Featuring Nas - Which is Better??

As Raekwon's new album Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang is about to drop officially, I thought this was appropriate. This highly anticpated track featuring Nas of which a snippet was released a while back is available in full now. The song, called "Rich & Black" has Chef and God's Son trading bars over a track dominated by a haunting string section.

But, I knew I had heard Nas spit on that beat before. I thought back not too long ago, and remembered Sha Stimuli had a ridiculously dope track w/ Nas on his Overtime tape called "Horrorglyphics" which I played over and over. I went back and listened. Yep, same track. Also featuring Nas. And the approach was the same w/ the two MCs going back and forth.

Nas' lyrics weren't all the same, but he did use some of the same lines on each.

So here are both songs. Which one do you like better??

I heard Sha's first (and many many more times at this point), so I'm gonna go w/ Sha. Plus, his title is better. I'd have to recommend both though.

Immortal Technique & Nas

Today I was looking at the Facebook page of a DJ from overseas. A guy had posted a question asking him what he thought of Immortal Technique. OK. But, then he gave it a weird twist by asking him to compare the MC to Nas. That seemed kind of random, and even foolish, but got me to thinking anyway.

It seems obvious to me that even the biggest Immortal Technique fan wouldn't tout him as being above Nas. Not skill-wise, anyway. But, there are some aspects of the two's respective styles that could be compared. First, of course would be the political nature of the rhymes. Both speak on the immediate socio-political issues looking them in the face everyday in their neighborhoods. This content is identifiable to their peers, but at the same time it challenges those people, as well as others outside of that experience to think about the cause and effect of things like gentrification and drug laws on low-income communities. Immortal Technique seems to expand his view further though, speaking on international situations, especially those relating to America's dealings with, and treatment of other countries - which he exposes as often secret and hypocritical. However, Nas seems to have taken a broader approach most recently on his joint album (no pun intended) with Damian Marley.

I would say that Nas has a more approachable style as well because he doesn't have the same harsh, beat-you-over-the-head-with-what-I'm-saying style that Tech has. Nas usually has a message, but it's woven in with other thoughts and tales of a regular person with multiple daily experiences and even contradictions in his own life. Tech is more narrowly defined at this point as a hardcore, revolutionary, politically-motivated MC. That's his focus. And, if you read about his story, you can see why, or rather how this came to be. And, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's not wrong to want to make your music be about something. But, while I am interested to hear what he has to say, because he is so specific in his approach all the time I gotta be honest and say that sometimes I'm just not in the mood. There was a time, especially during Bush's second term in the white house that I could (and did) have an album like Revolutionary Vol.2 on repeat. But, usually I much rather prefer MCs that are educated and have a message, but allow it to fit into their rhymes of everyday life. That's just my style. But, in Technique's realm of rhymes there's really no one that can touch him, Dead Prez included.

When it comes to flow, I just find Nas' gift of putting words together to be better and more interesting when it comes to breaking down the lines. Tech is much more direct, and not as creative poetically - though his story-telling skills are potent as evidenced by "Dance With The Devil" and several others.

There's no doubt that Immortal Technique is a dope MC and a man using the culture he is a part of to further an important message and hopefully mobilize a nation full of complacent citizens into action in many forms. Nas, on the other hand is a street poet. A man with many sides (which he displays in songs) that also takes on the responsibility of reporting to a larger world the things going on in his.

In the end, we should thank hip hop for both MCs as they both bring a lot to the table and make this art form interesting with every rhyme. Both are MCs I can't wait to hear every time I see a new song/album out that they have done. I hope they both continue to make music for a long time.

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Nike SB Presents:

A recent post of mine commented on Nike's credible use of Hip Hop in some of their ad campaigns. You can read it here. Well, here they are again. This time promoting skater Paul Rodriguez's (son of the comedian of the same name) shoe with along with a voiceover by Nas while his song "Hero" serves as the soundtrack.

Here is Nike's announcement:

"Nike SB is proud to announce the global launch of the Zoom Paul Rodriguez 4 on 8/21/2010. This year we brought Paul to New York to hit the streets and spend time in the studio with one of his idols, hip-hop legend NAS. The result is a 60-second commercial, directed by Nike SB’s own Jon Humphries, following Paul’s journey through iconic New York City skate spots, accompanied by music and a voiceover from Nas."

The Making Of Distant Relatives

Here's some great behind-the-scenes footage of Nas & Damian Marley recording their album, Distant Relatives. It's nice to see that they were actually in the studio together. Not enough collaborations are done this way anymore, and it's noticeable in the songs a lot of the time.

Victory

Here's a song I've been feeling a lot lately and been repeating continuously since I got it. "Victory" by Nas feat. John Legend. The wordplay on this is really nice and, in that respect, has Nas doing a big favor for Khaled by not just giving him some leftover shit.

I'm kind of annoyed, just because it's from "DJ" Khaled's album. I'm not sure what he does, I'm not sure what makes him a DJ. Maybe he doesn't mean like a hip hop DJ is a DJ. Maybe he means like a disc jockey you hear on the radio that talks a little bit and then plays a record (I do that in my living room, so I guess that means I'm a DJ).

The track is produced by The Inkredibles (who I'm not crazy about on the whole), so maybe Khaled just paid for the studio time or something, so he could put it on his bullshit album. And if you have seen the tracklisting, you know it's bullshit. But, this here is definitely worth listening to. YouTube link is below, and lyrics to the verse are below that. I'd say it's probably worth it just to download this off iTunes, and forget the actual album.



Speedboats, three tokes and pass it
Grass lit, hittin’ slopes in Aspen
No coat, just an oath to stay thorough ’til we back to ashes
Driven in fly sedans to the MGM Grand
Picture lots of sand, two blondes, implants
Remy in hand, we tryna tan, deal my cards with an honest hand
A modest man, aware of any con or scam
Palm trees, magnum Don Ps, LV monograms
Hottest girls flew from Rio
Mojitos, mucho frio, my libido
Sex so strong, without the E though
Hollow threats, we don’t see those
Higher death toll whenever we roll
That process is pivotal
My pitiful poverty struck criminals will get a Jew
Then we lounge in a Spanish-style house
‘Til it all blows over, Dolce Gabbana'd out
Contemplatin’, there is no bond with Satan
Say a little prayer for me like Aretha Franklin
For my hustlers, here’s some motivation
He who has begun is half done, why you waitin’?
I’m too impatient to pray, too much patience for stress
It’s too much paper to rest, fuck around, you face death
I know some niggas from Astoria
That’ll cut your daughter up
Like I used to cut a quarter up
Makin’ all the bucks, banana clips I bought in Georgia bucks
Kill all you fucks, easy
I be on the golf cart, sleepy
Y’all beneath me
Y’all be at the pawn shop, pawnin’ watches
Obnoxious, can’t stop us, we shottas
Say you killin’ Pablo? Impossible
Nonsense, preposterous, bizarre at best
Unfulfilled promises
I feel intelligence is my wealth
However, how enormous is Nas’ pockets is a pop quiz to gossipers
See me at the Oscars, lookin’ dreamy, hood opulent
Means esoteric, how I wore it
Exoticness makes you curious to see how serious my closet is
Shareholders wanna invest in that Nas stock, it’s just
We be on that real shit, luxury four-wheel shit
Niggas actin’ thirst on some just-got-a-deal shit
Ha, for that victory we will kill shit
Get out the way, playboy, this is real shit