A Review of Nas' God's Son

It wasn't the kind of comeback you could call a comeback, because, literally Nas hadn't gone anywhere. He remained active from 1996 until 2000 in the rap scene, but most of his work not only failed to meet the nearly impossible standards of his debut, but also, fans and critics noted, were beneath his considerable talents. Who wanted or needed Nas making records for the club or telling apocryphal tales about running organized crime in New York? However, despite the gripes from critics and fans, his output was catchy and sold reasonably well. But his reputation was devolving from elite emcee to generic thug rapper with each release, a fact that was the centerpiece of Jay-Z's vicious diss record The Takeover a year earlier.

But that aroused a fire in the Queensbridge rapper, who responded with the rancorous Ether and the critically acclaimed Stillmatic. In the wake of his resurgent popularity, Columbia Records compiled and released The Lost Tapes and From Illmatic to Stillmatic: The Remixes EP. The latter adds new often inferior beats to a number of Nas classics, mostly from his debut, but serves as a reminder of the potency of his early work. The Lost Tapes however is a collection of mostly brillant tracks from what would have been the rapper's third album. On the heels of these two releases and a rap battle in which the public declared Nas the victor, Nas released his sixth album God's Son to great expectation.

Continuing to eschew the hyperbolic gangster airs of earlier releases, Nas here is the veteran, the sage, and he plays the part well. A consummate storyteller, he establishes his credentials with Last Real N---- Alive, a matter-of-fact recounting of his rap career and earlier rap battles. He provides hard-won insight and wisdom on the Eminem production The Cross. And he continues to edutain with I Can, a song aimed squarely at empowering minority teenagers and instilling pride in their heritage.

The self-aggrandizing tendencies are still here, but, thankfully, considerably tempered. Nas is God's Son, a self-styled revolutionary on songs like The Cross, Thugz Mansion, Revolutionary Warfare, and Warrior's Drum (with Alicia Keyes), but the hyperbole associated with this persona, in contrast to Nas Escobar and Nastradamus, is rarely on display. Further, unlike earlier personas, Nas uses this mask to empower, rather than to boast of how empowering he is. Who else but Nas would release a song like I Can?

The major theme of God's Son is to fight and transcend all obstacles. This is likely inspired at least partially by his war with Jay-Z (and by this point Cam'ron/Dipset, Mobb Deep, N.O.R.E., and Nelly), but moreso by his mother's losing battle with cancer, which he addresses on the intensely personal Dance and strongly alludes to on Heaven, and elsewhere throughout the album.

Taken as a whole, it is a somber, sobering work. But it is not only that: after all Nas did just win the biggest battle since Tupac and Death Row took on the B.I.G. and the rest of the East Coast. Made You Look, the album's lead-off single is an anthemic, chest-thumper with its rousing chorus and not too subtle jabs at Jay-Z throughout. Elsewhere, on the album's bonus disc, Nas teams with Swizz Beatz for the blistering The G.O.D. wherein he proclaims his lyrical dominance, over a too short track.

Even amidst his weaker albums, Nas has never lacked creativity. Rewind of Stillmatic is met with Book of Rhymes-a song composed of verse snippets from aborted Nas songs; the rapper narrates the context for each as he recites them. And Get Down, the album opener, is storytelling at its finest.

There are a couple of misfires: the airy Hey Nas is a throwaway track as is Mastermind, which recalls some of Nas' gangster excesses. And while Nas delivers an excellent verse over the quirky Zone Out, featured guests the Bravehearts can't keep up.

Overall though, this is another excellent entry in Nas' catalogue, a slightly lesser but more mature work than Stillmatic, and as lyrically enthralling as The Lost Tapes. Whatever sparked this sea change in Nas, God's Son shows he has clearly rededicated himself to achieving the highest levels of his craft. No longer is he a generic thug rapper from Queensbridge: he is those things he says he is: poet, sage, and still one of the best in the rap game.

Buy Nas' God's Son here:

Amazon

CD Universe

Buy.com

BarnesandNoble

Borders