Nas and Damian Marley Introduce 'Distant Relatives,' the Badly Needed Edu-tainment Hip-hop Album

Stereotypes bother me, especially the ones I hear from people who have no real proof of why they say what they do. I recall an episode of "The Michael Baisden Show" about polygamy and comedian George Wilborn made some blatantly disrespectful comments about Africa. Unfortunately, he's not alone in his theories about the entire continent looking like something out of "The Flintstones" cartoon. This is why I appreciate universities like Chicago State and artists like AfroFlow and now Nas and Damian Marley to speak on the real truth of the Motherland. "Distant Relatives" is one of the best collaborative albums I've heard in quite some time, blending hip-hop with reggae with African sounds to make it a beautiful piece of work.

"Distant Relatives" has the soul of Damian Marley, the thought-provoking lyrics of mastermind lyricist Nas and crazy beats. Too many times more conscious music with substantial lyrics has the worst beats (ex. Rakim's "The Seventh Seal," Grandmaster Flash's "The Bridge" and most of KRS One's albums). I'll take a CD with impressive lyrics over a CD with mediocre rhyming and impressive beats any day. But considering I'm listening to music, why not have both? Too many times I have to give up one to get the other, but every once in awhile I dig up some gold and my mind gets a little bit richer.

After Nas' tirade of using the word "nigger" repeatedly, I'd calmed down on listening to his music although I have almost all of his CDs. If not for seeing Damian Marley and Nas on "The Mo'Nique Show," I definitely would not have picked this album up. But after watching their stage appeal, I had to know what else was on "Distant Relatives."

"As We Enter" starts off high energy and hard, letting listeners know what we need to prepare ourselves for with the next 12 songs. This track was fun because they're almost battle rapping, finishing each other's sentences and the beat is bass heavy with chants in the background. "Tribes at War" starts off aggressive, intense and as expected, has a tribal sound to it. Nas reflects on why it is African-Americans as well as Muslims are so against each other when we should be helping, not hurting.

"Strong Will Continue" and "My Generations" are inspirational. "My Generations" has Nas' "I Can" feel to it, and "Strong Will Continue" is "I Can" for adults. However, Nas snapped about alimony, child support, promiscuity, dating and scandalous women at the end of this song. I don't think his ex-wives or ex-girlfriends are going to like this one, but he definitely caught my attention.

"My Generations" will hold more weight though. I remember almost crying watching my nephew onstage with his graduating peers while they rapped "I Can" a few years ago. I hope someone else can experience that with "My Generations." Surprisingly Lil' Wayne was very positive on this track and I enjoyed his verse the most, especially the "I don't even look at the flag the same" part.

"Leaders" topic matter is about the obvious, but I loved this song because society spends so much time talking about people we don't like. This one paid homage to those who are to be respected, those who make impacts on our lives and even brought up the Jena Six and men of power being lynched. It's a laid-back track, but the content is anything but that.

"Friends" is the usual story about betrayal from those who were supposed to be friends and appreciating those who stuck around for the good and bad in a relationsihp. But when Nas speculated on making folks millionaires and specifically pointing out he wasn't talking about "ghetto riches," I wondered if he was coming for record execs or studio rappers. And of course fake gangstas were clowned before the song was over. My favorite part was Nas spitting "No jealousies, no tendencies, we expect it/No gossip, no phony logic, no counting your homie pocket." Of course Damian Marley sang the chorus and brought blues to it. I love his voice.

"Count Your Blessings" was a hot track to me, and coming from someone who is agnostic, this may be extremely surprising. But Damian Marley crooned about things to be fortunate for and to stop worrying about what someone else had. No matter what your spiritual beliefs are, anybody can respect the fortunate moments in their lives. "Count Your Blessings" is one of those songs that should make people realize what they do have instead of what they don't have. My favorite Marley line is "If you've got someone who miss you, man, count your blessings." When Obama's health care reform bill (now law) goes into effect, a whole lot of people should be singing with Marley on "I've got new health insurance/I've got strength and endurance/ So I count my blessings."

The beat on "Dispear" is absolutely Damian Marley's time to shine. He came hard on this track, especially around 3:15. The sound of a sword coming out in the middle of the beat was clever. Best line from Marley "They keep on suppressing the humble man's opinion" followed later on with telling listeners he "will not be ignored."

"Land of Promise" was definitely Marley-influenced, heavily influenced by reggae. I heard the shout-out to Chicago to Chad. If I make it to Africa by the time I turn 30 (my new goal courtesy of the late reporter Bob Ellison, an exceptional man), I'd like to find out why the two were compared. From what I read, the Republic of Chad doesn't sound too hot, but I take tourist descriptions with a grain of salt. This is exactly why I like this song though. How many times in hip-hop music do we actually have to do research about the lyrics? How often do we find out about the "promised land" that is the reason for hip-hop's creation today?

"Nah Mean" reminded me of one of my favorite Nas tracks "I Wanna Talk To" with Marley singing, "Yo Mr. Minister, why you being sinister? Yo yo Mr. President, what you doing for my residence?"

"In His Own Words" and "Patience" were also excellent tracks. I wanted to hold up my lit cell phone and wave my hands in the air to them. Those will be crowd favorites in small concert settings. but "Africa Must Wake Up" left the lasting impression that this collabo needed to end with an even bigger bang.

This was an album badly needed to prove hip-hop can be educational and entertaining at the same time. There are few artists who even attempt to pull this off. I'd like to see more.

"Distant Relatives" is an easy 5 out of 5 stars.