Nas Classic GOD'S SON Appreciation Thread and My Album Review

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

I always listen to it this time of the year in the winter, because that's when it came out in the winter of 02/03.  God Son ages as well as any other Nas album in my opinion.  Because he made the album after his mother had died, so I think it inspired some of the most touching tracks Nas ever recorded.  It's not just Nas showing off his lyrical skills, but it's Nas really coming with songs as a complete artist and not just a rapper.  I'll review a few of the songs...

1.   "Get Down"- 7 out of 10-  This is kind of the Nas we are used to hearing, some really smooth, Queensbridge inspired rhymes.  Somewhat like an Illmatic style.  Dope track.

2.  "The Cross"- 8 out of 10-  Sounds like this may have been a leftover beat for Eminem's The Eminem Show album.  It's possible Eminem may have even ghostwritten some of the lyrics for Nas, and even at some points it seems like Nas struggles slightly to keep up the flow of multisyllabled rhymes.   Great collaboration between Eminem and Nas.

3.  "Made You Look"- 5 out of 10- I know a lot of people loved this track, so objectively I'd give it 8 out of 10, but personally I never listened to it that much.  It was actually the first single on the album, and was well-received.  Just thought the album was so great that a track like this was just a leftover for me. 

4.  "Last Real Nigga Alive"-  9.5 out of 10-  Nas just kills this TRACK.  Undisputed King of New York, just really puttin it down and  holding his sovereignty over the throne of NY hip-hop, also explaining some intimate details of just how competitive things were back in the day.

5.  "Zone Out" 0 out of 10-  Like the Stillmatic record Nas had to let his brother and his group Bravehearts get their trash on the album, just to show he's supportin Queensbridge and his family, or for whatever reason he has to let them fuck up atleast one track on the album.  Track was doomed from the beginning, beat is unlistenable.

6.  "Hey Nas" 3 out of 10- It's an okay song for what it is.  Kind of a weak attempt at a mainstream single that fell short. 

7.   "I Can"- 6 out 10-  Inspirational song, nice message for kids.  Has an old school feel which older heads can appreciate, yet directed towards the youth.  Again, Nas doing what he does best.

8.  "Book Of Rhymes"- 6 out of 10- Very creative idea for a track, in the song he's presenting these lyrics as just some throwaway material he never used, but you get to see a glimpse of just how great a writer Nas really is.

9.  "Thugz Mansion"- 8 out of 10-  I know this track is very low key, but still has that touching, timeless quality.  The fact that Nas mother had died, really helped him bring this song to life, as he compares his mourning over his mom's death, with Afeni Shakur's mourning over Pac's death.

10.  "Master Mind"-  5.5 out of 10-  Good song, something subliminal about this one.  He talks about "A couple years ago in Manhattan, two of my dogs fell (twin towers?).  He says "in a car similar to Osama's".  Your left to wonder is the "Mastermind" that he's talking about supposed to be Usama Bin Laden or is it supposed to be the Illuminati or agents of the US or Israel that operate in secret, can't really tell.

11.  "Warrior Song" and 12.  "Revolutionary Warfare"- 5 out of 10-  Track begins with "TEACH US" and Nas drops some wisdom along with solid contributions from Lake and Alcia Keys, nice black conscious, righteous movement tracks that have became extinct now in hip-hop, but a style that was most popular in late 80's. 

13.  "Dance" -10 out of 10-  This track was dedicated to his mother.  Notice how he changes up his voice for this track, as if he is speaking directly to his mother in heaven.  This is a powerful song easily on the level of a 2pac record that can bring the listener to tears.  Beautiful song, timeless.

14.  "Heaven"-  8.5 out of 10-  Nas once again comes deep and reflective, over a beat that matches the lyrics in perfect harmony.  I think they used a sample on this one, the girl singing the hook really grabs your attention.  One of his deeper records, Nas does these kinds of songs better than any other rapper besides maybe 2pac.



Classic album overall.  Great replay value over the years.  10 out of 10

[Shallow]

3.  "Made You Look"- 5 out of 10- I know a lot of people loved this track, so objectively I'd give it 8 out of 10, but personally I never listened to it that much.  It was actually the first single on the album, and was well-received.  Just thought the album was so great that a track like this was just a leftover for me. 

It's not so much the lyrics or flow I like, but the production, and I don't mean the beat. I mean the way it sounds. It has a very gutter and dirty sound attached to it and gives it a very street feel. As opposed to the Eminem song which sounds so generic and glossy production wise I don't like it so much. I prefer the flow and lyrics to Cross but the production quality hurts it for me. Cross with Made You Look production would have been an all time classic, in my opinion. The vocals would have been better if he shouted them just a bit, Chuck D style, and piano had a more live rougher feel, with a distorted echo on the whole track.

[Lunatic]

How can an album be a "classic" if outta a 10 rating, 3 songs got 5 or lower and 1 even got 5.5 lol.

[Chamillitary Click]

How can an album be a "classic" if outta a 10 rating, 3 songs got 5 or lower and 1 even got 5.5 lol.

LOL, beat me to it.

& he gave "Zone Out" a zero.

[Shallow]

How can an album be a "classic" if outta a 10 rating, 3 songs got 5 or lower and 1 even got 5.5 lol.

It's like a ten out of ten movie can still have some insignificant scenes. As long as they aren't so bad to ruin the whole film, it's fine.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

How can an album be a "classic" if outta a 10 rating, 3 songs got 5 or lower and 1 even got 5.5 lol.

Yeah, I should of explained that I was rating them in comparison to other Nas material.  So something like "Zone Out" would be the bottom of the scale and something like "One Luv" would be the top of the scale.  

I think you are confusing the word "perfect" with the word "classic".  Because Illmatic would be an example of a perfect, flawless album as there are no weak lines or weak tracks.  Yet, I think God's Son is a classic because the great songs more than make up for the weaker tracks, and really there was only 1 aweful track "Zone Out" all the others were listenable.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

& he gave "Zone Out" a zero.

I realize some people actually liked Salaam Remi's beat on "Zone Out".  It's the spinning the record backwards thing, don't know why people like that.  And worst of all, the lyrics were complete trash.  They were trying to make it sound gutter, like MOP, Wutang style or something... whatever they were doing it didn't work

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

It's not so much the lyrics or flow I like, but the production, and I don't mean the beat. I mean the way it sounds. It has a very gutter and dirty sound attached to it and gives it a very street feel. As opposed to the Eminem song which sounds so generic and glossy production wise I don't like it so much. I prefer the flow and lyrics to Cross but the production quality hurts it for me. Cross with Made You Look production would have been an all time classic, in my opinion. The vocals would have been better if he shouted them just a bit, Chuck D style, and piano had a more live rougher feel, with a distorted echo on the whole track.

yeah, no doubt, speaking objectively I would have to say you are right.  

But personally, I loved "The Cross" when the album came out and still do.  I thought the slow, plodding, beat was ill.. because it was supposed to sound like they were walking slow, laboring hard to carry the cross, so it's a perfect marriage in my mind of beats and lyrics.

[Lunatic]

I hear u Infinite. Different people have different rating scales. For me, a "classic' album, normally every track has to be 8/10 or higher.

[white Boy]

yea i was gonna bust infinites lack of math skills, his averages come out to a 6.1/10 album, i duno the production on this album never did it for me, except for get down, made you look and thugz mansion i fell asleep

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

I hear u Infinite. Different people have different rating scales. For me, a "classic' album, normally every track has to be 8/10 or higher.

I don't know if that's fair, because you could have an album like Illmatic that's only 9 or 10 tracks deep and an album like Dre 2001 that is 20 tracks deep, so it wouldn't be fair to fault Dre for having just one bad cut on the album.

However, here is where I agree with you...in the case where an album has an overall theme or mood, and then the wrong producer is used and the flow of the record gets interrupted or it's credibility is ruined.  For example, imagine if on Doggystyle Snoop had mixed in some Neptunes style production, with lyrics and a chorus like he used on "Beautiful".  This could of hypothetically caused it to lose it's Classic status.

So getting back to Nas "God's Son" I think the album was consistent in it's production and it's mood.  Everything from the album artwork, to the tracks inside, you feel it is a consistent album, representing a period in Nas' life, rather than a just a collection of random songs.

  

[Lunatic]

^that's true too

never been a fan of this album though minus a few cuts

[Shallow]

It's not so much the lyrics or flow I like, but the production, and I don't mean the beat. I mean the way it sounds. It has a very gutter and dirty sound attached to it and gives it a very street feel. As opposed to the Eminem song which sounds so generic and glossy production wise I don't like it so much. I prefer the flow and lyrics to Cross but the production quality hurts it for me. Cross with Made You Look production would have been an all time classic, in my opinion. The vocals would have been better if he shouted them just a bit, Chuck D style, and piano had a more live rougher feel, with a distorted echo on the whole track.

yeah, no doubt, speaking objectively I would have to say you are right.  

But personally, I loved "The Cross" when the album came out and still do.  I thought the slow, plodding, beat was ill.. because it was supposed to sound like they were walking slow, laboring hard to carry the cross, so it's a perfect marriage in my mind of beats and lyrics.

I agree. The music and lyrics were great. I would keep the music the way it is and the instruments that play the music. I would just give it a more raw feeling. The way it sounds makes it feel so computerized and digital. I'm speaking specifically of Cross.

[D1G1T4L]

Respect your opinion but to me this is not a classic album.. It's a bit too depressing to me.. I guess it makes sense since his mom died?
Has some cool tracks.. but you notice this album never really get mentioned in the same sense as illmatic or stillmatic?

[Bananas]

Your rating scale makes you appear bipolar and spiteful, but then I remember, "oh, it's infinite."