Nas

God's Son

"I'm the man's man, a rapper's rapper" - Nas finally gets it

Review Score:

(8/10)
I've let this one marinate for two years now, and has stood the test of time by only sounding better as time passes. Without a doubt, no one can argue that this is Nas's most personal, artistic, introspective album... and it certainly ranks up there with many of Hip-Hop's finest. This is a sound from Nas we've yet to hear, like watching a boy grow into a man through his music over the past 10+ years.

The album jumps off to a great start, as Nas hits the lyrics hard over the smooth James Brown samples provided by Nas himself. The Beginning of this album Nas establishes himself and to make sure everyone knows his come back "Stillmatic" was no fluke. "The Cross" follows these lines by laying to waist his grips in the rap game and the country. Eminem's production here provides a backdrop that only intensifies Nas's attitude. "Made You Look" is simply put classic Nas. This is why he's considered to be one of the best, and Salaam Remi's beat is as rugged as anything off Illmatic. When the beat comes to a screeching halt it can't even stop Nas from continuing to rip it ("And I like a little sassiness, a lotta class/Mami reach in your bag, pass the fifth/I'm a leader, at last this a don you wit/ My nines'll spit, n****z loose consciousness!"). There couldn't be a better follow up than the storytelling rhymes of "Last Real N**** Alive." Nasir paints a perfect picture of the hidden beef in the NY rap scene during the 90's, more than a few big names are dropped. This track is puts Nas up there as one of the best at story driven songs, who else could have pulled this one off??

The album takes a break from it's brilliance up to this point so Nas can, once again, try and plug his less than stellar crew on "Zone Out". "Hey Nas" picks things up a little with a smooth track, good for cruising and Nas carries the flow nicely here. I'm sure you've herd the single "I Can", and while I applaud the subject matter, I really just can't feel the chorus and some of the lyrics. You'll either love this one or want to skip it.

God's Son really gets back into it's true form with Alchemist's (of Mobb Deep fame) "Book Of Rhymes", where Nas provides the original concept of reading some of his scrapped rhymes out of his old book. This provides a wide scope of subject matter, and some creative stuff (he even chooses to scrap one mid-sentence, teasing the listener). "Thugz Mansion" follows, but unfortunately Nas has chosen to redo the original, which was already perfect, so that Tupac does not outshine him. Bad move considering we've already the herd the original it on Better Dayz. Alchemist returns to provide a dark synthesizer heavy "Mastermind." This is basically so Nas can just drop gems of genius on the track ("I knew, they kill hoes too like Rae Carruth/ They used to spray troops, now they managing groups").

The album starts to get more personal as Nas gets some help from Alicia Keys over the some sick piano on "Warrior Song". It's hard not to get wrapped up as Nas just flows as seamless over the beat as the piano, revealing to the listener his personal struggles as he watched his mother pass away. This is pretty much as deep as Nas has ever gotten into his real personal life. "Revolutionary Warfare" is another nice Alchemist beat, give us a much more light-hearted track, featuring Lake (who if you remember from Nas's shout outs all the way back through Illmatic has been locked up for a looong time). "Dance" is reminiscent of Tupac's "Dear Momma" except Nas makes himself even more vulnerable. The production for this track really sends chills down your back as Nas laments once again over his recently passed mother. It's so rare that someone bears their soul like this that Nasir's sung chorus is more than forgivable, even Olu Dara's horn to fade out the track is just a beautiful piece of work. Nas closes out the album with "Heaven" which will require multiple listens because of the subject matter and his incredible display of skillz with his flow. The Bonus Disc is also worth getting, with three tracks it defiantly adds to the album, although "The G.O.D." with Swizz Beatz on the boards, is probably the only one that deserved to make the final cut.

God's Son accomplishes something that Nas has always found difficulty with, matching his skills and flow with subject matter and (for the middle part of his career) creativity. It's all here. Nas never falters lyrically on this album; he's back to his best. He goes back to his street rap roots, he shows his storytelling abilities, he introduces original concepts, he doesn't hold back on his angers, and he goes deeper than he's ever gone - at the same time, proving that he's mastered his art. The sound of this album is different than any other Nas album I've heard. It's great to see Nas continuing to grow in his music, making this album a more than solid effort: it's a couple of miscalculations and one or two more amazing tracks short of classic.

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