Steve 'Flash' JuonEDITOR’S NOTE: This isn’t our official review and is archived here for historical purposes only. For that reason no scores have been included.
Is Nas the Mayor of New York? Not likely. In fact, right now I think he’s a “lame duck” if you will. See, he’s still got the office until January, but he already lost in the election — make room for Jay-Z. In a year when “Reasonable Doubt” would come out, how could you live with yourself for putting out weak product like this? That’s like saying, “I don’t give a fuck, people love me anyway, so they’ll buy anything that I put my name on.” Peep the analysis:
1. He used WackMasterz, oops I mean TrackMasterz, to produce his LP.
2. Considering he used to rhyme with Large Professor, Akinyele and Fatal, collaborating with Foxxy Brown and AZ is a big slide downhill.
3. Even a song that is arguably one of the album’s best, the DJ Premier produced “I Gave You Power”, steals a concept by Organized Konfusion.
If you heard the ninety-six update of Kurtis Blow’s “If I Ruled the World” with Lauryn Hill and thought this would be the bomb album, think again. He comes off on one other ninety-six update, “Street Dreams”, based on the Eurythmics classic “Sweet Dreams” — other than that he just doesn’t represent. Dr. Dre’s “Nas Is Coming” may be the most annoying of all — total saccharin and no substance, with a chorus guaranteed to irritate like nails on a blackboard. Nas is not coming, in fact he’s going — watch that the Mayor’s office door don’t hit you on the way out and careful of the worker with Jay-Z’s plush leather couch.
source: HEADz UP