Nas Hip-Hop Is Dead Is Easily His Most Under-Rated Album

[13th Duke]

Its a decent album, but nowhere near a classic. You're possibly right by saying its underrated though as it got a lot of hate when it came out...but classic? Nowhere near.

[Sikotic™]

Untitled was way better than HHID.

[Sir Petey]

Untitled was way better than HHID.

[theremedy360]

Untitled was way better than HHID.

Lyrically it's possible, I guess it was just a little too political for me, I liked the vibe of HHID a lot more, both were great albums in their own respect though.

[D-Nice]

I think the hype behind the album surpassed the music. It's a great album don't get me wrong, but classic, no not for me.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

I don't know why niggas are so angry at Nas. But God's Song, Hip Hop is Dead, and Untitled are all great albums.

Street Disciple - hate all you want lol that shit was awfull!

Word... although I wouldn't put "Untitiled" in the list of great Nas albums.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Untitled >>>>> Hip Hop is Dead

I'm really surprised so many people feel this way.  Nas was my favorite rapper in the game at the time he dropped "Untitiled", and I bumped the hell out of it and gave it chance after chance.  The first half was cool enough, but I could never get into the second half of the album, and that's the half that most people liked.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

agree with TC... hip-hop is dead should be a classic imo, it only has two bad songs on it (who killed it and where are they now)... put hope og on there, switch where are they now for the 80s remix of it, and cut who killed it (or put surviving the times or dont body yaself  ) and you have a perfect album.

its def in my top 3 nas lps

Word, I actually bought the album and own it, but if it was MP3 then that would be dope to mix it that way

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

I think it's 1 of his more Over-Rated albums IMO. Just because the Phrase "Hip-Hop is Dead" got raped by every motherfucker in the mainstream.Don't get me wrong certain stuff in Hip-Hop died, but not all of it.

What does that have to do with the album? My God you "fans" are so stupid nowadays.

I fuck my girl doggy style all the time, does that make Snoop's debut album overrated? In high school I used to get high every day, does that make "The Chronic" overrated?

LOL... but word, on the real, I have to admit, the TITLE of the album is also one of the reasons I love it.  Because I felt like Nas' expressed what a lot of people have been feeling.  One time he was speaking on the title of the album and he said "When 50 Cent dropped Get Rich Or Die Trying, I think that was the last time I felt hip-hop was alive".  And I can relate to how Nas was feeling so I think he spoke for a lot of people when he made the Hip-Hop Is Dead album. 

Let me put it like this, I felt like Nas took a stand with the album and it's title against a lot of the bullshit that has taken over hip-hop, that other rappers are scared to speak on.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Its a decent album, but nowhere near a classic. You're possibly right by saying its underrated though as it got a lot of hate when it came out...but classic? Nowhere near.

Yeah, I'm not saying Hip-Hop Is Dead is a classic album.  I think Illmatic is probably Nas' only certified classic album.

I do think though that Stillmatic and God's Son were near-classics, and Hip-Hop Is Dead was a magnificent effort for the time it came out in, because by late 2006 or 2007 it became pretty much impossible for a rapper to come with another classic album because the game has declined so dramatically, and so how are you really going to be inspired as an artists?  (which is why the title was so great) 

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

"Unforgettable" IS A HUGELY UNDER-RATED Remake song, because I don't know any rappers who have remade a song from the Frank Sinatra generation, that is like old white folks music he was remaking, and he did it while speaking on the good old days of hip-hop, yet all the elements were in harmony.

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

HHID was not a concept album.  There were maybe 2 tracks that focused on the theme of Hip-Hop dying, all the the others were typical Nas joints.

I like this album more than Untitled tho.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

HHID was not a concept album.  There were maybe 2 tracks that focused on the theme of Hip-Hop dying, all the the others were typical Nas joints.

I like this album more than Untitled tho.

This album was obviously a concept album, with a consistent theme throughout.  I'm about to make you eat your words, I will break it down to you very clearly

1.  "Money Over Bitches"-  He's using hip-hop as like a metaphor for the street life, and rules to the street,

"There's snitches in the hood/ and theirs snitches in rap",

and then at the end he thematically and humorously gets euphoric off power and challenges everybody,

"(I'm ready for war) against any of ya'll who try to say hip-hop is still alive/ I'll show you it's dead!/ it's dead bitch!", this is a style Nas uses in other songs where he likes to get real hyped up and talk shit.

3.  "Carry On Tradition"-  This song is obviously about the death of hip-hop

"Hip-Hop died/ and it's our fault/ cause we can't see ourselves as bosses/ jewish stick together/ (why don't we?)".  

Nas goes on to rap about how important it is that rappers uphold the culture, and "carry on tradition".  And about the competition to come to the top of the game, and the question the artist has to ask himself of whether or not he's going to sell out or stay true to the the tradition Hip-Hop's pioneers.  He challenges young rappers who haven't held up the standard and tradition of the pioneers...

"Some of these new rappers/ got they hats turned backwards/ fingers twisted in some gangsign madness/ here's an exam let's see who can pass it/ who can quote a Daddy Kane line the fastest?",

basically Nas is saying these young cats think hip-hop is all about being a gangster and have no respect for the pioneers.  I don't want to rewrite the whole second verse but at the end he questions new rappers in the game,

"(and now) you calling on the bigger dogs to quit"?

Nas talks about bringing back the live in the park sound.  And wondering whether or not he wishes that rap was still the "hood's secret" like in it's earliest days or whether it's good that it went global and was overtaken by the media/corporations.

4.  "Where Are They Now"

The track uses old drum samples which were basically the foundation for hip-hop music, and throughout Nas gives loves to forgotten rappers who helped made hip-hop what it was...

"Rap is like a ghost town/ real mystic/ like these folks never existed/ put in their tape and get lifted"

Then he shouts out dozens of names like King Tee, Lakim Shabazz, Spice One, Body and Soul, JJ Fad, Young MC, Tone Loc, Divine Styler, Pharcyde, Craig Mack, Funky Four Plus One, K-Solo, EPMD, and so on.

5.  "Hip-Hop Is Dead"  -Title Track-  The title speaks for itself, maybe I will go more in depth later.

6.  "Who Killed It"-  Nas acts like a detective, on the case of finding out who killed hip-hop.

7.  "Black Republican"-  makes mention of beefs in hip-hop, namely of course Nas and Jay-Z's beef, and whether or not they were misguided and were bad for hip-hop

8.  "Not Going Back"-  How fame has changed Nas life.  And why he doesn't want to go back to the streets, but they keep calling him.  May seem unrelated to the overall concept album, but it is related because the album is about how fame and fortune entered into the hip-hop game, and whether this was good or bad, and should or shouldn't the game go back to it's roots, or is it totally lost forever.

10.  "Hold Down The Block"-  Just tales of how the streets have changed over the years.  This has been a theme in Nas' music his whole career, so it goes along with staying true to ones roots, and hip-hop needing to stay true to it's roots, or hip-hops relationship to the streets.  Not a whole lot of obvious commentary in this song, but it definitely doesn't detract from the overall tone of the album.

11.  "Blunt Ashes"-  One day people will sit around and tell stories of great rappers that have passed, and Nas' name will come up, and stories about his fueds with 2pac, Jay-Z, and so many legends and so on.  So this track was about the legends in black music that came before the rappers, and then wondering out loud what tales will one day be told of the new generation of black artists (rappers).

12.  "Let There Be Light"  

Song just to give hope to the streets, and speaking about how rappers get into the violent side of the streets...

"Now every rapper want to say he hang with Supreme Griffin"

But that they don't want to see the good, and to give life to the streets,

"No gangbanging in the hood tonight/ just murals of Biggie Smalls bigger than life!"  

And then challenging young rappers, that they ain't been in the game long enough to question him,

"Only when you been in the game 10 years can you pick my brain".

14.  "Can't Forget About You"

Song gives it up once more to the old school and reminisces on the days when hip-hop was still alive

"Rock Steady spinnin on they backs/ remember when the first rap grammy went to Jazzy/ Fresh Prince Fat Boys broke up/ Rap hasn't been the same since"

"But I don't want to keep bringin up the greater times, nostalgic with this state of mind"

15.  "Hustlers"

Game tells a vivid story of hip-hop history and coming up back when Illmatic and the Chronic were out, and the comparison between East Coast hip-hop and West Coast hip-hop.  Nas also shares some of his history as far as

"I was the first New York nigga/ rappin with Dre/ so of course I got a track to bring it back to your face/ the one kid that could of been Aftermath that got away"

The Nas and Dre relationship is an important part of hip-hop history.  When Dre did "East Coast West Coast Killaz" with Nas it was a huge statement, he had left Death Row partly over their beef with the East, and this opened the door for the two coasts to start working with each other.

16.  "Hope"

Hope is basically a summary of the whole album and concept spittin accapella, to really be totally clear and let the whole concept sink in and go full circle.  And at the end they some it up with a prayer to let hip-hop live

"Live hip-hop Live".



....now if that's not a concept album, then please tell me what the fuck is?

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

LOL.  Dude you are reaching with almost all of the songs.  You based your song summaries off one line in the entire song.

Go listen to the records again as a whole. 

Money Over Bitches is a generalized street track, one of Nas' trademarks.  There's no concept here.

The title track is on concept.

Hope doesn't really count, but is on concept.

Black Republican is Nas street raps / Jay talking about collabing with Nas finally

Not Going Back is about getting out the hood and not going back

Still Dreaming: Only the last verse is on concept.  Don't try and tell me Ye's verse is about hip hop dying, lol.

Blunt Ashes is reminiscing about past great entertainers, which IIRC did not mention one rapper or Hip-Hop at all.

Let There Be Light is about Nas being a grown up thug

Can't Forget About You is on concept

Hustlers is another street track of random rhymes

Who Killed It? is on concept

the rest I can't remember and don't fuck with.

1 line or 1 verse in a whole song dedicated to the concept doesn't make it on concept, and if you gonna try and pull some 'I'm not reading into the metaphor shit or the songs are going over my head' you reaching.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

LOL.  Dude you are reaching with almost all of the songs.  You based your song summaries off one line in the entire song.

Go listen to the records again as a whole.  

Money Over Bitches is a generalized street track, one of Nas' trademarks.  There's no concept here.

The title track is on concept.

Hope doesn't really count, but is on concept.

Black Republican is Nas street raps / Jay talking about collabing with Nas finally

Not Going Back is about getting out the hood and not going back

Still Dreaming: Only the last verse is on concept.  Don't try and tell me Ye's verse is about hip hop dying, lol.

Blunt Ashes is reminiscing about past great entertainers, which IIRC did not mention one rapper or Hip-Hop at all.

Let There Be Light is about Nas being a grown up thug

Can't Forget About You is on concept

Hustlers is another street track of random rhymes

Who Killed It? is on concept

the rest I can't remember and don't fuck with.

1 line or 1 verse in a whole song dedicated to the concept doesn't make it on concept, and if you gonna try and pull some 'I'm not reading into the metaphor shit or the songs are going over my head' you reaching.

Even you named like 5 or 6 joints that were on concept, and you still forgot "Carry On Tradition"...yet your still going to say this isn't a concept album?

Also, how many damn ways do you expect him to say "Hip-Hop Is Dead"?  You know how boring it would be if he had to stay on topic as rigorously as you demand?  You said even 1 whole verse in the song dedicated to the concept is not enough?  Your really trippin man...

Please, just name me TWO hip-hop albums then that you would consider "concept albums"?  Because looking at things your way, one would have to think there has never been a concept album in hip-hop.