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Confession: I haven't listened to Nas in 400 Days.

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TraceOneInfinite:
I make this post to lament that times have changed in hip-hop.  My top 3 was always:

1.  2pac
2.  Eminem
3.  Nas

Yet I haven't listened to Nas a single time or even a single song in more than 400 days.  For me, the joy of listening to Nas was it was like brain food.  It gave me a feeling like I was studying intellectual and philosophical giants like Plato or Socrates; but it went down as easy as a soft drink at McDonalds. 

Being from the midwest and only 14 years old we never knew Nas until he blew up on MTV with "If I Ruled The World" which was one of the all-time great hip-hop and summertime anthems.  But Pac was still alive and Death Row was on top of the world--so I was more interested in the fact that Dre had linked with Nas--then Nas himself.  "East/West Cost Killaz" is one of the most timely and greatest tracks of all rhyme, but the joint Dre did for Nas 2nd album was weak.

Point is, I didn't get into Nas until Eminem brought up the undergound in 99' and so my appetite for lyrics increased and that's when I got into East Coast artists like Nas.  So since 99' I've been listening to Eminem and Nas.

But all that has stopped.  I don't listen to Nas ever anymore.  Not even his old shit, not even the classics.  I think it's because of how politics have changed.  A lot of Nas' intellectual side was based on black nationalism and socialist themes--white man is the devil type shit.  That shit was cool when I was a self-hating white who wanted to see America fail.  But I've changed and times have changed.  Politics are not the same anymore; though ironically, many blacks have actually doubled down on the "white man is the devil" narrative--as the white man's influence has actually receded around the globe.  When the "woke" agenda started being pushed by the mainstream globalists, WEF, that shit became played out. Obama became president and cries and complaints of racism and America being racist only became more intense.

So those topics and themes from Nas' music all got played out.

Sccit:
when did u last listen to eminem?

TraceOneInfinite:

--- Quote from: Sccit on October 09, 2025, 01:49:48 AM ---when did u last listen to eminem?

--- End quote ---

I could've said a lot of the same things about Eminem, but I had that little period last May when I was incredibly bored and made all those threads about whether or not Relapse was wack or classic (whether it's real or revisionist history) etc. -- to pass the time.

Eminem is in the same category as Nas.  Even though he's white, he's a self-hating white man who hates American and Trump and the founding fathers of America.  So there is a similar energy there of wanting America's foundations and traditions to crumble.  Pushing progressive, democratic, communist ideals.

HighEyeCue:
I get what you're saying...at least Nas isnt in people face trying to push his agenda like Em is though...that and the fact Em is wack now musically has turned me off to him

TraceOneInfinite:

--- Quote from: HighEyeCue on October 09, 2025, 03:40:52 AM ---I get what you're saying...at least Nas isnt in people face trying to push his agenda like Em is though...that and the fact Em is wack now musically has turned me off to him

--- End quote ---

Yes, I agree that Nas isn't in people's faces pushing the "woke" agenda. 

But he also hasn't taken any strong stand either.   To be anti-establishment in the early 90's when Nas was coming up appeared like a strong stance to a white kid in the Midwest Suburbs who had never really heard anything contradictory to the traditional founding fathers America, Martin Luther King "I Have A Dream" 90's version of America.

Now, WOKE does represent the current establishment.  So it's not anti-establishment or a bold take anymore for Nas' to kick the same kind of lyrics he was spitting before Obama.  And his lyrics were still hitting me even on the Life Is Good album I felt they were up with the times. 

But the new Trump/Woke/WEF/Covid/Lockdown/Vxx/BLM Mandate world we live in undermines the boldness of Nas' lyrics.

Let's take Eminem for example.  When he made "White America" in 2002 Eminem Show--he was going after Bush and against the war in Iraq it sounded like a bold take.  He's like "Fucc you dick Cheney" and we all felt righteous like a bold take against the medias push for war.  In contrast the media was all pushing for vxx, mask mandates, lockdowns, and the Democrats were pushing the same narrative and so was Eminem.

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