Nas - Hip Hop is Dead (Dec. 19th)

Still ,you never know

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1542740/10092006/nas.jhtml?headlines=true

I know for a fact that #'s 2-6, 8 and 10-13 are on the album. I've also heard meantion of "Let Me in the Light", and I know that he has a track with Jay on there, so "On the Ave" seems legit also.

Like I said, I'm surprised to see "Where Y'all At" on there, but not that surprised. Besides that, the tracklist pretty much corresponds to recent Nas interviews where he's been name-dropping the track names / producers

http://xxlmag.com/online/?p=5224

That article verifies -

"Let Me in the Light" is real, and produced by Kanye

The Nas / Jay track (presumably called "On the Ave") is produced by L.E.S.

"Unforgettable" is also produced by will.i.am

I heard at one point that w.i.a was producing 3 tracks, but I'm not sure if that's true anymore.

Still, assuming the list is accurate, this leaves 4 songs unaccounted for, production-wise - "War", "New York Stomp", "Where Are They Now" and "Carry The Tradition".

One of them is a Just Blaze track (I'm guessing "New York Stomp"), so that leaves 3 potentials. I'm still hoping for a Premo track though. I mean, if he's gonna have L.E.S and Salaam Remi on there, he may as well. No Chucky Taylor though, I see.

the sound you're hearing right now is that of expectations being lowered.

I'm kind of sick of this attitude that the quick fix of hooking Nas up with some famous producers is instantly gonna yield a classic. people acted like the beats dragged down Street's Disciple, but Salaam Remi and Chucky Thompson did some great work on that, probably better than what a lot of the big names will do on the new record.

I mentioned this earlier but i am looking forward to the new Snoop album though, hopefully some solid daz production work. Its amazing to me, a few years ago i never would have said i anticipated the new snoop more than the new jay-z but here we are. Snoop's longevity is surprising.

I, too, am curious about that 2 million dollar beat rumor. I thought it was a Neptunes beat? Something about that story reminds me of the "Wamp Wamp" beat....

well Swizz said in an interview that he did some beats for the new Nas album, including a song w/ Jay.

This is true, but it doesn't mean Nas can't work with top-notch producers (see: Illmatic), just that they need to be v. aware of Nas's strengths and weaknesses (like Remi is); he can't adapt his hyper-verbality to any beat he rhymes over. When you listen to Nas, it sounds like he wrote his lyrics down first and then tried to force them over the beat; with Jay (or any number of other guys) it sounds more like he's writing to the beat (and with what I've heard about the two guys' writing styles, this isn't that far from the case).

And yeah, the new Nas should be hot.

I agree that Salaam Remi and Chucky Thompson did great work on "Street's Disciple" (as did Nas, producing "Suicide Bounce" feat. Busta), but the problem with that album was it's length, not necessarily the beats.

Of any double CD that should've been re-released as a single, "Street's Disciple" would've been a much better choice than "The Blueprint 2".

Regardless, I have a really good feeling about this album.

Personally, I'd like to see him spitting over something like the beat off K-Os' new single "Electrik Heat - The Seekwill". That's some old school shit right there.

there was, it was called Street's Disciple II: 14 Songs

According to this (and this is really the only new information revealed), there is a track called "White Man's Paper" on the album.

Which doesn't technically mean the above tracklist is incorrect, as he said he was "two weeks away from finishing" the album.

Which could also mean Rakim might be on the album. So much to consider...

So he's been around ever since Kurtis Blow... And apparently he (co)produced "Fugee-La" and "Here Comes the Hotstepper", I didn't know that!

his shit on the i-20 album was classic

Greg Nice-set it off (minor classic 12"..featured on on of the Funk Flex albums)

Rakim-i get visual (officially unreleased but fairly well known)

He should do a full album with Salaam Remi..and do teh whole album over Incredible Bongo Band samples (like "made you look", "thief's theme" and "serious")..but have another song with a Peter Gabriel sample like "i gotta have it" with Jermaine Dupri from the Big Momma's House soundtrack..but with Puffy instead of J.D..and put AZ and Cormega on a bunch of tracks..and have an Akinyele verse too..

"Remember Brand Nubian - one for all?
who ever thought Ak-Nell would get paid for grabbin' his balls
now i'm in the strip bar, big rap star
time to get laid which one of y'all girls wanna get paid?"

and not let Jay Z rhyme on it or even reference the boring beef..and not let rich European lesbian lookin' Scott Storch's gay beats anywhere near it..and not make any songs abou married life with Kelis ever again.

"Scientists claim we came from apes, but they lies, though"

It's becoming unbearable
Making hits is easy
Put a famous bitch on the hook there you go with a platinum CD
I know you heard the noise
Preachers touching on altar boys
Sodomizing not realizing God is watching before the Lord
How can they do the devil's work?
A man giving another man head in church
Hell it hurts just to fathom the thought
wishing that I fled the Earth.

But anyway, yeah, Nas. My opinion doesn’t count because the little I’m heard of him hasn’t moved me to wanna hear more. I owned Illmatic when it came out and it was okay, and he had that single from the last album that was jazz-influenced (w/ video) but whenever I try to remember lyrics or music from that all that pops into my head is Kanye’s “Gold Digger”for some reason.

you should check more nas. illmatic is so revered that it's overrated, but every album is pretty good except for nastradamus. here's a playlist that i made for work yesterday: made you look/hate me now/ nas is like/ if i ruled the world/ one love/ ny state of mind/ ny state of mind pt. 2/ incarcerated scarfaces (raekwon)/ live at the bbq (main source)/ get down/ the message/got yourself a gun/theif's theme/live nigga rap/ you know my steez/ street dreams/ affirmative action/life's a bitch/purple/ project windows/ fetus/ rewind/ just a moment/ the world is yours. his verse on verbal intercourse is one of my favorite hip hop verses ever.

Previewing 8 tracks off the New Nas, with good feedback

One of them is a Salaam Remi track that isn't "Where Y'all At", so he either has 2 tracks on there, or "Where Y'all At" is getting cut

One of the tracks was kept secret, not sure what that means, but hopefully a good thing .... Rakim maybe ... ?

"Carry On Tradition" is produced by Scott Storch, so he has at least 2 tracks on the album

"White Man's Paper" is "War" (with Damien Marley) and is apparentally produced by "Some new African Dude", so there you go

I read an article the other day that said Premier WAS on the record, so I'm hoping that's true

If that review is anything to go by, this will be a siiiick album

[01] Where Y'all At [prod. by Salaam Remi]
[02] Hip-Hop is Dead [prod. by Will.i.Am]
[03] War (Feat. Damian Marley) (prod. "Some New African Dude")
[04] QB True G (Feat. The Game) [prod. by Dr. Dre]
[05] Play on Playa (Feat. Snoop Dogg) [prod. by Scott Storch]
[06] Blunt Ashes [prod. by Chris Webber]
[07] Let Me in the Light (Feat. Tre Williams) (prod. Kanye West)
[08] New York Stomp (prod. by ?) [possibly Just Blaze]
[09] On the Ave (Feat. Jay-Z) (prod. L.E.S)
[10] Where Are They Now (prod. by ?) [possibly D.J. Premier]
[11] Still Dreamin' (Feat. Kanye West) [prod. by Kanye West]
[12] Unforgettable (Feat. Chrisette Michelle) (prod. will.i.am)
[13] Carry On Tradition (prod. Scott Storch)