator and then coming to a collision at 70 mph. All is then quiet.

Nas' third verse is the most memorable part of ONE MIC that will remain in most Nas' fans minds. Unlike the first two verses, the final verse finds Nas, turns up his voice in high volume with FULL anger and emotion. In this respect, the special delivery of the ANGRY POET, Nas, is reminiscent of Eminem's anger on 'The Way I Am'.

For the last verse, Nas explains how many of his fans lost faith in him when he used to adopt the Nastradamus image, rapping about diamonds etc. As Nas has already done on YOU'RE DA MAN, he promises to us that as the KING, it is his duty not to sell out!

Nas stresses that all he needs is a ONE MIC (i.e. microphone), ONE stage and ONE good beat to be recognised as a GREAT music artist.
These are the essential things that he felt he ever needed in this world. At the very end of this track, the Queensbridge prophet utters ' ....f*ck cash..../ /....f*ck the cars, the jewelry....', and that he needs to spread his voice to the whole world (i.e. master of rap voices).

I am sure a lot of rap fans in the UK are familiar with the video for ONE MIC, Nas' big hit. Therefore I won't describe it in detail here, except to say that in 2002, ONE MIC was nominated MTV Best Video of the Year at the MTV music awards.

Anyways boys and girls, lets say this together - ALL WE NEED IS A ONE MIC!

Rating: ++10/10

8. 2ND CHILDHOOD (3:51 min)

2ND CHILDHOOD in my opinion is arguably the BEST track on the entire album, even more so than ETHER and ONE MIC. In fact, this is my most likeable track as I often tend to bump it (i.e. listen to it) in my CD / DVD player. The track has a VERY HIGH replay value and never seems to get old, even up to this very day. I first became addicted to listening to 2ND CHILDHOOD since April 2002 whenever I spin that 'STILLMATIC' record (album) and this phenomenon has continued for over 4 years.

On this brilliant track, Nas gives narratives of growing up in the streets of Queensbridge with a 31 year old man and a 27 year old woman. Nas tells it like a parable and for this task, he writes introspective lyrics combined with rap politics in street poetry format.

In the first verse, Nas speaks prophetically to himself in a VERY relaxing manner. He 'explodes his thoughts' about his CHILDHOOD when he began to explore a career in rap and master the art of becoming a true rapper. Hence, Nas says ' ....as a music dude, I mastered this Rubik's Cube....' by the time he blew rap fans away with his amazing debut single ('Halftime') in 1992. Nas recalls the days of all the events he seen in his CHILDHOOD such as times when he used to watch his dad (Olu Dara Jones) ' .... puffin his sess....' (i.e. playing a cornet). His other pleasant memories are meeting his childhood friends like ' ....Tyrone....' who would play jokes in front of ' ....Ms. Vercey....'. With respect to all of these memories, Nas convinces us rap listeners that even at his mature age (27 years in 2001), he can still learn to enjoy life. Nas makes it clear that he can crack jokes and have fun on a daily basis just like he used to when he was a little boy. This first verse explains exactly why this track is called 2ND CHILDHOOD and it paints the positive side of Nas' life.

In the second verse, Nas lyrically describes the 31 year old man as an ex-convict who was paroled after a long stretch in prison for his antisocial behaviour. He also paints the picture of the 31 year old dude as a ' ....junior high school dropout....' who was failed by school teachers and consequently grew up into an irresponsible adult. Where irresponsiblity is concerned, the 31 year old himself ' ....Got babies by different ladies....', spends time smoking L's (cigarettes). With regards to immaturity, Nas touches on the topic of the 31 year old hanging with a crew of young thugs and stealing his mums' hard-earned cash. With these interesting information, it's easy to see to how increasingly introspective Nas gets each SECOND in this verse.

Nas' third verse about the 27 year old woman takes real Hip Hop to a new level of STREET POLITICS. It's is such a simply awesome subject matter with thought-provoking lyricism:

[Nas]
' .....Lustin men, many hotels, Fendi Chanel
With nothin in her bank account frontin she do well
Her kid suffers he don't get that love he deserve
He the Sun, she the Earth, single mom, even worse....'

The clear message in Nas' lyrics, is that the 27 year old woman is exceedingly irresponsible and her own child is enduring a BAD CHILDHOOD because of her actions. This is supported by the Queensbridge lyricist's theory that the 27 year old lady, never matures, is high on drugs (particularly Ecstasy), lacks education and is unemployed. How can anyone be unemployed and take drugs when they have a child to support? (the sort questions sometimes raised in Trisha Goddard shows).

Nas ends third the verse in mature fashion like a true master of rap voice with these catchy lines:

' .....She's in the streets yakkety yakkin like she was 12
Honey is twenty-seven, argues fights
Selfish in her own right, for life, guess she's in her second childhood....'

(I WISHED Nas made a video single for 2ND CHILDHOOD!)

As you readers will see, Nas' last two verses are classic politics because his descriptions of the man and woman relate to problems that take place in our modern society. That goes especially in the UK where some irresponsible adults fail to be good role models for benefits of the younger generation (e.g. as demonstrated on Jeremy Kyle show). In this context, Nas has used street politics, to teach us the good and bad aspects of having fun in our 2ND CHILDHOOD and where it leads us.

2ND CHILDHOOD has a magical beat and was produced by the WORLD'S most gifted (i.e. talented), Hip Hop producer, DJ Premier (real name: Chris Martin). DJ Premier, who is often called Primo for short, laces a classic old school, production equipped with record scratches that samples Nas voice. Beat-wise, Primo kickstarts the 2ND CHILDHOOD track with cymbal claps and follows that immediately with beautiful, deep bass lines. Classic guitar loops and jazzy trumpets (cornets) soon follow and accompany the deep bass lines. These beautiful mix of instrumentals really mark their authority in the production and grab the attention of my eardrums instantly!

The voice sampling represents the hook of the track and just like the rest of the production and Nas laid-back delivery, it contributes to the high quality of 2ND CHILDHOOD. This is because the idea behind the chorus (' .....make everything right....') itself fits the concepts of Nas verses (especially verse 3) perfectly.

DJ Premier is always God-like (i.e. divine and powerful) in the way he uses musical instruments and sampled voices in his production scheme. Hence, he always bring the best out of Nas as well as other rappers (e.g. Common, M.O.P., Mos Def etc.). Merge DJ Premier and Nas together and the results are truly magical like God and Jesus Christ performing miracles. As with the Large Professor, DJ Premier was one of the great producers who provided the classic, old school beats for Nas' first album - 'Illmatic'.

Unlike most tracks on 'STILLMATIC', Nas does NOT use any profanity on 2ND CHILDHOOD, but simply raps politically. Due to the virtual lack of swearing, 2ND CHILDHOOD is probably the only track that would appeal to middle-class adults. With these said, it puzzles me as to why Nas didn't make a video for 2ND CHILDHOOD. I was desperately hoping that Nas would release this track as his THIRD single, given that it is one of the best with an excellent Primo beat.

To finally end my description of this track in Primo style, 2ND CHILDHOOD was a B-side track that Nas included on his second single (ONE MIC - A-side track).

As our prophet taught us.... MAKE EVERYTHING RIGHT.... in the streets!

Rating: +++10/10

9. DESTROY & REBUILD (5:24 min)

For a while up to track 8, the musical contents of 'STILLMATIC' were pleasing to my ears and the scriptures of lyrics were well-written by the great prophet, Nas. Unfortunately even Nas with a great wealth of talent in vocabulary can still make the odd mistakes, including fillers on the 'STILLMATIC' pages as we shall read further....

DESTROY & REBUILD in my opinion is a step-down in quality to the previous eight, timeless tracks I heard so far on 'STILLMATIC'. Therefore, it represents the first genuine filler with respect to the somewhat boring, non-classic production and overrated subject matter.

Baby Paul ( real name: Paul Hendricks ) for P.G. Sole Productions and Mike Risko for Heat Holdas Productions create seemingly average beats for Nas to spit over. Their beats are moderately fast-paced, but the thick, bass lines are electronic and layered too heavily with dull drum kicks. Furthermore, the heavy bass lines are unfitting for a fast-paced production making the production itself unsuitable for Nas' flow. The best part is the ending of DESTROY & REBUILD where Baby Paul and Mike Risko play clusters of oscillating wave sounds to signal the ending of Nas' story. This REBUILDS some momentum of good sound quality to the high production standards of that was exhibited over the last eight tracks (i.e. up to 2ND CHILDHOOD).

Fortunately ehough, Nas manages to carry the average production with his top-notch delivery, that is enough to grab the attention of some rap listeners. On DESTROY & REBUILD, Nas proceeds to diss more emcees other than Jay Z, namely the Queensbridge rappers, Cormega, Prodigy and Nature. For this purpose, Nas raps a mixture of battle rhymes, street poetry and storytelling over three verses. In the first verse, Cormega (a.k.a. Cory or Mega) who was a former friend of Nas is the ' PRIME TARGET of Nas' battle lyrics:

' ....Cory changed his name to arr, whatever
Cornchip, Buckwheat lookalike, its Mega
Right Mega was his name sorry about that
But its so hard to put a cowards name in my rap....'

Nas makes fun of Cormega as a character, whom he accuses of pretending to be a tough, gangster, but is really just an arrogant coward. He continues his storytelling about how he got Cormega a deal with Def Jam but Cormega himself came across as a whack rapper. Nas further ridicules Cormega, claiming that his ex-buddy from Queensbridge became jealous at his success in the commercial scene (while Cormega stayed underground making cheap mix-tapes).

Now in all honesty, half of Nas' first verse about Cormega is fake and is just well-written (with nice wordplay) to grab the attention of us rap listeners. In as much as I am truly a Nas fan, I know Cormega well enough to be a VERY talented rhymer and storyeteller. In fact, Cormega combines the talents of Nas and Jay Z in being a street poet and hustler respectively. Hence, Cormega could easily have been the King, CONQUERING Jay Z in a battle rap contest had he been in Nas' shoes. In addition, Nas created DESTROY & REBUILD as a response to a series of diss tracks that Cormega made (against Nas) on mixtapes before 2001.

Over the next verses, Nas describes how his friendships with fellow New York rappers, Nature and Prodigy (of Mobb deep) was DESTROYED due to lack of trust. For instance, Nas accuses Prodigy of exploiting his younger brother (Jabari Jones a.k.a. Jungle - Nas brother) to recover his stolen jewelry from thieves (i.e. rival gangs). Nature who used to be like a friendly disciple to Nas (i.e. close friend), chose to move to the Marcy projects, a neighbourhood in which Jay Z grew up in! According to the lyrics, Nas is clearly frustrated at Nature's actions of leaving Queensbridge in favour for Marcy in Brooklyn. I sometimes think of this as Judas betraying Jesus Christ in favour for Jesus Christ's opposition (teachers of the law).

Nevertheless, Nas also stresses that all Queensbridge rappers whom he was once dogs with (i.e. once buddies) must one day put their differences aside to reunite as friends. In other words, REBUILD the bonds between them to reform a powerful army of GREAT soldiers (i.e. talented lyricists) in Queensbridge. I sometimes think of this as the 12 disciples reuniting upon Jesus Christs' holy requests.

Overall, Nas REBUILDS the slight crash left by the average production with his conscious hook and decent lyrics. But on the contrary, the beat itself still DESTROYS this tracks' chances of being granted a 10/10 rating. With all these said, DESTROY & REBUILD to me is quite overrated and I don't regard this track as a classic moment in the 'STILLMATIC' chronicles.

Rating: 6/10

10. THE FLYEST (4:38 min) FEAT. AZ

On THE FLYEST, Nas collaborates with fellow Queensbridge rapper, AZ ( real name: Anthony Cruz ) over beats from L.E.S. ( real name: Leshan David Lewis ). In case, you Ciao readers didn't know, AZ was the only lyricist to make a valuable guest appearance on Nas' 'Illmatic' record. He stole the show with his divine performance on 'Life's a b*tch' (a track off 'Illmatic'), with respect to the chorus and his verse, even coming close to outclassing Nasty Nas! Nevertheless, Nas and AZ collaborated magnificently on the top-notch, 'Life's a b*tch' over beautiful beats from L.E.S.

With regards to this theory, rap listeners, would think Nas, AZ and L.E.S. (as the producer) reunited to create a classic sequel to 'Life's a b*tch'. After all, it has already been established that Nas released 'STILLMATIC' as his modernised remake of his earlier 'Illmatic debut'. Boy, were many Nas fans fooled....

To begin with the first verse, AZ spits a LAME verse that is loaded with commercial rubbish about being a gangs 

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