You gotta be an asshole to hate N.O.R.E. You can be mad at N.O.R.E. But you can’t hate him. I had a friend in high school who hated Noreaga and he ended up stealing his best friends girlfriend. That tells you the character of a person who hates the half Spanish Nigga from Left Rack, Queens.
I love N.O.R.E. but I’ve never listened to any of his albums. I loved him in Paid In Full (y’all stay cool like how y’all be cool) I loved him as El Plaga in State Property 2, and I currently love his Podcast Drink Champs. The only time I ever hated N.O.R.E. Was when he turned heel on Hip Hop and joined Reggaeton like Hulk Hogan did NWO at Bash @ the Beach. However time heals all wounds and N.O.R.E. Has dropped an album to celebrate his 20 year career.
So let’s get into SE.
N.O.R.E. Is in a great place in life. He’s really happy, he’s proud of his career and he’s relieved he don’t gotta shoot niggas anymore. This whole album has a wink and nod of “oh you didn’t think I knew about that did you?” As he raps about the Cavs getting swept and LeBron possibly leaving. This nod to pop culture continues as Noreaga raps about LeBron joining the Lakers, Black Panther, Donald Trump and Kanye West. He made this album in the last month and it’s hilarious. This is album equivalent of a late night writing packet. He does not give one fuck and it’s awesome.
This is an album you listen to while you tell people “I used to steal, I stopped but back in the day I would’ve cleared this place out”.
Having a successful podcast can be a gift and a curse. On one end you’ve got people who really know you and how you think so you don’t have to try hard to relate, on the other end it’s hard for outsiders to get all of these inside jokes. For an example of this, listen to any Marc Marlon comedy after WTF got popular. He even has clips from the podcast on the album as interludes! All in all it’s pretty fascinating to watch.
At its core SE is Old Nigga rap at its best, while N.O.R.E warns the youth about being on their phones too much and tells wanna be gangstas this life isn’t worth it. He really is an uncle, I lowkey expected him to slip a 20 dollar bill into my hand, tell me to buy him some Newport’s and keep the change.
I had a lot of fun listening to N.O.R.E because he didn’t have to make it, there was no NEED for this. N.O.R.E just wanted to rap about Vibranium and have fun with his friends, he didn’t need the money, he’s just happy to be here. Positivity radiates outward, and I’m glad he made this. Overall SE is good, I give it 6 shots of Tiger Bone Out Of 8.