NaS - Untitled

[ACF]

First, it's "Amager", not "Amanger" 
Or "ACF" for short, if you like.

I really don't know who NaS' audience is.
Sure, some may be children.
I really don't know.
I'm merely referring to his lyrics.

Do you remember how the world reacted to
a certain Elvis Aaaron Presley?
Where would (rock) music be today without
him? I'm not comparing Elvis to NaS, I'm
just saying it's foolish to think that one
man can be so very bad for the youth.

Sorry about the misspelling.  I corrected it.

One man can be that bad when you look at the audience behind him. 

I do remember the Elvis hysteria and the Beatles as well.  I will say you're reaching if you think "I wanna hold your hand" or "Return to Sender"  had the kind of anti-everything social message that gangsta rappers bring to a much younger and less educated audience than Elvis did.   

You're forgiven 

All I'm saying is this:
I think you have to differentiate
NaS from the tons of gangsta rappers
out there. He may use some of the same
words but that doesn't make him a bad
person per se.
Take a look at these lyrics, if you will:

http://www.lyricsondemand.com/n/naslyrics/icanlyrics.html

Sure, they may contain curse words but
isn't the overall message a positive one?
See, that's where I draw the line between
a gangsta rapper and one who clearly thinks
about the world and his surroundings...

As far as Elvis goes, I was thinking
of his hip-shaking which was outrageous
at the time.

[MBz]

Ah I agree on Common and Talib as well.  It be nice to have real hip hop on the radio.

[miraclejohan]

Good post, miraclejohan.

I also believe that most of the people listening to this type of product aren't smart enough to sift through the lyrics to find any positive message that the artist might be trying to put forth.  

Thanks, skyhook. 

I think your biggest argument lies with the audience.  I agree wholeheartedly that people, in general, don't give enough attention to the messages put forth in music, let alone rap lyrics.  But is that Nas's fault?  If the blame lies outside of the indivudal listener, I believe the music industry is more to blame than individual artists.  The industry, including record labels, radio, tv, etc, is the machine set on keeping the negative, materialistic, misogynistic, violent messages alive because those are the messages which have been producing sales since before Nas, before Biggie and Tupac, before 50 cent, before NWA and Public Enemy....its the culture of money in this country that keeps negative messages alive.  That's my humble opinion, anyway. 

I think Nas has done alot recently to combat the negative stereotypes that have define rap and hip hop for the past decade.  His song "Hip Hop is Dead" speaks to that quite eloquently"

"Everybody sounds the same, commercialized the game/
Reminiscent when it wasn't all business/
We forgot where it started/
So we all gather here for the dearly departed/
Hip hopper since a toddler/
One homeboy became and man then a mobster/
If it dies let me get my last swig of vodka/
RIP donate your lungs to a rasta/
We went from turntables to MP3s/
From Beat Street to commercials for Mickey D's/
 From gold cables to Jacobs/
From plain facials to Botox and face lifts..."

Still I am wondering what type of music you enjoy? 

[Finkelskyhook]

Didn't answer your question.

I play in a band that plays mostly 70s and 80s rock and roll, blues, and Tex-Mex.  All of us incorporate a little of our own stuff.  Mine is keyboard oriented because that's my background.  My work, if I could make a real off the wall analogy, is ala a real poor man's (maybe a homeless man's) Jack Johnson using keyboard instead of guitars. 

Your lyrics below your last post..Not bad. If NaS could still sell his work without resorting to profanity and the other words I wonder if he'd do it.  The problem is that this music is so easy to stereotype when the good guys (as some people see them) and the bad guys use the same divisive words to get their message across.  Regardless of what their message is supposed to be.  It makes the difference between the good and bad messages almost impossible to decipher.

[miraclejohan]

Didn't answer your question.

I play in a band that plays mostly 70s and 80s rock and roll, blues, and Tex-Mex.  All of us incorporate a little of our own stuff.  Mine is keyboard oriented because that's my background.  My work, if I could make a real off the wall analogy, is ala a real poor man's (maybe a homeless man's) Jack Johnson using keyboard instead of guitars. 

Your lyrics below your last post..Not bad. If NaS could still sell his work without resorting to profanity and the other words I wonder if he'd do it.  The problem is that this music is so easy to stereotype when the good guys (as some people see them) and the bad guys use the same divisive words to get their message across.  Regardless of what their message is supposed to be.  It makes the difference between the good and bad messages almost impossible to decipher.

Thanks, skyhook.  I get your point, and still think the onus lies on the listener, not the artist, especially since you are yourself distinguishing between "good guys" and "bad guys."  In any event, best of luck with your band!  And for goodness sakes, have Fun!

[Celtic Justice]

I find it hard to like a compilation of "music" where when you buy the edited version there are no lyrics.

Don't buy the edited version then.  lol  If your looking for music where you don't have to hear swears then NaS probably isn't the guy for you.  But if you can get over that then his music might have a positive effect on you.

   Please enlighten me.  How exactly does it do that??  I listened to that little "song" full of crap above and it sounded like prototype hate-filled gangsta garbage.  There's nothing positive, amazing, or musical about compiling hate-filled racist sexist words in a nursery rhyme format and yelling them to synthesized bass.  

I guess to each his own.  I guess it would have a positive effect on me if my goal was to join a gang.

Sorry your right.  It probably won't have a positive effect on you.  Not if you listen to it with pre-concieved notions that all it is "gangsta garbage".  It would however have a significant effect on you if you grew up in that culture or lifestyle (which I am guessing you didn't) or if you cared at all or were interested in urban society.  He is talking about some of the main problems with the world today and he discusses many issues that a lot of people are too scared (or just don't care enough) to talk about.  If it's too harsh for you to listen too (which it is for a lot of people) then skip over it.

Also I bet you have never tried rapping huh?  Try screaming into a synthesized bass and then listen to how it sounds.  It's not as easy as you think.

Please, shookones, give me an example of a word, a phrase, or a sentence ( )  in the bilge above that inspires you in a positive way.  What, exactly, does it inspire you to do or be?  I listened to it one more time and can't figure out what you're talking about.

As a musician, after listening to it twice, I perfected the fake "music" using the fake synthesised bass sound on my keyboard.  It's not hard.  It requires literally no musical skill.  I'll admit that it would take me a lot longer to do the hate-filled racist sexist anti-everything words in the standard nursery-rhyme format because my mind isn't wired to promote public mayhem.  (For the record, Shookones, I lived in and worked in an urban society for 10 years.  I saw how the "leaders" and "music" inspired the culture to perpetuate the hate, violence, and poverty.  Without it, the purveyors of hate are nothing.)  I took a huge pay cut to get my family the hell out of it.  But my mind got a huge pay raise.  Shouting and spitting hate into a mic, I guess, is above my musical skill level.  So I anxiously await how anything I heard above inspires any positive action.

I must be real old.  I remember when the Sugarhill Gang made listening to rap fun. 

I'm a musician also, and produceing hip hop is not as easy as it may seem.  i actually play in a metal band and have an acoustic folk project, but ive worked with hip hop, and its not easy, and while some of it is garbage, imo, there are a lot of hip hop artist with lots of substance to their music.  Nas is one of those guys.  His new album is great, he's a very intelligent guy.  Please give it a chance and try to see what he's saying before bad mouthing it.  the entire album, listen to it from beginning to end.  and for anyone interested, u can check out some of my musical projects ill post the links below

http://www.myspace.com/acr

http://www.myspace.com/abreaction1

http://www.myspace.com/justicemetalproject

[Evantime34]

I find it hard to like a compilation of "music" where when you buy the edited version there are no lyrics.

Don't buy the edited version then.  lol  If your looking for music where you don't have to hear swears then NaS probably isn't the guy for you.  But if you can get over that then his music might have a positive effect on you.

   Please enlighten me.  How exactly does it do that??  I listened to that little "song" full of crap above and it sounded like prototype hate-filled gangsta garbage.  There's nothing positive, amazing, or musical about compiling hate-filled racist sexist words in a nursery rhyme format and yelling them to synthesized bass.  

I guess to each his own.  I guess it would have a positive effect on me if my goal was to join a gang.

Sorry your right.  It probably won't have a positive effect on you.  Not if you listen to it with pre-concieved notions that all it is "gangsta garbage".  It would however have a significant effect on you if you grew up in that culture or lifestyle (which I am guessing you didn't) or if you cared at all or were interested in urban society.  He is talking about some of the main problems with the world today and he discusses many issues that a lot of people are too scared (or just don't care enough) to talk about.  If it's too harsh for you to listen too (which it is for a lot of people) then skip over it.

Also I bet you have never tried rapping huh?  Try screaming into a synthesized bass and then listen to how it sounds.  It's not as easy as you think.

Please, shookones, give me an example of a word, a phrase, or a sentence ( )  in the bilge above that inspires you in a positive way.  What, exactly, does it inspire you to do or be?  I listened to it one more time and can't figure out what you're talking about.

As a musician, after listening to it twice, I perfected the fake "music" using the fake synthesised bass sound on my keyboard.  It's not hard.  It requires literally no musical skill.  I'll admit that it would take me a lot longer to do the hate-filled racist sexist anti-everything words in the standard nursery-rhyme format because my mind isn't wired to promote public mayhem.  (For the record, Shookones, I lived in and worked in an urban society for 10 years.  I saw how the "leaders" and "music" inspired the culture to perpetuate the hate, violence, and poverty.  Without it, the purveyors of hate are nothing.)  I took a huge pay cut to get my family the hell out of it.  But my mind got a huge pay raise.  Shouting and spitting hate into a mic, I guess, is above my musical skill level.  So I anxiously await how anything I heard above inspires any positive action.

I must be real old.  I remember when the Sugarhill Gang made listening to rap fun. 

I guess you are real old because you apparently don't remember what sugar hill gang was rapping about. Rappers delight is a song about objectifying women, talking about material possessions (most of which they don't own) and how great they are as rappers. That sounds a lot like the problems you have with Nas album. Rap isn't for everyone, if you don't like it then don't listen to it, but there is no reason to dismiss it as fake and easy to make. The sentiment about beats and samples being fake is one brought about in the late 70's early 80's before rap was taken as a legitimate art form. If you still are from that school of thought (one that every music critic has long abandoned) then your frame of mind is real old.

[dark_lord]

I know that there are some Wu-Tang fans on this site.  But I was wondering what people thought about the new NaS album.  I personally think it is amazing.  Not neccesarilly in terms of pure ability (which we all know NaS is not lacking) but mostly just the content of the album.

What do you guys think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahoQh5BrdFA

i thought the album was pretty good, but nothing amazing.  there are a few good tracks and alot of creative rhymes, but it just didnt get me excited.  unfortunately, it has done what most nas' albums have done....left me thinking he is capable of better, even when the cd is pretty good.  he set the bar so high for himself with illmatic.

[chrismihm]

agreed.  its pretty incredible to think he made that album at 19 or so years old.  the production was incredible and he didnt have quite the ego yet.  that album is, in my opinion, the best hip-hop album ever

[swebb87]

Good post, miraclejohan.

I'd like to see a lot more of all of those things both in the urban communities and in this genre.  I wasn't willing to put my children at risk waiting for it to happen.   Because whether they intend it or not, (I believe they do) the words and actions of most urban community leaders and rappers promote are anything but positive.  I also believe that most of the people listening to this type of product aren't smart enough to sift through the lyrics to find any positive message that the artist might be trying to put forth. 

Maybe it takes all of the profanity and racist terminology to sell the product to get the positive message out?  Seems like an oxymoron to me.  I'm not willing to put myself through all of the hate to get to the positive message.

But your post was excellent and appreciated. 

I really don't think cursin' is all
that bad. Sure, we don't do it in
front of children, because they'll
learn soon enough anyway.
But words are not dangerous, IMO.
It's the people that take the words
and twist them to fit whatever belief
they may have that are dangerous.

Amager, did you happen to look behind Mr Nas and see who his audience is?
The sort of look like children to me.  Mr Nas doesn't have any trouble cussing in front of them.  Think they're getting Mr Nas' deep imaginative positive message?

See, stuff like that gets me so irritated. It's pretty ignorant calling Nas' music racist when you assume whoever listens to it is too dumb to get the messages, when you don't even get them yourself! And if they aren't smart enough, why? Maybe it's because of the terrible and unfunded schools they might go to in the inner city. That's the type of stuff Nas gets into in his music, but all you hear is the cuss words and assume it's all bigotry. It's a shame.