Nas - Stillmatic

(My 50th post!! And, as a side note, I haven't been able to continue the Murs-athon this weekend due to me having no time, but rest assured I'll be back to it next weekend - I worked on most of this particular post throughout the week. Enjoy!)

Now, viewers of my last post, focused on Jay-Z's excellent 6th (!) studio album The Blueprint, may have noticed that (amongst the large and perhaps over-the-top praise) I discussed a certain squabble between the aforementioned Hov, and the man once known (ridiculously) as Nasty Nas. After a bubbling resentment fueled by Jay's insistence on sampling Nas' voice and fucking his girlfriend, the beef rose to a new high with the release of the aforementioned The Blueprint record, on which was a long and brutal track entitled "Takeover", a 5-and-a-half minute onslaught where Hova attacked not only Prodigy of Mobb Deep, but also Nasir Jones. And it seemed that he'd picked exactly the right time for the killshot - by September of 2001, most hip-hop heads had lost faith in the man who once created the album often given the title "best hip-hop album of all time", Illmatic - 1999's I Am... was generally received as simply      alright, but then Nastradamus dropped, and... well, we all know how that one turned out. Since then, Nas had remained fairly quiet besides the QB's Finest compilation, an album that actually had some pretty solid Nas joints ("Find Ya Wealth", "Self Conscience", etc.), unfortunately overshadowed by the horrible, horrible radio single "Oochie Wally", a song that somehow managed to lower Nas' status to an even deeper chasm than the one he was in when Nastradamus came out. He had then stayed pretty much silent for a year, and that was when Jay dropped the diss.

Dark times.

Following this incident, Nas was filled with such an indescribable rage that he walked straight into the managers office at Columbia, where the heads were enjoying a cigar and a stripper, threw a copy of Nastradamus into their faces, and shouted that he was done doing commercial shit, and that he actually wanted to make some dope hip-hop for once so that other rappers would stop picking on him already. He stated that if he wasn't permitted to do this, then he was leaving the label and retiring to focus on his gardening hobby, and of course the label bosses couldn't have one of their money-makers (remember, Nas sells a hell of a lot of records, despite most of his stuff being an antithesis to the popular mainstream sounds) running off on them, so they struck a deal. Nasir was permitted to make a proper hip-hop record with no commercial or weird shit on it, under one condition - he had to give it a poorly photoshopped cover with lots of bling and swagger, in order to make the mainstream audience (who were still loving the Cash Money and No Limit projects around this time) want to pick it up. Nas agreed, and after a few months in the studio, his 5th album Stillmatic was born.

Stillmatic marked a new chapter for Nas. Gone were the days of albums with pretentious intros, and covers depicting a close-up of the man's face and city blocks in the background. Stillmatic, as the title implies, intended to prove to the world that Nasir Jones wasn't a washed up old rapper making silly club tunes and songs that sampled Toto's "Africa", but instead was an MC as fresh as he had been all those years ago when he unleashed the unanimous classic Illmatic on the listening public. With this in mind, he ditched the Ginuwines, the Diddys and the sex songs, and instead hooked up with DJ Premier, Large Professor (yes!!) and a slew of underground producers who he obviously thought were making the best music out there. With Stillmatic, Nas did not give a singular fuck about radio play, as evidenced by the two biggest singles, the street banger "Got Ur Self a Gun" and the incredibly introspective "One Mic" - yes, the label forced him to team up with Amerie for an '80s nostalgia bait cut with "Rule", but Nas proved them his point of this being a proper rap album by not pushing that single at all - hell, it didn't even receive a music video. Features (aside from the aforementioned Amerie) were kept to "Life's a Bitch" guest AZ and an uncredited Millennium Thug, and one other chap on the bonus track, but that was it (side note: the album was initially pressed with a cut featuring Mary J. Blige and Bravehearts, produced by Swizzy Beatz of all people, but I, like most, am forgetting that one existed). This was to be an all-out Nas record, and when people saw this tracklist, they were pretty hyped. Still, no-one could possibly have predicted just quite how much of a comeback Nasir Jones was about to make, and how fans of the genre were about to unanimously regain not just faith in, but also love and incredible appreciation for, the man who almost, almost, fell the fuck off.

Oh yeah, there's a Jay-Z diss on here as well.

1. Stillmatic (The Intro) (prod. Hangmen 3 Productions)

Instead of spending time needlessly faffing around with a two-minute-plus rap album intro, Nasir decides he's had enough, and gets straight to the music, with this one verse track spit over a brilliantly uplifting instrumental from Hangmen 3 (who, if I'm honest, aren't normally this good at their beats - have you heard Raekwon's "Planet Of the Apes"?). As for the rhymes, Nas seems to have bounced from the Nastradamus low with an enormous vigour causing him to rise right back up again to It Was Written heights. Nasir spends his short-ish time on here talking about how he has far more longevity than all these rappers getting hot off one or two songs, and basically how he is back. It seems truer words were never spoken - even in his old and older age, Nas never made an album as weak as Nastradamus again, and from now on continued to add to what, in my opinion, is one of the strongest catalogues in hip-hop history. This song is not only great then, but also perfectly predicted his future, making it sound even better today. Brilliant stuff.

2. Ether (prod. Ron Browz)

"Fuck Jay-Z!!"

Track two on Stillmatic is the one and only response to Jay-Z's "Takeover", a brutal and vicious attack on not only Jay's artistry, but his appearance as well, spit with a catchy hook over an intense Ron Browz (yes, the "Arab Money" guy) instrumental that, for some reason unknown to me, people seem to dislike. Now, conversations about "the best diss track of all time" have frequent contenders thrown around in them - Ice Cube's "No Vaseline", 2Pac's "Hit Em Up", Boogie Down Production's "The Bridge Is Over", or more recently Pusha T's "The Story of Adidon" and Kendrick Lamar's "meet the grahams". Some may even consider "Takeover" for the top spot. I, however, am a firm believer that the best diss track in the history of hip-hop is this right here - Nas' "Ether". While this beat isn't as soulful or lively as that on "Takeover", it's a lot more haunting and eerie, which immediately gives this more of a brutal atmosphere than Hov's track. But, really, it's Nas' lyrics that put this to the number one position. Nas insults everything about Shawn on here, from Jay-Z's lips to his stage name to his consistent retelling of Biggie lyrics, and even the parallels between his Roc-a-Fella empire and Puffy's Bad Boy label. And, while "gay-z" isn't the most intelligent of insults, it was pretty hilarious, and is frequently used by the man's haters to this day when they make attempts to remove him from all-time lists. A lot of people might not know that this song had an original version that was even more brutal, and Nas was forced to reword some of it to make it fit for human consumption. Listening to the song now, it's difficult to imagine how Nas could have made this any more vicious than it already is. The intro to this album was dope, but this was the song that really let everyone know that Nasir was back, and arguably better than ever before.

3. Got Ur Self A... (prod. Megahertz)

I do find it odd how Columbia didn't allow the word "Gun" to make it to the back of Nas' album cover, but at least it doesn't hurt the impact of the song - in fact, the ellipsis at the end makes the track even more exciting when you get to it. This song was the lead single to Stillmatic, and after Nastradamus, this was like musical lotion to the beaten and sore ears of Nas' fans. Utilising a sample of The Sopranos theme song could have turned out corny as hell, but here it most certainly doesn't, with the catchy hook intertwining with the excellently bouncy beat perfectly, and Nas also connecting the sample together with catchy lyrics making for an overall great hook. Nas also finds the time to diss Limp Bizkit in here, which I obviously disapprove of, but he goes on to dismiss Kid Rock too, which re-values his statement - that guy fucking sucks. As for the rest of the lyrics, they contain the vigour and lyrical ability that we should expect from Nasir - these verses are brilliant. This is a classic track.

4. Smokin' (prod. Nas & Precision)

It's funny. Compare this with most of the material on Nastradamus, and even half the material on I Am..., and it's light years ahead both lyrically and sonically. On Stillmatic, however, this stands out as one of the less inspired moments, especially with the chorus that seems to go on and on forever. That's not to say this is bad at all, however - Nas' self-produced instrumental is surprisingly potent, and fitting for a smoker anthem, and the verses themselves are pretty fun and light-hearted, which is always appreciated from Nas, since these type of cuts tend to be in small doses on his records. So, while this isn't incredible like most of the album, it's still pretty damn good.

5. You're da Man (prod. Large Professor)

Large Professor supplies the first of two beats in a row for Nasir to spit his rhymes over, and this one might be the best on the whole record. Powerful drums teamed with what I think are violins (I could be wrong though - I never was great at GCSE music) make for one of the most haunting yet ethereal beats Nas ever picked, and boy does he do it justice. Broken up by samples that sound like the title yet actually say "sugar man" apparently, Nas reflects on his life, and the dark thoughts that were going through his mind as every hip-hop fan under the sun was ready to just let Nas go. "I saw a dead bird flying through a broken sky" is one of my favourite lines on the record, and it sets the tone for the sad lyrics that we can now listen to with ease, knowing how Nas dug himself out of the slump to regain his position at the top. This is really good stuff.

6. Rewind (prod. Large Professor)

Easily one of the dopest storytelling tracks in the entire history of hip-hop. Nas infamously "spits a story backwards, it starts at the ending", and somehow manages to make everything work, and make it incredibly clear what is going on throughout. I mean, sure, some of the description he goes into is a bit, umm, fucking disgusting, but he makes up for that by showing charisma and fun to contrast the darker feelings of the last track. I also love the way that, as he spits a quote in the correct order as the final line, the beat begins to spin backwards - that is a nice, nice touch. And did I mention this Large Pro beat is simply wonderful? This is one of Nasir's best songs, the end.

7. One Mic (prod. Nas & Chucky Thompson)

How this ended up being a single, and one with a music video at that, is beyond me, but you can be damned sure I'm happy if it meant more people heard this absolute masterpiece. Firstly, we have the production touches throughout this song, that have both the instrumental and Nas' vocals getting louder and quieter as the stories get more intense, one of the more creative ideas in the Nasir catalogue. Then, we can talk about the beat itself, which is mesmerisingly powerful and well crafted, and ties with "You're Da Man" for best on the album. But really, it's the Nas verses that make this one, as the man expresses his anger for both the dangerous situations people face in the hood from each other AND from the law, and also at the disloyalty of people in his own life, who stopped rocking with him as soon as he lost a lot of his popularity. This is a fantastic listen, and ends what is easily one of the most incredible and entertaining opening album runs in history. Seriously, remove "Smokin'", and you've got six tracks of phenomenal perfection. This is incredible. 

8. 2nd Childhood (prod. DJ Premier)

Unfortunately disappointing for the only DJ Premier produced cut of the evening, an opinion I know will have most of my readers foaming at the mouth whilst reading it. Sadly, that's just how I feel. This song isn't bad though, as Nas' lyrics are pretty stellar and the scratching in the hook is also a nice underground touch. I just wish the beat had a little bit more life, y'know?

9. Destroy & Rebuild (prod. Baby Paul & Mike Risko)

Nas gets back to the dissing on this one, but (aside from a small shot towards the end) he isn't going at Jay-Z - instead, he's aiming his gun at Cormega, Nature and (funnily enough) Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Having two of the most well-respected and popular hip-hop artists in the industry dissing you can't help the mental state much, which does explain P's performance on Infamy I suppose. Anyway, this track is absolutely great, and has actually grown on me quite a bit over the years. Nas' bars are hilariously clever, especially the ones directed at Cormega, and this instrumental, while it hasn't aged as well as some of the others on here, still sounds really fun and bouncy to me. The hook, which interpolates "The Bridge Is Over" by BDP, is also brilliant, despite the fact that Nas actually does diss all the most popular QB rappers on this track, thereby disproving his point - I mean surely if there's only one dope rapper there, then it kind of is over? Still, I enjoy the song. 

10. The Flyest (feat. AZ) (prod. L.E.S. & Staff)

A supposed sequel to "Life's A Bitch" (right down to the L.E.S. production credit) that sounds absolutely nothing like it, but that's a compliment, as rehashing stuff rarely works anyway - think "Ice Cream Part 2". The uncredited chick on the hook does a pretty great job at providing some catchy notes, and Nas and AZ both clearly understood the assignment, as they both go in with some braggadocio, and some conscious rhyming too. Kendrick Lamar famously cited this as a standout when talking about Stillmatic, and while I personally don't think it hits the heights of the astonishing first half of the record, it's still pretty great.

11. Braveheart Party (feat. Mary J. Blige) (prod. Swizz Beatz)

Now, I've never actually heard this before, due to the fact that it was removed from pressings post-2001 after Mary J. requested its removal. And not because of sample clearances - no, because she didn't like it. Requesting the albums to be reprinted and redone, costing presumably quite a bit of money, just because you don't like the song you appeared on sort of suggests that this is going to be maybe a little bit bad, but you never know - I'll check it out now.

I'm not gonna lie, I didn't hate this, but whoever the fuck decided that this fit on Stillmatic needs to immediately have their mouth wired shut, incase any more fatal ideas happen to seep through the lips. While Swizz Beatz' drums are predictably tacky, the melody isn't that bad, and Nas' verse certainly has a hell of a lot more energy than it did on the more poppy cuts on Nastradamus. And, yeah, the Bravehearts suck, but we all knew that was coming. I tell you what, though, I would take this over "Oochie Wally" any, any day of the week. This ain't bad, but there's a reason everyone forgets that it ever existed.

12. Rule (feat. Amerie) (prod. Track Masters)

I believe this was released as the lead single, which makes sense, as it's easily the most radio-friendly song here (with the exception of the previous song, which doesn't count anyway), but for some reason it received absolutely nil promotion, which is a shame, as I quite enjoy this track, despite the fact that it heavily interpolates Tears' For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule the World", in one of the earlier examples of what is now known as "nostalgia bait". Nas' verses are actually pretty powerful, and the hook is catchy (obviously), and even the production is pretty interesting, and is a bit of a departure for Nasir, which is appreciated. Yes, it shamelessly aims for radio play, which is supposed to be what this album was not trying to do, but even so it still has it's place in the Nasir catalogue. 

13. My Country (prod. Lofey)

Despite what the back cover may lead you to believe, this song actually features Nas' weed carrier Millennium Thug (sometimes known as Nashawn), not that anyone will care, as no-one has heard from him since. Surely his name's appearance on the back cover of Nasir's comeback album could have done something for the man's career, Nas? What the hell, man? Anyway, this song stands out as the weakest here simply thanks to the horrifically bad sung hook, which displays some of the worst attempts at "singing" I have ever had the misfortune of hearing. Could you not even hit one note, Nas? The rest of this politically charged song is solid, but you'd never catch me or anyone else bumping this in public - I mean, that chorus is simply embarrassing. 

14. What Goes Around (prod. Salaam "The Chameleon" Remi)

Nas ends the record on a rather serious tone, and it's a good thing, as while the previous few tracks have been slightly iffy in some way, this one truly stands up to the phenomenal pieces we heard towards the beginning of this album. Nas' lyrics on this song talk about all the injustices faced by those living in the hood - whether that be the school system, drug usage, or even doctor's prescriptions, which is something heavily discussed in his hook. While some aspects of the song come across as a little overdramatic, it's made up for by the haunting instrumental (the first from Salaam Remi on a Nas record) and Nas' introspective lyrics that further prove him as one of the best conscious rappers out there. Keon Bryce's short bridge is also highly appreciated, and fits the vibe well. This is a truly excellent way to finish the album. 

The following song is, for some reason, listed as a bonus track, despite the fact it appears on all pressings of the project.

15. Every Ghetto (prod. L.E.S.)

Once again, the guest star goes without credit - this one features a heavy contribution from Blitz the Ambassador, whoever the hell he is. This motivational cut is spit over a futuristic and slightly menacing instrumental that does fit with the album's sound well, and the lyricism is truly excellent on here, with Nas reflecting on how flaunting is cars, money and guns can only have a negative effect on the youth that he was once a part of. Blitz helps with this by speaking on the life he was leading at the time living in the projects, as he presumably wasn't living the lavish life that Nasir was. The hook is iffy, but other than that this is really great, which begs the question - why was this relegated to a bonus track?

While Stillmatic has some consistency issues, I still absolutely love this album with a passion, and I truly think that it's one of the best hip-hop albums of the 2000s. I mean, this thing contains arguably the best 7 track run of all time - tracks one to seven are all absolute perfection besides "Smokin'", and even that one's pretty bloody dope by itself. And yes, while after that not every song hits one hundred percent, it's still undeniable that this album has some of the best and most iconic hip-hop songs released, as well as some of Nas' best album cuts. From the dark and haunting beauty of "You're Da Man", to the fun and enormously clever "Rewind", to the venomous and brutal "Ether", there are a lot of moods covered here, and they all work. And, even if some of the beats and/or hooks during the second half of the album falter, Nas never lets up, delivering brilliant verse after brilliant verse, with some of the best and most energetic performances we ever heard from the man appearing throughout. There are moments we could have done without - the hook on "My Country", the drums on "Braveheart Party", the disappointing Preemo beat on "2nd Childhood" (a song I don't hate - it just should have been better) - but these are small nitpicks, and when put into context with the excellence seen all over the rest of this album, they pale in comparison. Also, "One Mic" is one of the most astonishing songs I have ever heard - if you ain't got time for this whole record, at least check that one out. But if you do have time, then definitely, definitely listen to this album - every song has it's place, and if I'm entirely, entirely honest, I think I prefer this to Illmatic. Yup, I said it. This is my favourite Nas album, and showed the world that Nasir was not only back, but was ready to become the best rapper alive once again. And, on top of that, he managed to beat Jay-Z at the height of his popularity. This album is incredible, and I highly recommend it. Incredible stuff.

Best Tracks: Stillmatic (The Intro), Ether, Got Ur Self A..., You're da Man, Rewind, One Mic, Destroy & Rebuild, The Flyest, What Goes Around, Every Ghetto

Worst Tracks: Braveheart Party, or "My Country" if we're talking the version most people have heard

Check out some other Nas content here

Image for "Rewind" single taken from Mass Appeal