Nas' new album:In a word, race-y
Rapper Nas is working on his new album, and he's trying to get the word out.
The N-word, that is.
The hip-hop provocateur tells us he's planning on calling the CD simply "N-." Except, he'll be filling in the blank.
"That's the name right now," he said. Just to make sure we didn't mishear him, he spelled the racist epithet for us.
"I don't care about sales," he explained at Wednesday's MAC Cosmetics party for Sean (Diddy) Combs' new fragrance, Unforgivable. "Well, tonight I don't. I never was a big sales dude, so it never really mattered."
The slur, formerly used by Southern lynch mobs, has become a common greeting among black youth. But the Rev. Al Sharpton, also at the Core Club party, still finds it profoundly offensive.
"I'm astonished by the psychological gymnastics some people perform to make that self-denigrating word acceptable," he told us. "No other race does it. Why is it accepted? In an industry that makes Michael Jackson take out a word that was offensive to Jewish people, why does it sanitize a word that continues to be used by the Ku Klux Klan when it attacks our people?"
Last night, Jana Fleishman, a spokeswoman for Nas' label, Def Jam, was taken aback when we informed her of the proposed title. But after talking with the rapper, she said he changed his tune. "Nas says he was being facetious. He just started recording last week."
Meanwhile, Nas and Diddy were both amused to see Kanye West portraying himself as Jesus Christ on the cover of Rolling Stone. A 1999 video aping the Crucifixion had the two older rappers hanging on crosses.
Asked if Kanye stole their idea, Nas said, "I loaned it to him."
Diddy agreed: "It was a cool cover to me. I'm a fan of his, so it's all good."
― okok, Friday, 3 February 2006 11:47 (nineteen years ago)
― Brian Jones (Brian Jones), Friday, 3 February 2006 11:53 (nineteen years ago)
― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 3 February 2006 13:13 (nineteen years ago)
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Friday, 3 February 2006 13:17 (nineteen years ago)
"Nigger" is a great title for a cd but i fully expect this to come out with the title he's been using on all his recent 12"/mixtape cuts, which is "nasdaq dow jones".
Which is an even worse title than "new whirl odor".
― $ LYRICALLY I'M MR PERFECT $, Friday, 3 February 2006 13:18 (nineteen years ago)
(it needed repeating)
― naus (Robert T), Friday, 3 February 2006 13:30 (nineteen years ago)
ROFFLES
― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 3 February 2006 13:31 (nineteen years ago)
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 3 February 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)
― Dragon ball z t shirt guy, Friday, 3 February 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 3 February 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)
― js (honestengine), Friday, 3 February 2006 15:16 (nineteen years ago)
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 3 February 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 3 February 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)
The slur, formerly used by Southern lynch mobs, has become a common greeting among black youth
― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 3 February 2006 15:54 (nineteen years ago)
― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 3 February 2006 15:55 (nineteen years ago)
― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:00 (nineteen years ago)
― Momus (Momus), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:11 (nineteen years ago)
― Momus (Momus), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:12 (nineteen years ago)
― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:15 (nineteen years ago)
By the way (and this isn't a change of subject), here's what Dwarfism.org says about terminology for the vertically-challenged:
"We are first and foremost human beings, it is secondary that we are human beings who are of restricted growth. Use of the word "midget" to describe someone of short stature is considered extremely offensive by some people. It is better to refer to someone of short stature as a "Little Person" or "Dwarf". Also, some people find the term "dwarf" as equally offensive as "midget". If people, both average and short stature, were able to place their humanity before everything else, the world might be a much better place. The more we stick labels on each other, the more we segregate ourselves, and the more we encourage ignorance and prejudice."
They then headline the section immediately following: "Estimated Worldwide Dwarf Population".
― Momus (Momus), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 3 February 2006 17:11 (nineteen years ago)
― ~~~~~, Friday, 3 February 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)
The slur, formerly used by Southern lynch mobs, has become a common greeting among black youth.
― inert false cat (sleep), Friday, 3 February 2006 18:46 (nineteen years ago)
― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 3 February 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 3 February 2006 18:50 (nineteen years ago)
― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 3 February 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 3 February 2006 19:01 (nineteen years ago)
Funny, I thought the idea has been around for a couple thousand years. The same goes for lesbians, gangsters, and coffee. Wait! That could be a silly Warren Zevon parody.
― Brian Jones (Brian Jones), Friday, 3 February 2006 20:01 (nineteen years ago)
They went through "Colored", "Negro", and "Black" first, and are now considering "Americans of African Descent".
― R. J. Greene (R. J. Greene), Friday, 3 February 2006 21:50 (nineteen years ago)
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 3 February 2006 22:08 (nineteen years ago)
The real title is "The Goalkeeper's Revenge."
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 3 February 2006 22:21 (nineteen years ago)
Kike was invented by Western European Jews to describe other Jews.
― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 3 February 2006 22:47 (nineteen years ago)
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 3 February 2006 22:48 (nineteen years ago)
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 3 February 2006 22:56 (nineteen years ago)
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 3 February 2006 23:05 (nineteen years ago)
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 3 February 2006 23:06 (nineteen years ago)
NO FUCKING SHIT?!?!?!???!?
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 3 February 2006 23:07 (nineteen years ago)
Sorry, I didn't finish the rest of my post. I was just gonna point out the irony of Sharpton's point because the other slur he alludes to (kike) was a word invented by and for Jews and Sharpton talks about how no other race touches self-denigrating words with ten-foot-poles when in fact it's kinda common for these words to start among the races themselves and leak.
― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 3 February 2006 23:42 (nineteen years ago)
― R. J. Greene (R. J. Greene), Saturday, 4 February 2006 04:21 (nineteen years ago)
― bobby opulent, Wednesday, 22 February 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)
There's a lot of internal struggle and confusion. Don't tell me Nas can't rap
― what does this confusing fream mean? (Matt Chesnut), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 14:25 (nineteen years ago)
― the scourge of jefferson ave, Wednesday, 22 February 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1c2OQUWSQUE
― titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 12 February 2008 00:46 (seventeen years ago)
It's all the experiences we go through every day, of all ethnicities, black, white, and... different
― Curt1s Stephens, Tuesday, 12 February 2008 00:54 (seventeen years ago)
fucking momus
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 12 February 2008 01:06 (seventeen years ago)
more surprised by late stones member brian jones not liking nas
― omar little, Tuesday, 12 February 2008 01:15 (seventeen years ago)
Oh, god damn it, I've been here for more than two years.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 12 February 2008 10:56 (seventeen years ago)
i'm still really excited for the album
― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 12 February 2008 16:31 (seventeen years ago)
ha, i thought he said "black, white, indifferent".
― Jordan, Tuesday, 12 February 2008 16:33 (seventeen years ago)
I love how the cameraperson keeps shifting around to make sure the whole word stays visible in the shot.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 12 February 2008 16:34 (seventeen years ago)
http://www.plena507.com/home/page_images/nigga2.jpg
― m0stlyClean, Wednesday, 13 February 2008 04:01 (seventeen years ago)
nas comes off on this...dr. pepper!
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/audio/id.4684/title.nas-be-a-nigger-too
― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 21 April 2008 20:52 (seventeen years ago)
flow is tight like tootie's braces....
― m0stlyClean, Monday, 21 April 2008 23:36 (seventeen years ago)
im amazed hes still going through with this. i hope he comes up with a better reasoning for the title than what he has so far.
― titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 12:34 (seventeen years ago)
That's all dude has now, title hype. Can't wait for him to drop "Jews Did WTC" in 09.
― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 12:37 (seventeen years ago)
"bobby opulent" = valuable new poster, or at least valuable new screenname
― Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 12:44 (seventeen years ago)
is 'fear of the black mans dick' still going to be on this? cant wait to hear that one. i hope its a big club banger.
― titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 21:07 (seventeen years ago)
don't tell me nas can't rap!!!!!!!
― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 21:33 (seventeen years ago)
srsly i don't want you guys to ever tell me that.
― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 21:34 (seventeen years ago)
If you caught NYOIL’s “What Up My Wigger Wigga” last year you might catch some major deja vu when you heard the hook of Nas‘ new song yesterday. A case of straight chomping or great minds thinking alike? Unkut Dot Com asked NYOIL to speak his piece on the topic
[...]
Nas you’re that nigga that pretends to have a grasp on the social quagmire that our people are stuck in and yet cannot for the life of you articulate or justify your position on this obvious plea for controversy. Does this brother realize that his attempts at diffusing the word “Nigger” by making it some all inclusive colloquialism to represent all races is as weak as the beat he spit it too? Does he realize that when Robert Schwartz decides to stop being a nigger all he has to do is change his look. maybe trade in the bapes and backpack put on a suit and he’s right and exact. When Robert Yung decides he’s no longer a nigga he can be whatever an person of Asian decent can be in the country stereo types not withstanding. When Robert Rodriguez decides to stop being a nigger he can become a proud man of Latin descent. However for Robert Jenkins who’s grandparents where NIGGERS, blown over by fire hoses and beat within an inch of their lives, when the term meant what it will always mean despite his attempts to make it a term of endearment. Whom despite his affluence or allegiance has to be as scared as a runaway slave when pulled over for driving black or shopping black, or standing in a group of more than 3 in his own neighborhood while black or any of the number of things blacks can do innocently while being black and end up dead because the cop who shot him 50 times like Shawn Bell or 42 like Amadou Diallo didn’t consider himself a nigger…We’re the only race that embraces our disgrace, and now you would have everyone else sing along with us in our shame.
My nigga Nas.
You’ve been everything they ever told you to be. Nasty Nas, Nastradamas, Nas Escobar. And now you’re their Nigga.
At what point are you going to be a man?
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 23:07 (seventeen years ago)
That response is outstanding.
― smash your phonograph in half, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 01:03 (seventeen years ago)
omg this song
― milo z, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 01:27 (seventeen years ago)
Posted By: P-Nos | 3 hours ago fiyah Fuck all you dick riders .. it aint about the beat ... its about the lyricism! pay attention to the words not whether u can do a little dance to it or not
go back to listening to soulja boy and practicing the dance
but id really like to dance to this and i can't :-----(
― am0n, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 01:35 (seventeen years ago)
Nas names new album 'Nigger'
oh no he doesnt!
http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=21623
― titchyschneiderMk2, Monday, 19 May 2008 23:05 (seventeen years ago)
Nas names new album 'Nas'
― jhøshea, Monday, 19 May 2008 23:24 (seventeen years ago)
hahaha fuck nas
― kl0pper, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 04:03 (seventeen years ago)
really trumps every other "Nas lost" bullet point ever.
― Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 04:03 (seventeen years ago)
putting the first single from the album, “Be A Nigger Too,” out and servicing it to DJs
http://www.freewebs.com/antiborg6/Dr%20Pepper%20Model.jpg
― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 14:54 (seventeen years ago)
http://www.urb.com/features/1034/NiggardlyNas.php?PageId=1
worst hey-everybody-im-a-white-guy-with-opinions-on-rap! article since the last one
― and what, Friday, 30 May 2008 04:44 (seventeen years ago)
b4 darnille or whoever hates i got no problems with a white guy having opinions on rap as long as dudes arent all "hey everybody im a white guy with opinions on rap!" about it
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/421/20080529nasnasbs1.jpg
Great cover.
― The Brainwasher, Friday, 30 May 2008 04:49 (seventeen years ago)
i was gonna stay out of this one BUT
Window is not nigger. Nas is not Bob Vila.
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 04:50 (seventeen years ago)
first paragraph might be the most un-self aware self-aware paragraph in the history of writing
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 04:52 (seventeen years ago)
cant wait to read breihan's review
― and what, Friday, 30 May 2008 04:54 (seventeen years ago)
http://www.rightstuf.com/images/large_images/at9330.jpg
Window is not ninja. Bob Vila is not Jet Li.
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 04:54 (seventeen years ago)
Window is not ninja. Bob Vila Nas is not Jet Li.
:/ :/ :/ :/
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 04:56 (seventeen years ago)
Nasty Nas rapped about bullet holes because he saw bullet holes and he said “nigga” because no one in his world raised an eyebrow to it.
OK NOW I GET WHY ILLMATIC IS SO REVERED THANKS BRANDON
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 04:58 (seventeen years ago)
ok fuck it this is the worse white guilt piece in the history of white guilt pieces
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 05:05 (seventeen years ago)
it sux, but he does write for urb
― deej, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:06 (seventeen years ago)
URB is the premier alternative music magazine for multicultural Gen-Y, covering emergent hip-hop, indie and electronic music and the lifestyles that surround it. Launched on the principle that what was occurring beneath the surface and outside the range of mainstream eyes and ears was worth celebrating and documenting, URB remains the vanguard for whats next. Today it is the longest-running and most-read underground music magazine in America. In both 2003 and 2005, URB was the recipient of the WPAs Maggie Award in the Music/Consumer magazine category as well as the 2004 Dancestar USA Music Award for Best Magazine.
their 'top friends' on myspace are like flosstradamus, lady sovereign and mark ronson
― deej, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:08 (seventeen years ago)
we're not talking a bastion of rap crit here
― deej, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:09 (seventeen years ago)
ya like i know their ed in chief or w/e came to ilm looking for beth ditto and perez hilton pieces laying around this fertile forum but fucking still this dude isn't in high school either
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 05:10 (seventeen years ago)
im glad this exists for hte lolz tho
HURB
― am0n, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:11 (seventeen years ago)
who are the preeminent rap critics? I'm curious, I mean I don't think i've read any good rap criticism ever really. Noz? Kelefa?...
― The Brainwasher, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:12 (seventeen years ago)
i stopped reading when i got to 'I’m not Nas.'
― am0n, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:12 (seventeen years ago)
not only is the thesis of the piece shit he writes sub-jagger shit like
He spends more time lighting a been-smoked, expensive-looking cigar than actually inhaling its status-seeking aroma.
wtf does that even mean
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 05:17 (seventeen years ago)
we havent even touched that the piece is called
Niggardly Nas
After a career full of ups and downs, can “Mr. Take Advantage” still speak for the disadvantaged?
― and what, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:18 (seventeen years ago)
But after years of memorizing stanzas from Wu-Tang, Nas, Jay-Z, Redman and DMX, thusly uttering “nigga” tens of thousands of times; after moving to neighborhoods that actually housed black people, thusly making black friends; the ethics behind my utterances came into question.
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:21 (seventeen years ago)
I tell you this only because Nas made me.
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:22 (seventeen years ago)
Not directly, of course
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 05:22 (seventeen years ago)
i grieve for the millions of young white men made racist by Nas
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:23 (seventeen years ago)
actually housed black people
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:24 (seventeen years ago)
HE SPEAKS
Do you dudes read articles or just skim through them? I changed the subhead for y'all, only because those particular semantics really ain't matter to me, and shouldn't have for you either. The real shit is actually in the piece. Posted Tuesday, May 27, 2008 @ 06:07 by Brandon Perkins
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 05:25 (seventeen years ago)
"really ain't matter to me"
at this point just quoting single words is still going to make me lol
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:26 (seventeen years ago)
"In a music world where pre-album hype is shrinking to the scale of blog roll cycles"
waht
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 05:28 (seventeen years ago)
blog roll sound delicious
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:29 (seventeen years ago)
ill have a california roll, a spicy tuna maki and a blog roll plz
― deej, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:30 (seventeen years ago)
good thing they added this at the end of a 3 page unreadable pos
(Editor's Note 2: According to The Oxford English Dictionary, "Niggardly" is an adjective meaning "ungenerous" or "miserly," as its etymology is rooted in the Norwegian verb "nigle." Other than its uncomfortable phonetic similarity, "niggardly" is completely unrelated to the racial slur of all racial slurs.)
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 05:38 (seventeen years ago)
gotta love a bunch of white dudes calling nas "niggardly" going "nah homie it means ungenerous!"
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 05:41 (seventeen years ago)
Fuck This
― The Reverend, Friday, 30 May 2008 06:34 (seventeen years ago)
can you post the ones that made you lol?
― J0rdan S., Friday, 30 May 2008 06:37 (seventeen years ago)
niggardly nas names new album nas
― moonship journey to baja, Friday, 30 May 2008 07:04 (seventeen years ago)
The lyrics don’t reignite any bras in a hurrah of feminism
― Gavin, Saturday, 31 May 2008 07:25 (seventeen years ago)
haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 31 May 2008 07:34 (seventeen years ago)
From The Nigger Mixtape comes "Black President," an open letter to Obama. At Nah Right. It seems to be getting a positive response. Good work on the obvious Pac sample.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 6 June 2008 02:58 (seventeen years ago)
Nothing especially interesting politically, but homie brings it like I ain't heard in a minute.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 6 June 2008 03:02 (seventeen years ago)
dude I don't know what you're drinking but you oughta know my politics well enough to know that if you'd said "I have a problem with white guys having opinions on rap" I'd be like "yeah I can kinda dig that"
― J0hn D., Friday, 6 June 2008 03:47 (seventeen years ago)
beat on "Hero" is :-O
― deej, Sunday, 8 June 2008 18:14 (seventeen years ago)
man hero is great...real epic sounding.
― M@tt He1ges0n, Sunday, 8 June 2008 18:37 (seventeen years ago)
real epic corny sounding
― titchyschneiderMk2, Sunday, 8 June 2008 20:07 (seventeen years ago)
^ this means it is good
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 8 June 2008 22:34 (seventeen years ago)
fried chicken
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/audio/id.5001/title.nas-f-busta-rhymes-fried-chicken
― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 9 June 2008 22:41 (seventeen years ago)
busta's verse o_O
― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 9 June 2008 22:43 (seventeen years ago)
produced by Mark Ronson :/
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 9 June 2008 22:56 (seventeen years ago)
:D
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 9 June 2008 23:16 (seventeen years ago)
it's an erotic ode to fried chicken.
― jermainetwo, Tuesday, 10 June 2008 23:00 (seventeen years ago)
awesome beat
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 10 June 2008 23:05 (seventeen years ago)
this is out now.
http://www.finbom.se/images/I_want_to_belive.jpg
― titchyschneiderMk2, Saturday, 5 July 2008 12:05 (seventeen years ago)
i think this album is pretty good
― deej, Saturday, 5 July 2008 17:34 (seventeen years ago)
I was coming to point out that I'm ripping the Richard Pryor box set to itunes right now and somebody beat Nas to the punch, but somebody beat me to the punch, too.
― Oilyrags, Saturday, 5 July 2008 17:47 (seventeen years ago)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHdG3cFPtrU
― am0n, Saturday, 5 July 2008 18:35 (seventeen years ago)
zzzzzzzz...
― am0n, Saturday, 5 July 2008 18:45 (seventeen years ago)
half way through so far and apart from hero, i think its pretty good. you forget just what a good rapper nas is. his flow is still pretty astonishing/wonderful.
― titchyschneiderMk2, Saturday, 5 July 2008 19:05 (seventeen years ago)
-- deej, Sunday, 8 June 2008 18:14 (3 weeks ago) Link
-- M@tt He1ges0n, Sunday, 8 June 2008 18:37 (3 weeks ago) Link
damn, best nas single since "Theif's Theme" yeah?
― The Reverend, Saturday, 5 July 2008 20:25 (seventeen years ago)
Man, I can't believe he really ripped a Dr. Pepper jingle for that track. I thought I was joking upthread.
― Oilyrags, Saturday, 5 July 2008 20:31 (seventeen years ago)
uh
http://blog.digiwaxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/tn_nwa2.jpg
― The Reverend, Saturday, 5 July 2008 21:07 (seventeen years ago)
While it’s often assumed to be a suburb of the ATL, it isn’t. The map on DecaturGA.com doesn’t look like the streets of The Wire. There’s a school, but kids seem to be playing there, rather than manning posts on the corner. And someone is selling newspapers, but that person looks white and nothing like dope-scarred Bubbles wondering if he has AIDS. It’s all happy pastels and not the violent grays of Baltimore…
― J0rdan S., Sunday, 13 July 2008 23:52 (seventeen years ago)
jesus
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 14 July 2008 00:01 (seventeen years ago)
-- The Reverend, Saturday, July 5, 2008 4:25 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Link
well, yeah, but "Thief's Theme" wasn't actually good, so best since "Made You Look"
― some dude, Monday, 14 July 2008 01:28 (seventeen years ago)
i kinda hate the chorus on 'hero'
― deej, Monday, 14 July 2008 01:52 (seventeen years ago)
as a chorus it's not very good, as a Nas chorus it's a masterpiece
― some dude, Monday, 14 July 2008 02:07 (seventeen years ago)
"Thief's Theme" wasn't actually good
sez you
― The Reverend, Monday, 14 July 2008 04:25 (seventeen years ago)
i like the 'louis farrakhan' song a lot
― deej, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 18:34 (seventeen years ago)
also wtf is this 'eban thomas,' its eban brown. mp3 taggers cant get anything right
― deej, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 18:35 (seventeen years ago)
he's gonna perform on the Colbert Report next week.
― clotpoll, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 21:50 (seventeen years ago)
what the fuck that b.o.b. article
B.o.B isn’t technically from Atlanta, he’s from Decatur. While it’s often assumed to be a suburb of the ATL, it isn’t. The map on DecaturGA.com doesn’t look like the streets of The Wire. There’s a school, but kids seem to be playing there, rather than manning posts on the corner. And someone is selling newspapers, but that person looks white and nothing like dope-scarred Bubbles wondering if he has AIDS. It’s all happy pastels and not the violent grays of Baltimore…and yet, B.o.B explains his youth like he just grew from Dukie’s ashes. And then his lyrics poking holes in the patterns of socialization actually make sense.
― and what, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 21:53 (seventeen years ago)
how the fuck does this devil even have this fuckin job
― and what, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 21:54 (seventeen years ago)
referencing the wire in a rap review in 2008 = automatic new jack status
― deej, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 21:58 (seventeen years ago)
i realize that doesnt even scratch the surface if this dudes b.s. but im just saying
― deej, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 21:59 (seventeen years ago)
hes talking about DECATUR
i dont even know where to begin with this
― and what, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 22:00 (seventeen years ago)
'im white btw' needs a graemlin
― deej, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 22:04 (seventeen years ago)
Worst beat-picker ever? Scratch that. Worst chorus writer ever. The 3 album drought pre-Stillmatic has been followed by another, erm, 7 year dry patch.
― paulhw, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 03:09 (seventeen years ago)
don't understand how someone who likes Stillmatic could hate all of the last 4 albums.
― some dude, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 03:24 (seventeen years ago)
I like Stillmatic and I'm enjoying this one so far....
― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 04:11 (seventeen years ago)
-- deej, Tuesday, July 15, 2008 5:04 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link
with that picture of that dude from salon http://www.bostonmagazine.com/images/uploads/photos/shell/75_shellfile.jpg
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 16 July 2008 04:14 (seventeen years ago)
lol @ nas rapping "*plop*" on 'fried chicken'
― deej, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 04:59 (seventeen years ago)
"I think Jesse Jackson, he's the biggest player hater," Nas fumed during a conference call. "His time is up. All you old n---as, time is up. We heard your voice, we saw your marching, we heard your sermons. We don't wanna hear that sh-- no more. It's a new day. It's a new voice. I'm here now. We don't need Jesse; I'm here. I got this. We got Barack, we got David Banners and Young Jeezys. We're the voice now. It's no more Jesse. Sorry. Goodbye. You ain't helping nobody in the 'hood. That's the bottom line. Goodbye, Jesse. Bye!"
― The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 15:52 (seventeen years ago)
just caught that he namedropped the late lunatic William Cooper and Behold a Pale Horse on one of the tracks...nice. perfect timing as I was just talkin about that dude the other day and couldn't remember his last name until I heard the track
― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Thursday, 17 July 2008 02:53 (seventeen years ago)
Pitchfork gave it a bad review. there's the validation I needed.
― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Friday, 18 July 2008 23:53 (seventeen years ago)
What is with Pitchfork? Honest to fucking Christ. WTF?! I'm liking this record so far, not cool that my very young brother knows all the lyrics to most of it already and sings them at school (so I hear). I think Nas has a message to make somewhere but I'm wondering if it will get lost amongst ALL THE CONTROVERSY (which IMO is incredibly stupid considering rappers have been saying nigga for about...forever)its a pretty good album SO FAR. I may just be saying that since he hasn't done shit in a while. What was that god awful song with Nas where it was about 'dreams and stuff' but for kids and it was supposed to be like 'Hard Knock Life' only it was just shit?
― VeronaInTheClub, Saturday, 19 July 2008 00:05 (seventeen years ago)
Pitchfork is on point lately on more obscure stuff and techno. I also like their writing lately on this stuff. But I agree - with every rap review or hyped release that comes out, they're either black or white - 6.0 or below or 8.0 or above (when, in all honesty, most music they review deserves to be somewhere in between. And fuck the decimals). They're on Lil' Wayne's dick for his underwhelming album that sounds like anything else out right now, calling it "imaginative," and they write off Nas for his shit. Nas's album is seriously pretty alright; I enjoyed it. Somewhat better than Wayne's. Both are NOT classics and NOT terrible - they're inconsistent and have some good songs on there. But Pitchfork will never give an OG above a 7 unless thy're Wu-affiliated.
I'm kind of waiting to see what they do when Detox comes out. I know it's going to be a grandiose, pontificating review pulling examples that only help the writer's cause, and it's going to get ugly.
As a parting shot:
When caught up in the increasingly antiquated promotional cycle, Nas is more likely to rely on ugly manipulation of people who tend to care way more about his work than he apparently does, and accomplish the exact opposite of what he presumptively set out for-- see how Stillmatic took advantage of those who needed to believe that it had equal footing with The Blueprint (illustrated by The Source's hilariously opportunistic 5-mic rating).
Replace Nas with Wayne and the Source with Pitchfork. See what I'm getting at? I could write more but I'ma t work.
― skygreenleopard, Saturday, 19 July 2008 00:43 (seventeen years ago)
wait is Detox actually gonna come out at some point
― J0hn D., Saturday, 19 July 2008 00:56 (seventeen years ago)
predicting what pfork is gonna do to detox before a single has even dropped is kinda crazy
― deej, Saturday, 19 July 2008 01:12 (seventeen years ago)
anyway like i said this album is pretty good, a solid 7-7.5 depending on how generous im feeling
i think that whats good about it is unlike how cynical of a commercial concept 'hip hop is dead' was (and ugh unbearable to hear ANYONE talk about) this seems pretty genuine and heartfelt, its a nice piece that fits in about the middle-quality of his catalog
people who even MENTION illmatic at this point - hes had 9 albums! its a sliver of his career! and its been the narrative on which every. single. album review pivots - "its the best since his 2nd best (after illmatic)" or "nas always disappoints (since illmatic)" are the basic structures every review fits in. its like, the most fair thing you can do at this point is write independently from his 'legacy' about it, realize that hes made enough traxx over the course of his career that an album can stand on its own as SOMETHING
but its also not the center of rap anymore and shouldnt really be treated as such, hes running on legacy, so drop the legacy talk and tell me about the record.
this one is ok
― deej, Saturday, 19 July 2008 01:15 (seventeen years ago)
looked at from the pt of view of HISTORY this album is kinda just there and not really worth talking about. which is why i sorta agree w/ greg kot's perspective even if i like the record a lot more than he does http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2008/07/nas-fails-to-in.html
but if u look at it on its own terms (veteran rapper out of the limelight releases personal record regarding race in america) i think its pretty solid, although like i said somewhere hes always gonna be weird/cringeworthy at least twice per song, beat selection, lyrical choice, wack chorus, whatever
jon caramanica's review covered this angle pretty well i thought (so did mine but word count stripped nuance/im not self promoting lol) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/arts/music/14choi.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
― deej, Saturday, 19 July 2008 01:18 (seventeen years ago)
its like ... praising a masta ace record, but not as harsh as that sounds
― deej, Saturday, 19 July 2008 01:27 (seventeen years ago)
a post 2k masta ace record i mean
― deej, Saturday, 19 July 2008 01:28 (seventeen years ago)
I think Ian Cohen is generally pretty on point, or at least has some insight even when I disagree with him, but I was kinda surprised how hard he came down on this album -- I mean he said it was the worst Nas album ever, which even disregarding the Esco years I think this album compares favorably to Hip Hop Is Dead in almost every way. But seriously, people that are that concerned about the numbers on Pitchfork reviews scare me.
― some dude, Saturday, 19 July 2008 03:43 (seventeen years ago)
gonna be in decatur this weekend, will report back on how many white looking newspaper vendors i see
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 23 July 2008 21:35 (seventeen years ago)
watch out for children playing by a happy pastel school
― some dude, Wednesday, 23 July 2008 22:16 (seventeen years ago)
we should make a wall of shame thread for all rap journalism that mentions The Wire
― deej, Wednesday, 23 July 2008 22:20 (seventeen years ago)
the ultimate frame of reference for anyone unfamiliar with the drug trade prior to the show's existence
nah dudes were just happy they had something to ref. that was newer than miami vice and scarface
― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 23 July 2008 22:24 (seventeen years ago)
i mean rap journalists, not rappers! thats a diff issue
― deej, Wednesday, 23 July 2008 22:25 (seventeen years ago)
http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/2/9/4/9/21919492-21919493-slarge.jpg
― vermonter, Thursday, 24 July 2008 00:14 (seventeen years ago)
i left a comment on the infamous nas/urb piece and they printed it in the magazine o_O
― J0rdan S., Friday, 25 July 2008 00:46 (seventeen years ago)
I'm just crossing my fingers that Nas doesn't embarrass himself further on this one.
― paulhw, Friday, 25 July 2008 02:48 (seventeen years ago)
lol j0
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 25 July 2008 03:10 (seventeen years ago)
-- deej, Friday, July 18, 2008 6:28 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Link
I agree - at least it matters less in rap where sales and critical opinions aren't shaped as much by them. It's just that their reviews on rap lately skew so badly on either dick-riding or hating that it gets me upset, especially for a publication I used to read very seriously. There's no middle ground with Pitchfork, and honestly, most rap is right there in the middle these days. I'm only pointing out how awful their opinions are now.
The reason I'm wondering what they'll say about Detox is that the more hype an album builds, the more extreme their review is going to be. We saw that with Nas, Jay, and Wayne, and Detox, objectively, is going to be pretty damn significant. I'm not predicting what they're going to rate it, and it's not even going to matter much. I'm just pointing out how opinionated and shitty their journalism gets when it comes to mainstream rap. In my opinion, the respectability of a critically important publication is something worth speaking my mind about, and it comes to light once a highly anticipated rap album comes out.
― skygreenleopard, Saturday, 26 July 2008 01:28 (seventeen years ago)
I helped, in a small but not insignificant way, to make the beat for this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfz7wVxzuoE
― Hurting 2, Friday, 1 August 2008 05:38 (seventeen years ago)
Great story.
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, 1 August 2008 05:41 (seventeen years ago)
My friend teaches piano, and one day I was hanging out with him and he said he had some aspiring hip-hop producer coming over who needed help figuring out the keyboard part from a sample he wanted to use. I figured it out for him, and it was that beat.
― Hurting 2, Friday, 1 August 2008 06:33 (seventeen years ago)
I'm surprised to find out this didn't disappoint me at all
― The Reverend, Saturday, 2 August 2008 07:51 (seventeen years ago)
your best success is my worst blunder.......
― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Saturday, 2 August 2008 07:57 (seventeen years ago)
I found the album a little disappointing for sure (too much off-topic victory lapping), but it's certainly pretty good.
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Saturday, 2 August 2008 08:22 (seventeen years ago)
Fat Joe's "Beaner" due out in 2009
― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Saturday, 2 August 2008 17:59 (seventeen years ago)
Bo Jackson Overdrive's "Custos" due out in 2010.
― The Reverend, Saturday, 2 August 2008 20:39 (seventeen years ago)
The Reverend's "Ned Raggett Joke"
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 2 August 2008 21:17 (seventeen years ago)
im really glad that bo jackson overdrive posted in this thread
― J0rdan S., Saturday, 2 August 2008 21:19 (seventeen years ago)
god that pfork review
flowery and frustrating, as usual.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 3 August 2008 00:46 (seventeen years ago)
"Black President" moved me to where I played it three times on repeat when they called the 2008 election for Obama and made my roommate listen.
just remembered those moments and makes me legit sad to think how excited we all were back then. the moment on television after the victory speech, where Oprah and Jesse Jackson were on camera, teary-eyed, as Obama and Biden waved to his crowd (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Jlku7gWUY). we got robbed of another such historic moment and it's so depressing.
back to the song....still love the first verse a lot.
They forgot us on the block, got us in the boxSolitary confinement: how violent are these cops?They need a early retirementHow many rallies will I watch? I ain't got it in me to marchI got a Semi to spark, the game's in a droughtPublic housing, projects, cooking up in the PyrexMy set, my clique, either getting moneyOr running from homicide trail, that's if they ain't died yetTrying to be rich, still I'm pledging allegianceA predicate felon, a ghetto leaderLending my poetical genius, to whoever may need itI bleed this from Queensbridge, now living with my feet upNever defeated, so a president's neededYou know these colored folks and Negros hate to seeOne of their own succeedingAmerica: surprise us and let a black man guide us
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 22 January 2017 05:57 (eight years ago)
N*********l
― JackMyFruit, Sunday, 12 February 2023 07:16 (two years ago)