Nas Album: “The Lost Tapes [PA]”

I'll say it if no one else will.

1. Doo Rags (*****)

2. My Way (****)

3. U Gotta Love It (****)

4. Nothing Lasts Forever (****)

5. No Idea's Original (*****)

6. Blaze A (***)

7. Everybody's Crazy (****)

8. Purple (*****)

9. Drunk By Myself (*****)

10. Black Zombie (*****)

11. Poppa Was A Playa (*****)

12. Fetus (*****)

BUY IT NOW.

It's hard to rate this album-- It's chocked full of classic Nas tracks from "Doo Rags" to the older "Poppa Was A Player" and "Fetus," which makes it essentially his best album (if you wanna call it an album) since Illmatic. Still, I can't help but feel like there was more great material that didn't see the light of day here (a Vol. 2 maybe?). When it comes down to it, excellent unreleased Nas joints like "Rise And Fall," "Sometimes I Wonder," "Among Kings," "Blackness" ect. still remain unreleased. These tracks could've easily fit on the album here, especially in the place of "No Idea's Original" and "Everybody's Crazy," both of which were released already on the special edition version of Stillmatic, and also are the only two sub-par tracks here. Don't get me wrong, this album is great-- I'm just spoiled and have heard everything that could've been here-- and the absence of some of it is disappointing.

I can't think of a track on this LP that's below perfection. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect to The Lost Tapes is that it contains several tracks that should've and were originally planned to be put on his "Nastradamus" album in autumn 1999.

So many reviewers talk of Nas being at his lyrical low point or being just uninspired in the late 1990s -- which couldn't be further from the truth. This album proves that!

Personal favorites include "Poppa Was a Playa," "U Gotta Love It," "Doo Rags," "Everybody's Crazy," and "Purple."

Of all the Nas albums, this is probably the one to bump in ya ride (check out the basslines in 90 percent of these tracks).

This album makes me wonder if most artists really record 40-75 songs for every album before whittling it down to 15-20, why oh why can't they include their hottest 15-20 on each LP like they used to do back in tha day?

Highly recommded Nas album for all hip hop fans ... right up there with Illmatic and Stillmatic as a part of the definitive Nas collection!

When "Doo Rags" jumped off, I knew it was golden. I knew he had returned despite rumors of falling off mentally from the mountain of Hip Hop's finest. This is my favorite joint on the album, yet that fact will not detract from all the bangin' that remains. "Purple" smokes like a 3 alarm fire, making me believe in the art of this once again. This review will cover the basics in order to allow you to understand its worth: beats, flows and lasting appeal.

Beats:

Maybe these aren't as commercially sound as his other CDs, but they don't have to be, because he brings it together with his rhymes. I think the beats are dark, but they give the album its atmosphere. I figured it was the whole point, because it's just not a kick it album, dig? "No Idea's Original" should be an anthem along with "Blaze A 50".

Flows:

He is, without a doubt, one of the top 10 to hold a microphone ever. Ever since I heard him on "Verbal Intercourse", I knew he was on point. Nas is a street poet, a renaissance wonder who makes most rappers shake when he steps in the room. The man is intimidating and deep as well, and it comes through in his rhymes. "Black Zombies" shows that he has love for his people, even though we are going in the wrong direction socially. He shines on "Doo Rags" with the hook "Doo rags is back/fitted hats knockers and furs/Rikers Island bus is still packed/what's the word/the drinkers stay drinkin' and puffin' the herb/while I'm still enjoyin' life's ride, right? One of the coldest hands down.

Lasting Appeal:

Nas has created a classic with this along with Illmatic, which in my opinion, are his best albums. He can't be faded, and if you don't have this album, you're slipping. I don't think cats really know he put this album out, because I haven't heard much about it, but it's here, so pick it up. This album will still get crystallized while Nelly's next CD is forgotten along with a host of other fantasy rhyme artists. Grab God's Son and Illmatic if you don't have them.

~ Ward Prefect

This album is everything I expect from Nas plus more. New neverheard before tracks including new-sounding Fetus are straight fire!