yea..but by your logic "illmatic" would just sound like a bunch of singles.that album was 10 songs,and produced by premeir,large pro,pete rock,q tip,l.e.s.,and maybe one or 2 more im missing.a perfect example of what overall better production would do for nas is is one listen to 9ths "gods stepson"-gave a whole different feel to the godson album

After I heard "one mic" I lost a lot of respect for nas. That track is cheezy as all hell imo. And the video is even cheezier.

illmatic is, and always will be in my top hiphop albums. Nas just got cheezy later in his career.

I do think that "if i ruled the world" is pretty dope though, but lauren hill come on... she's the illest female rapper that's lived, with apani being a close second.

thats true about lauren-shit she's one of the top 20-30 emcees of all time period,male or female..& i completely respect the fact that she made the decision to step out of the limelight.but one mic though,damn i still think thats an ill song...even though i always hate it when emces talk in generalized "them and us" terms ..like "when they rush we rush when they bust we bust"..etc..its like ,who are they?still the overall feeling and message of that joint is still ill to me.and the way the beat builds up is dope.not to mention that stillmatic itself which that song was on was a REALLY tight album for the most part.

aside from one mic, the album was solid. I just feel like nas was trying to hard at that point in his career. It's probably tough having your first album be so f*cking classic. hahah.. if any of you ever make it big make sure your first album is wack.

hmmm... point taken. That was also before the era of the "super-producer", and somewhat back in the day. Could an unlimited budget produce a cohesive album in this day and age...?

God's Step Son was a dope remix album. I'm more of a Nastradoomus fan tho personally. Hiphopsite.com used to have a store down here where you could cop all the good stuff on vinyl, but they closed and went digi.

shit,lol..an unlimited budget could produce whatever an artist could possibly want..of course the final product would depend on what that artist was trying to do.as far as the "super producer"thing..i probably have a different definition of that term than how its used now.but cats like preem,large pro,pete rock,etc,still have a sound really simmilar to what they were doing 10-15 years ago-which to me is of course a good thing.so yea,it could be done..i just don't think nas is nearly into the beat/production aspect of hip hop as much as the lyrical,and its always a concern of his to have quite a few radio friendly joints on his albums..which you can't really be mad at-at the same time,i'd like to see him say,"i got enough money for a few lifetimes,let me make a completely raw,boom bap clasic front to back album.."shit would go at least gold anyway

it would be hard to execute a project like that without the label messing it up... I guess "unlimited budget" could very well mean, no major-label involvement... which is probably the only way to pull it off. any concern with marketing strategies and radio play would have to be put aside until after the whole thing was wrapped. maybe someday we'll see it...

I don't know though... what made illmatic possible was also the fact that all the dudes were still honing their crafts... had the hunger, and the respect for the art... they weren't necessarily all seen as legends at that time, but that's what they became.

there are a lot of solid underground albums being dropped today that could someday be seen as the next "illmatic"... only time will tell.

I really liked Untitled. To me, it's better than Hip Hop Is Dead. Technically, the only Nas albums I hate is Nastradamus, Street's Disciple, and Hip Hop Is Dead.

And as far as beat selection, Nas is horrible at that, and I'm a Nas STAN...but Nas always been the type of emcee where his lyrics commanded the songs, opposed to the beats commanding the songs. You can listen to a Nas record and think the beat is a piece of sh**, but he's an emcee that captivate the ears by lyricism.

exactly..nas is my biggest influence EVER as an mc,and lyric/writing wise the best of all time to me(chuck d gets my all around best of all time:)..which is why i get so frustrated when he picks some half ass beats.

One Mic is dope, Nas produced that joint himself too

Yo the new Nas album is really dope. Sonically, it's no Illmatic. I do agree that Illmatic is one of the 2 or 3 best rap albums of all time (and I don't say that lightly). There will never be another Illmatic...

That being said, this new album is dope. There's a few trash beats towards the begining, but it picks up steam towards the end and finishes strong.

Nas is on point lyrically (as always). He's on some revolutionary shit with this. No one in the mainstream is making poltical rap anymore, and now Nas put this shit out. On the new album Nas references freemasons, corrupt corporate media, shitty foods that we know will kill us yet we eat anyways, government scientists studying UFOs, an "elite group that runs everything", aliens living among us, and all kinds of other shit. He even name drops my man William Cooper. No one's doing that. Rap used to mean something. Rap has the potential to the change the world for the better, but it's been going down a different path for a while now, and Nas is trying to steer it in the other direction with this album. This is the exact shit I want and need to be hearing in 2008.

Illmatic hits you in the heart and soul on some "holy shit this is the reason I love rap" shit whereas this new album hits you in the brain on a "yo you're not alone, we're all in this together" tip. Totally different feelings and vibes, but both dope in their own right.

is it just me, or does the overall theme of the production side of this album feel like some epic 80's shit? Maybe it's the synth dominated production, but a lot of the hooks feel that way too...

I was disappointed by the salaam remi track - "You Can't Stop Us Now"... Doom flipped it so much better on the King Geedorah track "Anti-Matter" it's ridiculous.

Lyrically dope tho.

yeah the DOOM version was better than Salaam Remi's. RZA jacked the sample too for his latest Bobby Digital album

i feel you on the 80s vibe Count, it's a bit too 'musical' at times. like you say, can't front on the message and lyrics though

I read a review about that new Bobby Digi saying it had a couple other recycled beats on it... lame. Doom does it plenty too I guess... makes me feel cheated as a listener tho, and also more inclined to preview it on the download tip before forkin over that hard earned payola.

How did you like the album?

the new Bobby Digital? it was pretty terrible, i wouldn't waste your time

i've been bumping Iron Man and Liquid Swords instead