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There has never been an artist that has given us consistent and controversial albums than Mr Nasir Jones a.ka Nas. As a seventeen year old Nas gained the attention of the hiphop world with his 1994 debt album Illmatic. The classic five mic album that gave birth to one of the all time greats with respect to rap music.
Fourteen years later we have his latest release titled “Untitled” this album has sparked great debate since October 2007. Politicians T.V networks musicians have all been in the debate. A debate that is bound to continue as a music critic I was intrigued by the whole concept of the album and wondered how Mr Nasir Jones would pull this off.
I decided to take a listen to the album hoping to wander in the world of lyricism and controversy.
The album starts off with “Queens Get The Money” I guess a little Electronica and some word play from Nas “…shaky hands that touch George Foreman same hand that punched down the devils that brought down the towers”. Typical wordplay from Nas that makes you wonder if all rap music was informative the art form would be respected.
Nas has a perspective on history the next song gives us a nice guitar riff with that blues feel. The hook embodies a horn section with a sample quoting the famous black author James Bladwin “…you can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigg*”. Rolling through, the single of the album called Hero is a blast. Its something one can listen to when they going through hard times once again Nas shows his inept respect for history mentioning the great Bob Dylan as a testiment to what music should stand for.
America an unusual title for a song yet Nas paints America with his brush and paint through his words. A truth in many ways describing what goes on in the projects of America the economic situation and some of the terrors America has left in the past. The record continues with the most controversial song on the record Sly Fox. The song talks about how the media especially FOX News is presenting Black America in a wrong way.
Halfway through the album Testify Nigg* Untitled delve into major topics that float on music productions by Mark Batson D.J Toom and Stic Man from Dead Prez.
Mark Ronson the famed music producer with Amy Winehouse appears with nice horns and guitar lines to set up a satire song called Fried Chicken. Busta Rhymes appears on this song showing us why we always loved his flow. The final third of the album features Project Roach a jazzy tune in which Nas uses tools of literature to tell a story of black people. The last two songs “We are not alone” and “Black President” are the perfect tunes to end this concept album. “We are not alone” produced by Stic Man from Dead Prez is a beauty full of soul and a catchy hooky that everyone can sing. We are definitely not alone in this world. Finally “Black President” is a song that features the voice of democratic presidential candidate Barrack Obama.
Overall all this album has knowledge and information for everyone all over the world. The album features language that might prevent some people from listening to it but music is meant to inspire people to do something good and this album does exactly that, so go get yourself a copy. I definitely give it 4.5 stars.

Black President by Nas ft. Johnny Polygon

Tags: album