Nas returns to roots, takes on old persona for new album

As many aging rappers struggle to stay relevant, Nasir Jones, more publicly known as Nas, has…

Life is Good

Nas

Def Jam Recordings

Grade: A-

Rocks like: ’90s Nas meets Swizz Beatz

As many aging rappers struggle to stay relevant, Nasir Jones, more publicly known as Nas, has remained successful throughout his 18-year, 10-studio-album career. The key to Nas’ continued advances in the rap game? Refusing to sell out.

Nas’ newest album might include plenty of the usual trumpeting of gangster hardness so common in his songs, but the recent release, Life is Good, also features smoother tracks more akin to those of his Golden Age past.

Yes, it’s true that Nas no longer needs to sell drugs or tote guns to earn money, but that doesn’t mean he can’t reminisce on his youth, thereby providing the Nas faithful with exactly what they want to hear. “How could I not succumb? / How could I not partake? / Fifteen I got a gun / sixteen I robbed a train,” he raps in the album’s opening track, “No Introduction.” The song takes the listener back through Nas’ earlier years — which included life in the neighborhood he was raised in — and talks with rap legend Biggie Smalls.

The album’s second track, “Loco-Motive,” may not have the mournful keyboard or cymbal crashes of its predecessor, but what it lacks in live-performance feel it makes up for in style. Harkening back to the early ’90s — rap’s Golden Age — Nas enlists the help of producer Large Professor, a fellow Queens native, in order to set things off right.

Touted as one of the best hip-hop producers of all-time, Large Pro really delivers in Nas’ newest old-school hit, which calls upon the sounds of the New York City subway and a laid-back bassline to move it forward. The dark, jazzy sound of the piano is reminiscent of Nas’ popular 1994 song “N.Y. State of Mind” and proves that Nasty Nas can still flow with the best of them.

How does a big-name rapper like Nas manage to deliver the age-old militant flow he did back in ’94? A lack of respect. “They askin’ how he disappear and reappear back on top,” he says during “Loco-Motive,” reminding us that detractors only help Nas by giving him motivation. If Nas’ beefs with Bill O’Reilly, Jay-Z and Mobb Deep have taught us anything, it’s that this rap veteran is willing to return to war at a moment’s notice, bringing out the type of sound that has helped him thrive for nearly two decades.

The album’s third song, “A Queens Story,” makes good use of boom-bap rimshots and a vibrant string section to complement Nas’ storytelling ability, which hasn’t lost a beat. He emulates the track’s jazzy feel throughout the album with songs such as “Stay” and “Cherry Wine,” the latter of which features late British singer Amy Winehouse.

The track may detail plenty of illicit behavior, but for a rapper with a past as rough as Nas’, it’s no wonder that many of his story-themed songs cover tales of drugs, sex and violence. For those looking to avoid the harsh realities of life in the ghetto, tracks such as “Daughters” are rated closer to PG-13 than R and show the rapper’s softer side.

He might be a platinum-record-selling hip-hop mogul, but unlike his old crosstown enemy, Jay-Z, he’s not pushing forward with covers of “Forever Young.” Nas’ latest album harkens back to true rap.