Posts tagged as Nas
Nas, "Nasty"
Since his all-time classic debut album Illmatic came out in 1994, Nas has all-too rarely sounded as hungry and as honest and as at ease with his prodigious rhyme skills as he did when he said, "When it's real, you're doing this even without a record contract." Unfortunately, since he got a big record contract and accepted the pressure to make big radio hits and sell millions of albums, he's not well-suited for the sort of high-end production with melodic choruses that tends to enable that. He's better over simple, less-adorned breakbeats. (The kind rappers tend to rap to even without a record contract.) Fortunately, for his oldest fans at least, his latest single, produced by frequent collaborator Salaam Remi, features the latter—with a wordless chorus that's basically three notes of horns that might've come from a '60s cop show. And he even made a good video for it!
Sade, "Love Is Found;" Raekwon and Nas, "Rich & Black"
Here is a new video for a new Sade song. Well, pretty new. The song came out last month, one of four previously unreleased tracks on The Ultimate Collection. One of the others was a remix of "Moon and the Sky," featuring a verse rapped by Jay-Z. That one was kind of underwhelming to me. I think I'd be more interested in hearing Raekwon rap on a Sade song. There's a new video from him today, too. With Nas, for a song they did for Rae's recent Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang album. READ MORE
Jet Harris, 1939-2011
The British bass guitarist Terence "Jet" Harris died of cancer on Friday at the age of 71. I had never heard his name before, I don't think (and what an awesome name it is!) Though I'd heard and enjoyed some of his music—and, even more so, a lot of music that was made out of other recordings and samplings of music that he recorded first. And his life, I've learned over the past couple days, was a story of both great victory and sadness. READ MORE
There Is A Rapper Named "Hitla'"
The things you learn from Twitter. I signed on to Twitter two weeks ago. (Because you're supposed to now?) And so far it seems mostly like a way for me to write stuff in public which I will feel stupid about ten minutes after writing. I don't really know whether to go the "Hey, read this important news article" route, or the "I like green Tabasco sauce better than red Tabasco sauce" route. (Judging from the importance of the information in this post so far, I should probably stick with Tabasco.) But you do learn interesting stuff from Twitter. It is, if nothing else, a very fast-flowing stream of information. Yesterday, I saw that I had gotten a new "follower." (that word is so weird to me, as is so much about Twitter, but anyway...) His Twitter name is HITLAATLSCLA. His "real" name is Hitla'. He is from South Carolina, and he is associated with Bottom2thatop Entertainment LLC/AP Productions LLC/Corna' Pocket Entertainment LLC. He is a rapper. And this is something I've been expecting for some time now. READ MORE
Things You See In The Videos For Cee-Lo's "Bodies" And Damien Marley And Nas's "Sabali (Patience)"
Name tag
Polaroid camera
Polaroid pictures
Kate Moss
Pack of Trojans
CD cover for Above the Law's 1996 album, Time Will Reveal
African tribal mask
New York University diploma
Fur coat
Irises
Swimming pool
Clouds
Balloons
Pistol
Eagle-headed drummer sitting in lotus position
Rolls Royce convertible
Kerry Washington
Blood
Socket wrench
Neon signs
Los Angeles Times
Aquarium
Whale shark
Thresher shark
Nurse shark
Courtroom
Judge
Eagle-headed convict
Monkey playing bass guitar
Jean-Michael Basquiat's "Pecho/Oreja"
High-heeled shoes
Acrobats
Tigers jumping through hoops of fire
Elephants
Hippopotamus-headed waiters serving champagne
Karl Lagerfeld
BMW sports car
Smoke
Affleck duck
Billboard
Circus tent
Fireworks
Sunglasses
Hypodermic syringe
Solanine glycoalkaloid
Great white shark with human arm and leg dangling from jaws
Knife with Karl Lagerfeld handle
Cadaver diagram
H&M
Hippopotamus-headed chauffeur
Ocean
Common
Sunglasses on pedestals
Janelle Monae
Denim vest READ MORE
Curren$y, "Audio Dope 2"
The "somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game" thing has been a regular theme in hip-hop since Ice-T made it explicit in 1988. Today, up-n-coming New Orleans MC Curren$y makes a strong addition to the canon. READ MORE
Nas Is Like, Really Pissed
"With all do respect to you all, Nas is NOBODY's slave. This is not the 1800′s, respect me and I will respect you. I won't even tap dance around in an email, I will get right into it. People connect to the Artist @ the end of the day, they don't connect with the executives. Honestly, nobody even cares what label puts out a great record, they care about who recorded it. Yet time and time again its the executives who always stand in the way of a creative artist's dream and aspirations. You don't help draw the truth from my deepest and most inner soul, you don't even do a great job @ selling it. The #1 problem with DEF JAM is pretty simple and obvious, the executives think they are the stars. You aren't.... not even close. As a matter of fact, you wish you were, but it didn't work out so you took a desk job. To the consumer, I COME FIRST. Stop trying to deprive them! I have a fan base that dies for my music and a RAP label that doesn't understand RAP. Pretty fucked up situation..." READ MORE
Jay Leno Pronounces Nas' Name Right
Credit Jay Leno for making the effort (and you can tell it was some effort) to pronounce Nas' name correctly (so that it would rhyme with the British way of saying "vase" as opposed to the American pronunciation of "has," which is the common mistake.) Also, the Queens rapper and his collaborator, Bob Marley's son, Damian (whose hair must be incredibly heavy when it's wet), sounded good performing their bouncy reggae rap single "As We Enter" with a seven-piece band on The Tonight Show last night.
Marvel and NyQuil: Everything is Bad, Go to Sleep
In the wake of the Summer of Death and the colossally major news that Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion (a number that means "death" in Cantonese and is therefore avoided at all costs-not in enumerations of 4, obvs-in addresses, car license plates, cell phone numbers, etc., and, cue ominous, chongy music) and because Mr. Nasir "Nas" Jones says that sleep is the cousin of death, we must report the (in some circles, equally) important news that the soporific in Nyquil (doxylamine succinate) is found in much higher doses elsewhere. Namely Unisom (25 mg per pill vs. 6.25 mg in a 15 ml dose). READ MORE
Danish Paper Scores With Headline: "Drug Addict Orgy Of Violence"
How about the Danish newspaper Politiken? Besides having such a great name-so verby and hip-hop-here's a publication that knows how to write a headline, even in the English translation version. "Drug Addict Orgy Of Violence" ?! A word-by-word analysis proves that headline has an 80% titillation factor. Then what follows: "A couple kidnapped on the island of Mors were confronted with an overdose, a chain saw and forced to dig their own graves. Six arrested."??!!! What choice do we have but to read this! READ MORE
