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NAS & DJ PREMIER - LIGHT-YEARS (Official Discussion)

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Eddz:
I've given this two full listens and for me it is up there for album of the year, no skips and the album flows seemisley.

Nas' run needs to be studied, from his albums with Hit-Boy, to releasing the Legend Series on his label, all his features and now this album is unbelievable, he truly is one of the GOATS.

The Predator:

--- Quote ---Nas & DJ Premier’s ‘Light-Years’: All 15 Tracks Ranked

Billboard ranks every song off Nas & DJ Premier's highly anticipated collab album 'Light-Years'
12/12/2025


Those of us old enough to be alive in 1994 when Illmatic dropped have been waiting for Nas and DJ Premier to drop a full-length project for 30-plus years, especially after the numerous classics they’ve made together following the three offerings Preemo provided on the Queens rapper’s pivotal debut.

Songs like “N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II” and “Nas Is Like” are important in both their catalogs, and only turned up the anticipation — and the expectation when it came to them linking up for something like Light-Years. Back then, it wasn’t as easy as it is today for two heavyweights to link up due to major label red tape and bureaucracy, so we’ll have to thank the current music business landscape for this project as one-producer albums have become somewhat the norm these days, especially when it comes to the underground scene.

During an interview I conducted with Premier and Roc Marciano when they were getting ready to drop their own collab album The Coldest Profession, the legendary producer said that this album was supposed to happen 20 years ago — and the stars finally aligned during Nas 50th birthday party, which resulted in the announcement record “Define My Name.”

Well, it’s finally here.

Now, is it as mind-blowing as we’d hoped for? Not necessarily. However, the project is a solid offering and includes a handful of standout tracks that scratch that itch and maybe leaves the door open for a follow up.

With all that being said, check out Billboard‘s ranking of every track of one of the more anticipated albums in rap history below.


Billboard VIP Pass

15
“Welcome to the Underground”

While the underground is flourishing right now, I do not like this song.
14
“It’s Time”

Not this the biggest fan of this track, but I dig the Steve Miller Band sample so much that “Fly Like an Eagle” has been stuck in my head since hitting play.
13
“GiT Ready”

One of the more “boom-bap” beats on here, Nas refers to himself as “Mr. Cryptocurrency Scarface” like he did on DJ Khaled’s 2021 song “Sorry Not Sorry,” where the QB legend rapped alongside his longtime rival Jay-Z. Not sure how I feel about that line — maybe it would hit better if he leaned into the character more and rapped like a present day, globetrotting crypto drug kingpin with a Silk Road type darkwebsite.
12
“Junkie”

It has been a pleasure to watch legends like Nas continue to rap at a high level and still be addicted to making rap music, no matter how much money they’ve made. Both he and Premier don’t need to be doing this, but they love the art and the fans enough to finally give us this.
11
“3rd Childhood”

Stillmatic’s “2nd Childhood” is a classic, where Nas tells tales of people that are stunted in their developmental growth and never mature because of various factors — but in the sequel he raps more about how it’s OK to remain youthful and to keep it hood, no matter how successful you get. Not as good as its predecessor, but a welcome edition.
10
“Bouquet (To the Ladies)”

Keeping to the theme of tributes on this project like “Pause Tapes” and “Writers,” Nas and Preemo take some time out to shout out the ladies who’ve contributed to hip-hop over the years. Buffalo rapper Che Noir woke up this morning and tweeted out the part of the song where Nas mentions her and appreciated the shoutout.
9
“Writers”

Preemo provides Nas with a vintage beat as the Mayor of Queensbridge tips his cap to a much under appreciated faction of hip-hop culture: the graffiti writers. He namedrops artists of new and old, while acknowledging the vibrant graff scenes across the globe — which is something I like to pay attention to whenever I travel abroad. It’s always fascinating to see hip-hop’s reach.
8
“My Life Is Real”

The piano Preemo uses on this reminds you why he’s the legend that he is today. Things start off on a good foot, as Nas sets the table for one of the more anticipated albums in rap history. I especially like the first verse where he talks about the legends who aren’t with us anymore, while still having the presence of mind to appreciate how lucky he is to still be around to revel in his success.
7
“My Story Your Story” (feat. AZ)

These two need to stop playing around and just come out with a collab tape. If we can get a Nas and Preemo album 30 years later than we can get something from Esco and Sosa. We’ll have to settle with adding this one to the AZ and Nas playlist where songs like “Life’s a Bitch,” “How Ya Livin’,” “Mo Money, Mo Murder,” and “The Essence” live.
6
“Shine Together”

I knew I heard this sample somewhere before, and after some light research, I realized that DITC’s Buckwild used the same Sunbear sample when making Big Pun’s “N—a S—t” from his posthumous album Yeah Baby. Shout out Premier for flipping a previously used sample into something completely different. That’s true mastery right there. It also doesn’t hurt that Nas is skating all over it.
5
“NY State of Mind Pt. 3”

The first two NY State of Minds are catalog classics, and while this one isn’t as good as those, Premier’s sampling of Billy Joel’s “NY State of Mind” and his brooding production do still make this track a standout. I do wish, however, that Nas would’ve went more into how the city’s becoming more and more gentrified by the day, when he raps, “If you was locked down for a while, it’s a different place now/ They buildin’ hotels where once was the Devil’s playground.”
4
“Sons (Young Kings)”

This track works as a companion to “Daughters” from his 2012 album Life Is Good, where Nas offers advice to parents and talks about his own experiences as a one. Not sure if it’s as good a song as its predecessor — but still a cool, sentimental song, the type of grown-man rap a certain section of his fanbase will appreciate.
3
“Madman”

This is a fan favorite on social media right now, and the tape starts to find its footing around here. “Madman” is vintage Premier, and Nas brags about how influential he is when it comes to this rap thing. The line “It’s my life, not a third-party witness’ story” from the second verse really says it all.
2
“Pause Tapes”

No, this has nothing to do with the game Cam and Mase play all the time. It’s about a time where the only way to listen to certain rap songs was to either buy a cassette tape, or hope that somebody else did, so that you could record it. We also used to sit in front of the radio and have our tape decks ready to record at a moment’s notice, in case a DJ played an exclusive song or they had a rapper in the building who was about to kick a freestyle. Nas also explains how he used to make beats and some of his first songs on a cassette. And speaking of making beats, this might be my favorite one from this entire project.
1
“Nasty Esco Nasir”

Both legends are at their best on this one: Preem with the bangin’ beat, and Nasty Esco Nasir having a sparring session on the track, like an episode of Mr. Robot where Rami Malek’s character fights the voices in his head. I hope we get an Esco tape from Nas when its all said and done. Let’s get the Firm band back together for old time’s sake.
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Marco:

Jay_J:
WHAT A FUCKIN DISSAPOINTMENT.

sometimes somethings shouldnt be done. like matrix 4.

The Predator:

--- Quote ---Album Review
Nas and DJ Premier Are Elder Statesmen With Gifts Left to Share
Two hip-hop icons deliver a heartwarming collaboration on Light-Years, the final installment in Mass Appeal's “Legend Has It…” series

***1/2**

 There’s a scene in Time Is Illmatic, a 2014 documentary about the creation of Nas’s 1994 masterwork Illmatic, where the rapper walks around the Queensbridge projects where he grew up, camera crew in tow. A woman in the neighborhood calls out, “Hey, Nas!” He gallantly responds, “What’s up, baby!” It’s a clichéd scene – the rich celebrity who hasn’t forgotten where he came from – yet it still resonates. His onetime rival Jay-Z couldn’t touch down in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects like that.

At age 52, Nas has cast himself as a humble rap GOAT, acutely conscious of his influence yet deceptively undervalued. When Complex asked when he would follow in the footsteps of Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar as a Super Bowl halftime performer, he demurred, chuckling, “Why would I do that? Leave it to the professionals.” He’s scored five number one albums on the Billboard albums chart but never landed a solo Hot 100 top 10 single. No one seems to wonder why he isn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside contemporaries like A Tribe Called Quest, Salt-N-Pepa, and Outkast, although his approach to writing on Illmatic proved just as revolutionary, if not more so, than those justly lionized acts. Eminem may have recorded “Stan,” but it was Nas who turned Em’s character into slang for an overzealous fan on “Ether” and made it an everyday catchphrase. Since he never quite broke into the pop mainstream, it takes immersion in hip-hop culture to understand how much he’s contributed to it.

Since 2020 and King’s Disease, Nas has collated his memories into albums reminiscent of Shakespeare’s late romances, where he declares his faith in the transformative power of hip-hop, positing it as a secular religion. On “Junkie,” a track from his new Light-Years collaboration with DJ Premier, he says he’s an “808 junkie.” He waxes nostalgic about the childhood technique of using cassettes – pressing play and taping a few bars from a vinyl record, pressing the pause button on the cassette player, then pressing play and re-recording the same notes – to make homespun beats on “Pause Tapes.” For “NY State of Mind Pt. 3,” a fresh installment of a series that began with “N.Y. State of Mind” on Illmatic, Premo plays an excerpt from Billy Joel’s 1976 track “New York State of Mind.” (Nas recently lent commentary to the acclaimed Billy Joel documentary And So It Goes.) Nas uses the occasion to reminisce about an era when rap dudes rocked concert stages surrounded by dozens of homies laughing, smoking weed, and throwing bows. “Take me back again/Before ice around me/On stage performing while they fightin’ around me/Later, somebody gun pop/The good ol’ days,” he raps.


Light-Years arrives as the long-awaited full-length pairing between two hip-hop icons and serves as a nightcap to Mass Appeal’s yearlong “Legend Has It…” series, following installments from Slick Rick, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Big L, and De La Soul. But it’s also akin to Nas’s King’s Disease and Magic trilogies with producer Hit-Boy. The vibe is elegiac, and Nas’s tone is placidly content, as if he’s dropping jewels on his nephews and nieces at the dinner table after a family meal. DJ Premier’s chops are sturdy, if not as memorably toothsome as his gems for Nineties stars like his group Gang Starr, KRS-One, and the Notorious B.I.G. It’s old-head music for a year when the old heads refused to retire, from Clipse zealously promoting their comeback Let God Sort Em Out to Danny Brown extending his support to hyperpop’s queer underground on Stardust. Fans can debate whether these forty and fifty-somethings take up too much space and prevent a younger crop of acts less enamored with old-school ethics from emerging out of their shadows. Meanwhile, there’s sheer pleasure in hearing Nas and AZ trade bars on “My Story Your Story,” especially when they start ribbing each other about Queens arcana like Delancey Street and Albee Square Mall near the end of the track. It’s like 1994 and “Life’s a Bitch” all over again.

One can quibble which, if any, of Nas’s exercises in nostalgia truly stands out. King’s Disease was sadly overshadowed by ex-wife Kelis’s public allegations of domestic abuse; by King’s Disease II and III, Nas and Hit-Boy had established an easy rhythm that felt effortlessly charming. On Light-Years, Nas and Premier clearly aren’t at the bleeding edge of their craft anymore. Premier tries to mix Joel’s “State of Mind” with his own Illmatic rendition, but the result sounds forced and awkward. The bass thrum on “Madman” can’t match the pulsating Erick Sermon-like bounce of Gang Starr’s “DWYCK.” Thankfully, Nas mostly avoids the weird lyrical couplets that made him a favorite target of bar students over the decades. “So many new chicks I wish I was born with two…oops/I take that line back,” he raps self-deprecatingly on “Shine Together.” But he can’t help but spin another concept piece on “Nasty Esco Nasir,” the latest in a career of unwieldly concepts that range in quality from 1996’s “I Gave You Power,” written from the perspective of a gun, to 2019’s self-explanatory “Jarreau of Rap (Skatt Attack).” Here, he turns two of his personas – his early Nineties “streets disciple” Nasty Nas and his late-Nineties “Mafioso” Nas Escobar – into antagonists that murder each other, only for the real Nasir to appear. “I’m a father, philanthropist, film director, an author/Tech impresario, Resorts World Casino partner/A restauranteur/By the time you hear this song I’ll probably open up a whole new store,” he boasts. For all its machinations, the track works.


Throughout Light-Years, Nas and Premier portray themselves as men who’ve accomplished their goals in life, leaving music-making as a vehicle for sheer pleasure. One can argue how accurate that image may be. Premier has produced three projects this year, including this, The Reinvention with Ransom, and The Coldest Profession with Roc Marciano. Both he and Nas still love the communality that rap fandom affords, and they crave our attention.

Yet the overriding feeling of Light-Years is of two elder statesmen who still have gifts to share. When Nas shouts out dozens of musicians on “Bouquet (To the Ladies), from pioneers like Sha-Rock and Debbie Dee to new jacks like Ice Spice, Che Noir, Saweetie, and ScarLip, it feels heartwarming and generous, the sign of an all-time great who understands there’s a culture and tradition that’s bigger than him. He may be a self-described “mogul” now, but he’s showing us that he can still touch grass.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/nas-and-dj-premier-light-years-review-1235483755/

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