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Album
Review
Nas - Untitled Just Take the L, Pessimists. by: Malik Sinsear, for Entertainment
Welp, that comparison sounded a lot better before I listened to Nas’ latest effort Untitled or Nigger as it was originally scribed. KB needs a ring to square the association up because this album is hotter than Al Sharpton’s comb out left in for a whopping extra 15-minutes. GODDAMN it’s HOT FIYA! And like all good FIYAs, this is destined to make people uncomfortable. That dragon spit lands on everyone from Bill O’Reilly and Rupert Murdock on Sly Fox to John McCain and even Obama (just a warning shot) on the perfect conclusion to the album, Black President. Over an inconspicuous yet devious sounding piano arrangement courtesy of everyone’s favorite new rapper Jay Electronica, Nas gets right down to business on Queens Get The Money, where he sends 50 a short jab right after he sympathetically notifies young black girls currently lost: “Pregnant teens give birth to intelligent gangsters, they daddy’s faceless, N.I.G.G.E.R. the frustrated but ultimately inspiring face of this whole project displays a chorus that all but destroys the arguments of those that were so against Nas for his choice of the original album title. “They say we N.I. double G, E.R. we are much more, still we choose to ignore, the obvious, man this history don’t acknowledge us, we were scholars long before colleges.” The features are kept to a minimum on Untitled, which is just wonderful. Game and Chris Brown make the most commercial single go round on a song with a title so similar I’d rather not repeat it. Busta stops by for a piece of Fried Chicken and aside from a hook dropper here and spoken worder there, the only other guest of note is Keri Hilson aka the baddest bob wearing chick in the game on the lead single Hero. Why this wasn’t on the Hancock soundtrack, I couldn’t tell you. Maybe Nas isn’t down with Scientology…ahem, not saying anyone else from that film is, I’m simply…let’s move on, shall we? This record achieves the unenviable task of delivering a message in today’s music world full of bulimic listeners who can’t stand to put anything down. It’s nothing short of amazing how Nas accomplishes that without you feeling like you’re listening to your uncle lecture you. On seemingly the most ordinary track of the album (if such a thing exists), America, the third verse illuminates the whole song and shines alone as the standout rhyme of the whole record. “If I could travel to the 1700’s, Anyone remember when Common said you could ”fight, fuck or dream” to his music on The 6th Sense? Well, just add “commit arson” to that description and you’ve got a perfect description of this Nigger shit. Yup, and another FIYA reference. Unhappy Scrappy?
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Big Earl: GET OUT THE WAY! |
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Ya know, if Nasir knew half as much about modern day sports as he knows about history, political philosophy and conspiracies he wouldn’t take nearly as many shots at Kobe as he does. Mamba is probably the closest thing to Nas in the athletic realm that we have. Underappreciated and largely hated despite all they’ve contributed to their respective games that they respect so much. Held prisoner by past achievements with neither ever being crowned champ without an elite cohort: Kobe ‘shipless without The Big Vasectomy, while Nas has never delivered a classic album without an AZ appearance (check it). 
