Nas

God's Son

Not classic, but very good...

Review Score:

(8/10)
Nas had alot to live up to with this album. After dropping the great 'Stillmatic and then following it up with the even better 'Lost Tapes, I feel like anything short of a classic would be considered a disapointment. Well, this is not a classic by Nas standards. There is no "One Mic", "If I Ruled The World", or "Nas is Like", and of course no "Halftime" or "It Ain't Hard to Tell", but it is a collection of very good songs. He said it was gonna be his most personal album and he is right. I mean he talks about his mother and daughter more than ever before.
The first four songs are all really dope. The album gets off to a perfect start with "Get Down". "The Cross" produced by Eminem is very solid. "Made You Look" and "Last Real N..a Alive" are probably the best songs. On the latter Nas talks about the east coast rap scene back in 94 and sheds some light on how everyone met. Not suprisingly, the two songs I skip are when Nas tries to give his buddies some shine. "Zone Out" and "Revolution Warfare" are both ruined by guest appearances. I hate when Nas puts these guys on who can't rap. "I can" and "Hey Nas" are 2 songs you can go either way with. The choruses are really cheesy but the lyrics are dope and the beats are ok so I will call them average. The next two songs are both great. "Book of Rhymes" is a brilliant song which reminds me of AZ's "Fan Mail" and "Thugz Mansion" feauturing Pac is a beautiful song. Another excellent song is "Warriorz" with Alicia Keys". I don't mean to be heartless but a track you can skip is "Dance" which is all about his mother. I mean it is a very sentimental song but I feel Nas wrote it more for himself than for his fans. "Mastermind" is solid, about the same level as "The Cross" and "Heaven" is a very a nice ending. I usually don't like when Nas uses speed rapping but for some reason this track works.
The second CD is pointless. It contains a decent freestyle and a couple of throw away tracks but overall this is a very strong CD. It's not as good as the Lost Tapes and probably a small notch below Stillmatic but it doesn't in any way stunt the momentum created from those two releases. Nas is still a rapper who is on his game. God's Son is one of the 2 or 3 best albums of 2002.

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