The GenesisN.Y. State of Mind*
Life's A Bitch
The World is Yours*
Halftime
Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park)
One Love
One Time 4 Your Mind
Represent*
It Ain't Hard to Tell
This is easily the most difficult review I can imagine doing. I will not mislead at all in my opening remarks, and will instead do the only thing I can think of and jump right into it.
Musically this is the simplest album I have ever heard. Nothing differs in tempo, no beats change, no bizarre phrasing. Even the piano and trumpet playing, though unique in mainstream hip-hop, are not inspiring. There is one saving instrumental effect: the longest, most drawn out pedal point in probably the history of the world.
A pedal point is basically a drone, used in many kinds of music as a constant which allows the attention of the listener to go elsewhere (a changing variable). In this case, the drone is the hypnotic repetition of the music. Every track is basically the same, with slight production changes which imply little to no knowledge of what else can be possible instrumentally. As bitter as this sounds, I am not so, I am merely explaining the fact: there is almost no room for melodic or rhythmic exploration in the hip-hop realm represented on this album. As I said the listener is dulled to what is heard, focusing his/her attention to something else. On Illmatic, the attention goes of course to the lyrics themselves.
Nas on this album proves to be honest (I am taking his word for it since I lost track of the number of times he indicated "this is real"), clever, aware, and relevant. His descriptions of urban brutality, poverty, and violence are acute and worth hearing. I especially appreciate, "Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne. I'm deep by sound alone, caved inside a thousand miles from home. I need a new nigga, for this black cloud to follow, 'cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow." This lyric reflects the depth in all of the tracks. Well, most...
Through scenes dealing with imprisonment, drug use and self realization there is an integrity to the presentation, but sometimes it feels compromised. For example, the first verse of Halftime really adds nothing to the grander scope of the album. It is simply Nas stroking his ego and not revealing anything meaningful in the words themselves, regardless of the entertaining word play. There are other moments on the album like this, where the tendencies of rap culture take over.
It could be argued that these tendencies are stylistic. However, I believe that just because something is an element of style, it doesn't make it allowable. The social self-disappointment and wallowing that accompanies subject matter in music dubbed "Emo" can be considered an element of style. Should "Emo" kids be teased because they can't cut in the right direction?
Of course they should, as also should Nas be ignored when he tells the listener that his rhyming is impeccable. Let the listener judge based on something that deserves to be said, and not simply hype. A parenthetical insert earlier referenced Nas' honesty; it is the same effect, coming off as trite and utterly moronic.
I earlier mentioned how difficult this album was to review. I probably exceeded my word limit doing so, but I felt it necessary because this album goes to the very heart of musical investigation. What is music? Notes? Harmony? Instruments? Poetry? Organized sound?
Poetry, though most often read, is musical to hear. And, good poetry set to a drone... well, certainly worth $9.90 from the iTunes store.
Grade: B+
Musically this is the simplest album I have ever heard. Nothing differs in tempo, no beats change, no bizarre phrasing. Even the piano and trumpet playing, though unique in mainstream hip-hop, are not inspiring. There is one saving instrumental effect: the longest, most drawn out pedal point in probably the history of the world.
A pedal point is basically a drone, used in many kinds of music as a constant which allows the attention of the listener to go elsewhere (a changing variable). In this case, the drone is the hypnotic repetition of the music. Every track is basically the same, with slight production changes which imply little to no knowledge of what else can be possible instrumentally. As bitter as this sounds, I am not so, I am merely explaining the fact: there is almost no room for melodic or rhythmic exploration in the hip-hop realm represented on this album. As I said the listener is dulled to what is heard, focusing his/her attention to something else. On Illmatic, the attention goes of course to the lyrics themselves.
Nas on this album proves to be honest (I am taking his word for it since I lost track of the number of times he indicated "this is real"), clever, aware, and relevant. His descriptions of urban brutality, poverty, and violence are acute and worth hearing. I especially appreciate, "Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne. I'm deep by sound alone, caved inside a thousand miles from home. I need a new nigga, for this black cloud to follow, 'cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow." This lyric reflects the depth in all of the tracks. Well, most...
Through scenes dealing with imprisonment, drug use and self realization there is an integrity to the presentation, but sometimes it feels compromised. For example, the first verse of Halftime really adds nothing to the grander scope of the album. It is simply Nas stroking his ego and not revealing anything meaningful in the words themselves, regardless of the entertaining word play. There are other moments on the album like this, where the tendencies of rap culture take over.
It could be argued that these tendencies are stylistic. However, I believe that just because something is an element of style, it doesn't make it allowable. The social self-disappointment and wallowing that accompanies subject matter in music dubbed "Emo" can be considered an element of style. Should "Emo" kids be teased because they can't cut in the right direction?
Of course they should, as also should Nas be ignored when he tells the listener that his rhyming is impeccable. Let the listener judge based on something that deserves to be said, and not simply hype. A parenthetical insert earlier referenced Nas' honesty; it is the same effect, coming off as trite and utterly moronic.
I earlier mentioned how difficult this album was to review. I probably exceeded my word limit doing so, but I felt it necessary because this album goes to the very heart of musical investigation. What is music? Notes? Harmony? Instruments? Poetry? Organized sound?
Poetry, though most often read, is musical to hear. And, good poetry set to a drone... well, certainly worth $9.90 from the iTunes store.
Grade: B+
