I reminisce on park jams, my man was shot for a sheep coat
Childhood lessons make me see him drop in my weed smoke.
It's real, grew up in trife life, to times with white lines
to hype bikes, murdereous night-times, to knife-fights invite crime.
My intellect prevails from a hanging cross with nailsThe whole time I was writing my memoir, I just wanted to do something that sounded like that.
I reinforce the frail, with lyrics that's real.
Word to Christ, a disciple of streets, trifle on beats
I decipher prophecy through a mic and say peace.
Back in eighty-three I was an MC sparkin
But I was too scared to grab the mics in the parks and
kick my little raps cause I thought niggaz wouldn't understand
And now in every jam I'm the fuckin man
I rap in front of more niggaz than in the slave ships
I used to watch "C.H.I.P.S." now I load glock clips
So. Nasty.
I’m an true elitist when it comes to hip hop, nada nunca of much quality outside of NYC post the 90s with a few really good exceptions. NYC B-Boy late 70s-early 80s turned into the birth of crack era when my hood was named drug capital of the world in the NY Times. Hip Hop during those years was something we all looked forward to, it was like a lifeline or a serious sanity check. We all used to huddle around the box in Highbridge park or on the corner by the bodega to check what Red Alert was gonna drop on KISS every Sat. night, he was bigger than the mayor on my block. You couldn’t go to sleep without hearing shots or cops or some craziness. Nas is one of those transcendent artists that just got that and understood us and what we were living. I’m not sure he can be felt and understood the same way without the crack ghetto experience of the early 90s, sure it’s still hot beats and smooth lyrics but you know what I’m saying.
“Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne
I'm deep by sound alone, caved inside in a thousand miles from home”
Unlike most hip hop artists from back in the day time hasn’t lessened his impact. Even recently with “Made U Look” he made us old school heads wake up for a minute realize what was broken with hip hop, invoked Big Pun and took me back in time. It’s hard to compare anything to Illmatic but all his jams have at least flashes of greatness on them, all worth owning. How sick were the JayZ dis records that crushed him with Ether and ended the beef with Made U Look?
Yea, CD, NY State of Mind is the Jam.
"I'ma addict for sneakers, twenties of buddah and bitches with beepers
In the streets I can greet ya, about blunts I teach ya
Inhale deep like the words of my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times
Nothing's equivalent, to the new york state of mind"
the fact that i'm gonna see the brother live on tuesday night here in stocktown (home of the original head scratchers). It's gonna be LIVE...Nas, Mos Def, De la Soul on the same stage, is a thing of beauty, and to top it of, a couple of friends of mine, are going to stay up all night, watchin' CNN on the bigscreen, and see ya'll elect Barack Obama (hope i don't jinx it) Prez of the US. Now Hows THAT for an election night coverage. Nas' unadulterated comments ringin' in my left ear. Mos Defs classic Ms Fat booty in my right ear. Almost makes me cry....i've seen nas maybe 4 times now, de la a couple of times also, but mos has always eluded me, i've always had something else to do... midterms, work, one time the brother got sick and had to cancel. I was dissapointed to say the least.
Now, As for Illmatic, it's simple...Nas, Jay (check out dead presidents) , Biggie (Machine gun funk), and alot of other hiphop greats have all had their first albums blessed by one man. If u a head, u know....it's that simple. Primo's beats have always mezmerized, and i count him as one of the greats...probably the greatest producer in the five boroughs. His jazzy but yet raw sound, is a perfect complement to a rapper like nas...eloquent...but not to softspoken, Hood, but in a sophisticated way.
In my own opinion, he was always one level higher, when he did collabos with other artists than Guru ( i know, it's sacraligious to say so, but hey...it's post millenium baybeeee...gotta keep it real)
Regarding my favourite track...i can't decide, seriously...i can't...it's been bugging me for 10 years now...first time someone asked me, i narrowed it down to 3 songs...
represent...because of the hook..
Memory Lane, lyrics pleeeeease
NY State of mind...because of it's status as a hiphop classic.
TNC....can u help me....i need to come to closure with this issue...
As for reminiscing...ms fat booty....i know...it's late 90's...but hey...if u've ever dated a girl like this...scratch that....every man should date a girl like this...
listen below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwp1A7mrmYs&feature=related
Yo, in she came with the same type game
The type of girl givin out the fake cell phone and name
Big fame, she like cats with big thangs
Jewels chip, money clip, phone flip, the six range
I seen her on the ave, spotted her more than once
Ass so fat that you could see it from the front
She spot me like paparazzi; shot me a glance
in that catwoman stance with the fat booty pants, Hot damn!
What's your name love, where you came from?
Neck and wrist blazed up, very little make-up
The swims at the Reebok gym tone your frame up
Is sugar and spice the only thing that you made of?
I tried to play it low key but couldn't keep it down
Asked her to dance she was like "Yo, I'm leavin now"
"You ass, went from jaz to hangin with caine, to herb, to big
And, eminem murdered you on your own shit
You a dick-ridin faggot, you love the attention
Queens niggas run you niggas, ask russell simmons
Ha, r-o-c get gunned up and clapped quick
J.j. evans get gunned up and clapped quick
Your whole damn record label gunned up and clapped quick
Shaun carter to jay-z, damn you on jaz dick
So little shortys gettin gunned up and clapped quick
How much of biggies rhymes is gon come out your fat lips?
Wanted to be on every last one of my classics
You pop shit, apologize, nigga, just ask kiss"
And I gotta say, TNC did what he set out to in The Beautiful Struggle...he created a new language, half-literary, half-hip hop. And as cool as this blog is, the truth is that TNC has got a great novel in there somewhere that's got to be let loose...
Sitting in the Park is the jam, pure greatness, but I take issue with all those who say Nas never lived up to Illmatic. People who say that just stopped listening to the man. Yes, Nastradamus was weak, but...even in that misguided album, there are lyrics that are amazing. That's why Nas is remixed so much, DJs take tracks with weak beats and flip them, and suddenly you realize there's a masterpiece you missed...because with the lyrics, Nas has always had it.
The latest album is pretty amazing stuff...
But if you love Memory Lane, you gotta check out all the remixes of Hope, the final track of Hip Hop is Dead, that Nas released without a beat, as straight acapella, and what's more hip hop than that?
Lyrics from Hope (though just as easily could be from a scene from The Beautiful Struggle):
"I was nine, coldest winter I remember
Was slippin' in December, two feet of snow
Yeah, that's the East Coast, that black ice
Symbolized the rap life
It was slick and smooth
I understood I had to come from the hood
Doin' the Pee Wee Herman, the Smurf
Before them phones chirped
The block's drugs flowin', didn't have your own work
You had to have somebody else's, a small chrome on your pelvis
Starter Jacket, Blue Georgetown or Green Celtic
Your girl's too expensive, she wants shellfish
Red Lobster was poppin', standin' on that line forever
I wish somebody would step on my Bally leather's
Now it's whatever...
hip-hop's forever"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/507186826117ea98/
And for the true aficionados, check:
Nas interview/freestyle from 1994 Stretch and Bobbito show:
]]>That was real nice dude! Keep those links coming!
long time ago i heard Bobbito too!
Like Pun said you aint even in me clasa....
Jeff, Love the Wu. Protect ya Neck is my all time get ready to jack someone up jam but like he says in Classic..(wish Kayne wasn't on this track) or in Re: to JayZ please refer back to Ether :P
"Oh you went platinum? Yeah, that's nice
Now let me see you do the same thing twice
Three times, four times, then a couple of mo' times"
Spit-take! Plenty of love for the Wu-Tang, but dissing the beats on Illmatic is like saying Velázquez is tired because Picasso is more exciting.
Sure, there's a difference between Illmatic and those other albums you mentioned. For the most part, they all had a single production team creating a specific, innovative sound particularly for that artist. Nas did something different; he got several top or up-and-coming producers to contribute a track or two, and they each turned in some of their best work.
So Illmatic doesn't deliver a unified, groundbreaking sonic palette, but (to this layman's ears) it's still the pinnacle of the early/mid 90's New York party sound.
To this day I have some dear friends versed in hip-hop who hate on Nas. I only hate on, like, everything he ever did after Illmatic, and only really because it all paled in comparison. That album was a perfect piece -- as people have said upthread -- and to my ears it still listens fresh and new to this day. My favorites are "The World is Yours" and "NY State of Mind," which I actually commented on late in the Kool G Rap thread last week: http://tinyurl.com/5ncz6t
In similar spirit, here's a recent song that reminded me of "Memory Lane" [the topic of this post] as soon as I heard it. It's Lady Sovereign doing "Those Were the Days." It's not at the same exalted level of hip-hop artistry but it has lovely energy and recapitulates familiar themes with a UK flavor and setting: http://tinyurl.com/56xumu
Anyway, Ta-Nehisi, thank you for sharing the influence "Memory Lane" has on your book. You definitely achieved that effect. Respect!
]]>My best advice to anyone buying the lil wayne CD is to buy two and throw them both away! :P
]]>Hilarious suggestion for Lil Wayne cds.
I really don't think Reasonable Doubt is on the same level as Illmatic. Besides Nas' obvious lyrical superiority, the beats are just incredible and it is such a great listen from start to finish. Reasonable Doubt is solid, but it has a lot of filler. Illmatic is short but oh so sweet.
]]>I don't really get the hate for Dyson at all. Can I get some examples of what makes him a fraud?
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