A Review of Street's Disciple, Nas' Seventh Album

The past couple of years prior to this release had been something of an artistic renaissance for Nas. Releasing two albums and a compilation album that the public deemed worthy of his abilities, Nas decided to return to an earlier experiment: the double album. Reinventing himself now as the Street's Disciple from a line from Main Source's Live at the BBQ, in 2004, he released a double disc of the same name.

It's hard to maintain listener interest for two hours, especially as a solo artist. Many rappers, such as Tupac, and Jay-Z employed a plethora of features on their own work (23 for Jay-Z's The Blueprint 2: The Gift and The Curse(read review), and a staggering 43 for Tupac's All Eyez on Me). Nas only employs 12, only two of whom actually rap, but still does an admirable job of maintaining interest, largely because he makes few commercial concessions. Instead, the album is a wildly creative work that hearkens back to some of his most innovative work on The Lost Tapes and God's Son(read review), and the passion of Stillmatic (read review).

Every trick in Nas' ample repertoire is employed, notably storytelling and poetic lyricism. The ample is audacious in its ambitions; it may be his Ulysees. Records such as Nazareth Savage and Suicide Bounce provoke as much by their lyrics as by their titles. Beginning with the leadoff single, The Thief's Theme, the title drawn from a line from Illmatic's The World is Yours, Nas provides insight into criminal activity over a rumbling rock sample. This in fact, is the major theme of the album: Nas has been a disciple of the streets; this is the veteran distilling wisdom to the youth, about politics, the black community, street lessons, or universal truths. It's not the punch line heavy opus his debut was (then again nothing ever will be), but it's in its way, every bit as vivid, particularly songs like Reason and the title track.

There are plenty of pleasant surprises here, including Unauthorized Biography of Rakim, which pays tribute to the East Coast pioneer, and Bridging the Gap, which deftly retraces the history of black music. But the biggest surprise here is a pair of songs, Live Now and Sekou Story, which showcase the Queensbridge rapper's creativity. Nas raps on each as both himself and as the female flame of a paramour, using vocal effects to sound female. It's a flawless performance and as the liner notes credit the female vocals to a rapper named Scarlett, it's easy to be fooled. Much like earlier tracks, such as Book of Rhymes and Rewind, Nas on these tracks displays why he is still one of today most exciting emcees.

Still it's not a perfect album. There are misfires, like Getting Married, which recalls I Am's (read review) tired K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Suicide Bounce is marred by overly complex lyrics, and The Makings of a Perfect B---- is just bizarre. But the misfires pale in comparison tothe successes, and if some tracks fall somewhere in-between, they still are part of a rich tapestry of work that should not be overlooked by either Nas fans or hip-hop fans in general.

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