Goddamn, again?

Sweet Jesus, whether it’s on purpose or just dumb luck, this guy manages to do it every time, doesn’t he? Be it a war with the world’s favorite rapper, his label or New York’s top radio station and their entire play list, he’s always in the middle of some shit. This time, not even a bar needed to be uttered, just a press release with the title of his album and bam, the biggest war since Death Row vs. Bad Boy spawned the East Coast-West Coast rivalry is on the verge of popping off like a boiling lid on mom’s stove.

But before we jump into Hip Hop Is Dead, let me throw a few questions out there.

Before Nas came out and explained the title of the album, what did you think it meant?  Honestly. Did your thoughts include payola? Madison Avenue and their marketing schemes? Lack of recognition for the other elements that make up the culture that rakes in billions of dollars every year to major corporations worldwide?

I mean, excuse me if this is going off on a tangent, but since when did Hip-Hop become solely about record sales and the southern artists responsible for their share? Oh yeah, I’m finished dancing, I’m not very good with innuendos and shit. So, for whatever Nas set out to do with Hip Hop Is Dead, it has turned the spotlight on down south rappers, and if you look close, they’re the ones manning the beams. Why aren’t Game, Snoop and even E-40, who had his career resurrected in the past year going off about this? Why is KanYe working with him? Why isn’t the young crop of New York mixtape artists taking aim at him? Why is it only rappers from the south going at Nas for the title of an album? Well, if it’s the title, how come none of them went at 50 when he named his last mixtape the same fucking thing?

I’ll save you the brain freeze, and answer: It’s guilt, fear, confusion and ultimately stupidity, in that order. As I’m typing this, I just finished listening to Jeezy’s interview with Monie Love for the third time trying to find a point. To Jeezy’s credit, he’s since apologized, but obviously there was something there, before he got pissed off by a radio personality. And I think that he spoke for a lot of his southern brethren when he flicked. And for the record, I like Jeezy and both of his albums. I just hope the guy is never invited in front of congress to talk about anything related to Hip-Hop other than the construction of an adlib. (Thhaaaat’s riiiiiiight!)

Anyway, back to the reason the south is ready to start a rap civil war:

• Guilt: Whenever Hip-Hop and its deconstruction are brought up, the first thing people point to is how doodoo the lyrics have gotten. If you were a rapper and somebody mentioned lyrics and you rapped about snapping fingers and doing the Ickey Shuffle, wouldn’t you become defensive?
  
• Fear: It’s a known fact that when people fear something they either run from it or attempt to attack it, based on fear. (*see 75% of inner city gun charges against minors) Nas is under attack because of fear and anger. It’s like, “Nigga, shut up, they might find us out!”
  
• Confusion: You’re obviously confused if you’re going at someone because of an album title; Either that or reading comprehension. At some point, if you’re Nas you have to stop explaining that you’re not going at the south and let the dumb muhfukkas keep running into the glass door, Chris Farley style if they’re hell bent on it. I mean, he’s only said it 80 times.
  
• Stupidity: This is actually pending. In the next month or so you’ll start to see rappers understand what Nas meant and if they choose to accept it or continue a beef in hopes of obtaining a badge for battling Olu's son, it's on them.

Oh snap, so much for not going off on a tangent. Ehh, you’ve probably already read 57 reviews on the album by now anyway (Damn bloggers!) Here’s a quick review of the album by song.

Money Over Bullshit
Hell’s the yes! This is what I’m talkimbout! Don’t get me wrong, I like those majestic beat intro’s everyone seems to have these days, but this just dropped you off in the gutter and told you, “If you make it out alive, then and only then can you get a whiff of  track number two, bitch.”
Fiya Line: “Put a barrel in the Capo mouth, till his scalp come out, you a kid, you don't live what you rap about.”

You Can’t Kill Me
Classic Nas story telling track. Not quite as good as a Blaze A 50, or Favor For A Favor though, and quite frankly, I would have really enjoyed a Primo or 9th Wonder track, here.
Fiya Line: “Honey spreadin that asshole, like a wide mouth bass.”

Carry On Tradition
Simple beat. Very surprised it’s a Storch joint, but ultimately, it works because the message soooo needed to be broadcast. These old rappers are salty, but they have a right to be because some of the youngins are totally fuckin’ Hip-Hop up. There needs to be a common ground. This is the premise of the whole album, by the way. This could have very easily been the intro, but there’s no way you can replace MOB as the first chapter to this book. Also, what’s up with the censored line? Piss a Jew off, Nasir?
Fiya Line: “See, everybody got a label, everybody’s a rapper, but few flow fatal.”

Where Are They Now
Not the Kane beat! I swear that’s one of my favorite beats of all time. I can see Kane fuckin that footwork up, right now. As for the song, I don’t like the chorus at all, but overall the track is okay. Nas dropped some names I hadn’t heard in a wh---oh snap, he just mentioned Divine Styler. Nas is dropping that Word Power, while these other rappers Ain’t Sayin’ Nothin…ugh, never mind. (High-5 to the two people who got that)
Fiya Line: “They’re the reason that rap became addictive, play their CD or wax and get lifted.”

Hip-Hop Is Dead
I would have like it much better if Nas had just given a better reason for using the same track twice, like “I was trying to tell you that rap is repetitive, yo,” or some shit like that. But he says, “I dunno, it just happened.” Man, Thief’s Theme was the hardest single I’d heard since Boss’ Deeper.
Fiya Line: “What influenced my raps? Stick ups and killings, kidnappings, project buildings, drug dealings, criticize that…”

Who Killed It?
On some Quasimoto shit. Either you get it or you don’t; and I’m not talking about the conversation between the cop and the bitch (how fitting) Hip-Hop, but instead all the minor references you’d need to be a Hip-Hop fan to get.
Fiya Line: “All this time, she had me in her scope.”

Black Republican featuring Jay-Z
Everything you would expect from the song, except a third verse. I don’t know why I still expect to hear them go back and forth, one last time, every time I listen, but I do.
Fiya Line: “Could it be the forces of darkness, against hood angels of good, that form street politics?”

Not Going Back featuring Kelis
The beat is boring and even Kelis can’t bring it back to life. Will be a future skipper.
Fiya Line: “Cause in reality, I learned my salary, the way I flaunted it then, would now embarrass me.”

Still Dreaming featuring KanYe West
Smoooooooooooth. Real smooth. X.O. right out of the freezer, smooth. I kinda wish KanYe would give him a harder beat, but these elevator to Heaven beats he’s dished to Nas aren’t bad at all.
Fiya Line: “So, if he feed your family and serve you shit, then he need that hed you gettin, he deserve your bitch.”

Hold Down the Block
Wasn't crazy about this one, but by some strange twist of fate, I happened to be listening to this while watching The Wire when Bodie was got his noodle boiled, and it took on a whole new meaning as I re-listened. This is now known as the Ode to Bodie.
Fiya Line: “Fed’s feast on street Don’s, look at their teeth showing.”

Blunt Ashes (Produced by Chris Webber)
So, this is what he was doing instead of rehabbing the knee? Good excuse for neglecting your livelihood, Chris. This shit might be the sleeper track of the whole album. I mean, Chris damn near did the impossible by making a Nas fast-flow track listenable.
Fiya Line: Fuck all that, the story about the father making his son into a ring is the tightest shit I’ve heard since a KFC employee told me the Honey BBQ Wings were now a mainstay on the menu.

Let There Be Light featuring Tre Williams
I’ve heard quite a bit of Tre Williams over the past year and this is one of the two or three songs that have managed to capture his talent and harness it. It will be incredibly hard for this guy to put together a whole album. This is so good though, it might be single worthy.
Fiya Line: “Gillettes cut ‘Caine in the kitchen, now every rapper wanna claim they hang with Kenneth Supreme Griffin.”

Play On Playa featuring Snoop Dogg
A Streets Disciple leftover with a Marvin Gaye sample I totally wasn’t expecting. Snoop dominates this, while Nas plays shotgun. Smoking couples, enjoy.
Fiya Line: “Come through like Mo Green, from Godfather, so clean.”

Can’t Forget About You featuring Chrisette Michele
Now hear this SHAWN CARTER, if Def Jam plays this right, this will be Nas’ biggest single since If I Ruled The World. It’s a perfectly crafted song, right on down to the Nat King Cole wrap up. Never thought he would outdo such a winter sounding song like War, but he’s done it. Not to mention, this track contains the most Fiya-laden line of the whole album:
Fiya Line: “That’s why the gangsta rhymers ain’t inspired, heinous crimes help record sales more than creative minds.”  
Goddamn, my keyboard is hotter than the bottom of a pizza box, just typing that.

Hustlers featuring The Game & Marsha Ambrosius
Who’s willing to bet this was a two verse song until Nas heard Game’s verse? There’s no way he could let Namedropper get off on him like that without redeeming himself on the third. As soon as he spit that shit about having to choose between Illmatic and The Chronic I started having Renegade flashbacks…But, yeah, this is exactly what I expected out of a Dre produced song with his protégé as the mouthpiece.
Fiya Line: “”You can’t revolve me, embalm me, calm me or harm me, rob me or dodge these bullets I’m bustin’, see that’s malarkey.”

Hope
Nice of Nas to drop an acapella gem for all the aspiring producers to add their tracks to (Producer: Damn Da Man's being the best, thus far). Just from the internet response I’d say he’s done his part in making sure Hip-Hop stays alive and never dies …ahhh haa!
Fiya Line:“Two feet of snow, yeah that’s the East Coast, that black ice, symbolized the rap life, it was slick and smooth.”