I remember like it was yesterday,
The song Nas Album Done came out in the summer of 2016. Nas rapped his ass off for 4 minutes while DJ Khalid did DJ Khaled things. That song was so dope it made me change barbers and buy Hawaiian shirts. It got me so hype to listen to the upcoming album so I waited for years and here we finally are. With an album that is nothing like I expected.
No one could’ve seen this coming, if you did see this coming, send me a message and tell me how I die and if I’ll ever own a pair of Off White Jordan’s.
But I digress, let’s get into “Nasir”.
I don’t know a lot about life but I DO know this isn’t a Nas album. Well at least it doesn’t feel like one.
Nas Albums are supposed to feel like a haircut from the best barber in the shop. He takes his time, wears black gloves and uses bevel razors while he gives great life advice/says questionable things about the woman you’re dating. After 45-60 minutes you hop out the chair feeling like a new man.
Nasir felt like I spent the day in a fancy ass Barbershop just to get a quick line up. This is cool but it wasn’t exactly worth the wait.
Nas is known as one of the greatest rappers of all time but his albums aren’t always great. Nas is a lot like LeBron in the sense he was crowned a great at 18 and has a record of 3 and 6 when things really matter. Personally I think Wikipedia lead to the Demise of Nas. Once I found out all the knowledge he was giving was false I couldn’t see him the same way. The whole time I listened to this album I was afraid he’d talk about the conspiracy against men in 2018. Real talk I was afraid to find out Nas is an anti vaxxer...(AND WE DID)
The album is really well made, Kanye put his whole crazy ass into every beat. But it’s just not for Nas. This album is like that scene is The Wire where Marlo tries to go legit and goes to that fancy party but ends up going back to the street. Nasir doesn’t fit Nas, it’s like watching a guy who wears Timbs try to squeeze into Yeezys a size too small..cuz that’s what you do with Timbs.
Also it’s awkward but there’s been some serious accusations levied against Nas by his ex Wife Kelis. For a guy who likes to explain his thought processes and history and regrets, it felt weird he didn’t mention anything she said. I’m not asking for a play by play of what went down, but I wanted to hear his side. Nas raps better than most people, he can DEFINITELY rap about what happened in his marriage.
Nasir is a solid GOOD Music album, but it’s not a great NAS album. I give it 5 Bevel Blades Out Of 10.