So what's everyone's final opinion on the latest Nas album?

[Wessia4LiaNia Chieee Chieee]

wow...wait a sec, I thought you Infinite are that Guerrillas In The Mist ... if you're not, who's the other one?
Anyway, yeah Nas proved it one more time !

[Efrain]

I think the album should've been short and sweet, like 13 songs max. I could have done without "You can't kill me" "Hold down the block" and "Hustlers". I think they should've been added to imports or singles as b-sides if anything. They don't take away from the album directly but they add nothing, so they just feel like filler. I would've definitely added "Where Y'all at" though, its crazy to me that that track was left off.

As far as “Hope” goes, I think it could've been done better too. It should’ve either been  straight acapella verses or a song with a beat, not the full mixed vocal track on a song that clearly HAD a beat at one point, but was later removed to make it sound creative or something. The result was everyone being pissed there was no music to it.

Hip Hop is Dead earned an 7.5/10 for me (on a realistic scale) but it could have easily been a 9 with some exclusions/additions and small changes.

[Tanjential]

to me filler was the first two songs, blunt ashes, let there be light- all due to production. Nas spit hard on them but the production fell short of what Nas deserves. the rest of the album is banging, nothing against you efrain but I often feel that it's trendy to be like 'oh the dre track is blah', that song is bangingly good to me, especially in context with can't forget about you and hope, it adds to the pristine transcendence he goes for at the end of the album. Hope to me didn't sound like he rapped it over a beat, it actually sounds like he did it accapella to me, that's crazy I didn't know it was done on a beat. It's easy as fuck to rap without a beat, I don't know that he needed that but if you're willing to back that claim, I'll certainly listen to whatever it is you have to say about it. I feel like there should be a remix where he raps over the chicks that sing 'stay hip hop stay' singing that shit with some drums under that shit, would be nice.

-T

[Efrain]

to me filler was the first two songs, blunt ashes, let there be light- all due to production. Nas spit hard on them but the production fell short of what Nas deserves. the rest of the album is banging, nothing against you efrain but I often feel that it's trendy to be like 'oh the dre track is blah', that song is bangingly good to me, especially in context with can't forget about you and hope, it adds to the pristine transcendence he goes for at the end of the album. Hope to me didn't sound like he rapped it over a beat, it actually sounds like he did it accapella to me, that's crazy I didn't know it was done on a beat. It's easy as fuck to rap without a beat, I don't know that he needed that but if you're willing to back that claim, I'll certainly listen to whatever it is you have to say about it. I feel like there should be a remix where he raps over the chicks that sing 'stay hip hop stay' singing that shit with some drums under that shit, would be nice.

-T

Well, L.E.S. and Nas are credited as the producers of "Hope" along with Alexander Mosely as a co-producer. Seems like a lot of production credits for a purely vocal track, no? If it was just rapped by Nas and then some chick sung on it all we'd see is written by _ and recorded by _. I find it hard to believe someone as smart as Nas needed a producer and co-producer to instruct him on how to rap a verse acapella into a microphone.

There are a number of remixes floating around on the net, people were having competitions around the time the album dropped, some of them are pretty good too. Here’s one I thought was cool

http://gnxmusic.com/remixes/Nas_Hope_Gnx_Remix.mp3


Now the Dre track, that’s cool you like it I just feel like Dre beats are on all big names albums just because artists feel like they should have a Dr. Dre track. I think if that beat was produced by Dr. Drew (fictitious) and not Dr. Dre, we would have never heard the record. Some Dre beats bang I’m not disputing that, some are really dope. But they’re certainly not all worthy of the praise they’re given and I felt like this was one that was on the album for namesake and not because it was phenomenally great.       

[Tanjential]

to me filler was the first two songs, blunt ashes, let there be light- all due to production. Nas spit hard on them but the production fell short of what Nas deserves. the rest of the album is banging, nothing against you efrain but I often feel that it's trendy to be like 'oh the dre track is blah', that song is bangingly good to me, especially in context with can't forget about you and hope, it adds to the pristine transcendence he goes for at the end of the album. Hope to me didn't sound like he rapped it over a beat, it actually sounds like he did it accapella to me, that's crazy I didn't know it was done on a beat. It's easy as fuck to rap without a beat, I don't know that he needed that but if you're willing to back that claim, I'll certainly listen to whatever it is you have to say about it. I feel like there should be a remix where he raps over the chicks that sing 'stay hip hop stay' singing that shit with some drums under that shit, would be nice.

-T

Well, L.E.S. and Nas are credited as the producers of "Hope" along with Alexander Mosely as a co-producer. Seems like a lot of production credits for a purely vocal track, no? If it was just rapped by Nas and then some chick sung on it all we'd see is written by _ and recorded by _. I find it hard to believe someone as smart as Nas needed a producer and co-producer to instruct him on how to rap a verse acapella into a microphone.

There are a number of remixes floating around on the net, people were having competitions around the time the album dropped, some of them are pretty good too. Here’s one I thought was cool

http://gnxmusic.com/remixes/Nas_Hope_Gnx_Remix.mp3


Now the Dre track, that’s cool you like it I just feel like Dre beats are on all big names albums just because artists feel like they should have a Dr. Dre track. I think if that beat was produced by Dr. Drew (fictitious) and not Dr. Dre, we would have never heard the record. Some Dre beats bang I’m not disputing that, some are really dope. But they’re certainly not all worthy of the praise they’re given and I felt like this was one that was on the album for namesake and not because it was phenomenally great.       

I feel the beat did what it was supposed to for the verses, fit the grandiose climax of the album's feel even if perhaps it's not the dopest of dopest but I really felt dre did cool shit with the xxplosive drums over some experimental string synth and the bells melody to bring it together, it felt tightly composed and distinct. and i WISH every big name rapper had some dre beats, I don't see how it's not just dre's circle that's getting the beats.

-T