It was a notoriety that set the young MC up for the impossible task of having to live up to years of almost-implausible hype on his first LP. In his defense, his bars on Main Source’s album track “Live At The BBQ” were already the stuff of legend well before Illmatic dropped. It’s also impossible to question his sheer narcissism (he had a 2008 hit “Hero” and yes, he meant himself).
Nasir Jones was then, is now, and presumably never has been one to shy away from doing things his way. It takes a certain level of gall to sample yourself on the opening track of any album, let alone in the opening seconds of your debut record. It’s no exaggeration to say there’s never been a hip-hop debut quite like Illmatic. It’s the gift and curse (not to stoke a quashed beef) that has followed the Queens rapper since he burst on the scene at a supernova level we’ve never seen before or after. There’s plenty of “lost” material floating around the interwebs and fans, in anticipation, have even crafted their own versions of The Lost Tapes II.
However, like the musical magician to which he aspires (and has often achieved), he’s only showing us what he wants us to see. The snippet heard on a trailer released July 2 is promising, vintage Illmatic-level Nas even, as he shows off his high-vocab, acrobatic and tangential style. This new set covers unused rhymes from 2006’s Hip Hop Is Dead to today, and as with his production from that period, it is sure to be polarizing. On his undisputed classic from a quarter century ago, Illmatic, Nas observed “I got so many rhymes I don’t think I’m too sane,” so its unsurprising that on July 17, Nas will release a second version of The Lost Tapes.
0 kommentar(er)
