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

[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]

when did u last listen to eminem?

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]

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

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.

[Sccit]

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.

i'm taking a strong stand with maimonides


 

[TraceOneInfinite]

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

Remember Nas said “I went to hell for snuffing Jesus” was like his first big breakthru line with Main Source.  And the reason it sounded bold was because America was like a white Christian Republican country in those days.  Now, it’s actually more bold and revolutionary to be a traditional pro-America Christian like Charlie Kirk.

In the 90’s Charlie Kirk would’ve just been like a regular successful politician and businessman but not a martyr that was assassinated in cold blood for openly discussing politics and allowing the opposition to ask him questions on a college campus. 

So now Charlie Kirk is like the revolutionary guy and Nas is like the status quo guy being invited to speak at Harvard and everyone applauding 👏 on cue and nobody opposing

[TraceOneInfinite]

I could put Wutang in the same category as Nas.  Ghostface son is openly gay. 

Ghostface stared me down at a 2001 concert in St Louis.  I was a wannabe 5 percenter at the time I shouted out “what up god” and he thought I was mocking him so he gave me the stare down from the stage and called his boys over like those intimidating dudes that beat the shit out of you if you rush the stage.  So I shut up.

[The Predator]

Ghostface stared me down at a 2001 concert in St Louis.  I was a wannabe 5 percenter at the time I shouted out “what up god” and he thought I was mocking him so he gave me the stare down from the stage and called his boys over like those intimidating dudes that beat the shit out of you if you rush the stage.  So I shut up.

Ahahaha.

[TraceOneInfinite]

Ahahaha.

He gave me a nasty cold stare down, got his boys, tapped them like, “look, this white boy tryin to be funny!”

Like I was trying to mock him—he didn’t catch it that I was a wannabe 5 percenter and actually saying it as respect — or he did catch it and I was gonna get a beat down anyway for trying to be down when I wasn’t really down…

It was one of the two but I almost caught one that day. 

[The Predator]

[HighEyeCue]

I could put Wutang in the same category as Nas.  Ghostface son is openly gay. 

Ghostface stared me down at a 2001 concert in St Louis.  I was a wannabe 5 percenter at the time I shouted out “what up god” and he thought I was mocking him so he gave me the stare down from the stage and called his boys over like those intimidating dudes that beat the shit out of you if you rush the stage.  So I shut up.

yeah but I think Ghost disowned his son...he gets props for not conforming to the agenda

[TraceOneInfinite]

Yeah I caught the same energy

[TraceOneInfinite]

yeah but I think Ghost disowned his son...he gets props for not conforming to the agenda

He did, and it was likely something the mom was doing that had more influence. 

But what about Rza having all those doomsday New World Order lyrics for all those years like in “The Rain” 🌧️ single from Rhyme and Reason 1996 he raps like

“poor education
forced vxxxination
Nuclear germ”

And then when it actually came in 2020-23 he was like “yessa, everybody needs to be safe and get their vxxination, I got mines” and pretended like nothing was going on and there was nothing worth mentioning from 2020-23 in that regard totally compliant to the agenda