Nas & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, Distant Relatives
IDJ/Universal Republic

“This one right here is for the people,” announces Nas at the beginning of “Patience.” It’s an ethos that carries throughout Distant Relatives, his long-awaited collaboration with Damian Marley, as the two focus relentlessly on issues political and social, domestic and international. Lyrically, both are at the top of their game, even if many of the tunes – including the excellent “As We Enter” – sound more like chop sessions than full-fledged songs. The music is tasteful and complementary (if slightly bland), making this an intriguingly mature release from the Queensbridge MC and a triumphant post-Jamrock return for “Jr. Gong.”

This essay was posted on Rhapsody.com’s Music Stuff Place blog on May 25. I wrote it for my Rap Is Not Pop column.

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Rap Is Not Pop: Lies, Relatives And Revolutions

Do rappers even rap anymore? When B.o.B’s The Adventures of Bobby Ray debuted at the top of the Billboard charts, it not only divided critics and fans, but led to feverish claims that major labels don’t support straight-up lyricism anymore, at least not without an equal helping of slumming pop vocalists and Auto-Tuned crooning to make it palatable for the American Idol generation. The forthcoming arrival of Drake’s Thank Me Later – which will probably follow Bobby Ray as the second number one hip-hop albums of 2010 – hasn’t dissuaded those concerns, not when the Toronto artist spends his time wooing teenage girls with R&B hooks. Drake doesn’t even rap on his latest single, “Find Your Love.”

Judging from these and other recent albums like Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: End of Day, the vaunted new generation of MCs tends to treat rhyming as just another element in a pop-oriented package. However, Sage Francis’s Li(f)e, Talib Kweli & DJ Hi-Tek’s Revolutions Per Minute, and Nas & Damian Marley’s Distant Relatives prove that rap – or at least music where rapping, not singalong hooks, is the primary focus – can still yield critical and commercial rewards.

Not coincidentally, all three came of age during previous generations. Nas emerged in the “fast rap” era at the start of the 90s. Talib Kweli came of age during the underground renaissance of the mid-90s, and Sage Francis debuted when that renaissance yielded a groundswell of indie artists at the start of the century. Kweli and Nas’ new albums will most likely appear near the top of the charts, disproving industry cynics that claim mainstream listeners – or, more pointedly, teenage girls – don’t buy traditional hip-hop albums anymore.

Distant Relatives isn’t a conventional record. It may be the first major full-length collaboration between a rapper and a reggae artist, and the duo commune on nation-building, from nurturing “Leaders” to vowing that “Strong Will Continue.” Nas’ pointed observations of politics, spirituality, and life are his sharpest since 2006’s Hip Hop is Dead. And when Marley sings and chats in a thick patois on “Tribes at War,” he’s not just spitting hooks for the radio: “Everyone deserves to earn/ Every child deserves to learn/ Each and every one deserve a turn/ Like a flame deserves to burn.”

Mostly produced by Marley and his brother Stephen, Distant Relatives has a reflective, urban Adult Alternative sound, save for a handful of cuts like “As We Enter,” where Nas and Marley trade verses like microphones over an uptempo organ riff. It seems intended for aging B-boys, but assuming that would dismiss young audiences who are just as supportive of topical and so-called “conscious” music. The same could be said of Revolutions Per Minute by Talib Kweli & DJ Hi-Tek a.k.a. Reflection Eternal. It’s surprising how well the two complement each other in spite of not working together since 2000’s Train of Thought. Hi-Tek taps into a cool, soulful vibe that he mostly eschewed over the previous decade and his solo, street-rap oriented Hi-Teknology series. And Kweli uses each track to explore concepts, often jumping between standard battle lines and socio-political themes on the same song. On “In This World,” for example, he asks, “When it comes to rapping, who the baddest dude?” Then, on the next stanza, he addresses the world’s current economic malaise. “This a recession/ What recession, dog?/ We been stressin’.”

Hip-hop is at its best when artists shift from the personal to the universal, whether the former is promoted with braggadocio or the latter is just sloganeering and metaphors. Francis is the least known of this trio, although he records for a major-indie (Anti- Records, a division of Epitaph) and packs nightclubs around the country. He’s often accused of preaching to the converted, and appealing to a white, left-leaning crowd of backpackers. But Li(f)e is not only an argument against conformity and groupthink, but an exercise in self-analysis over wry, sympathetic arrangements performed by post-rock band Califone (and written by the late Sparklehorse, Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie, and others). On “I Was Zero” he admits, “I’m debating the value of a caste system/ Cashback rewards and wars funded by my tax income/ If I’m a part of the problem, then pardon me/ There’s always been a difference between what I am and what I ought to be.” Maybe Francis’ critics don’t like the journey he makes before reaching his conclusions. Or maybe they don’t like the conclusions.

Francis, Kweli, and Nas often get accused of the same things – bad beats, corny punch lines, and nonsensical verses. But the problem may be that we’ve grown used to formulaic rap, the kind that comes with a promise to buy us diamonds and rings, make love to us on satin sheets, and is frequently interrupted by a Trey Songz chorus. These artists’ albums require more imagination than that, and offer torrents of words that, like a good book full of uneven chapters, don’t always add up to hip-hop quotables. The major question of 2010 is whether a mainstream audience can appreciate such complexity anymore.

100. 9th Wonder, God’s Stepson
HipHopSite.com
Released March 2003

9th Wonder inadvertently pioneered the album remix when online retailer Hiphopsite.com obtained a cappella recordings of Nas’ albums, and sought out three producers to rework them with original music. He was the first in the series (Soul Supreme’s Soulmatic and MF Doom’s Nastradoomus would follow), and he chose God’s Son. The resulting God’s Stepson spoke to the creative possibilities of reworking albums from beginning to end, as Ninth honed honing a widely-duplicated approach to soul loops that mirrored Pete Rock’s sounds in their lush, hymnal power. His production sounds sun dazed, turning tracks like Nas’ victorious “Made You Look” salvo against Jay-Z into an unexpectedly wistful rumination. Few have exploited the now de rigeur mashup trend with such grace.

Goofy rap trend of the week: Movie “trailers” for upcoming albums.
I’ll post the others when, uh, I get to it.

Update: B+ tells me that, unlike the recent trailers for Lupe Fiasco and Kid Cudi’s albums, this really is a movie trailer. Video director Nabil Elderkin is making a documentary about the recording of Distant Relatives. So there you go.

The neverending hype machine surrounding Nas’ new album — which has lasted for nearly a year now — will subside when Def Jam releases it on July 15.

The big news is that after months of pressure from his record company and sundry self-styled activists, Nas finally caved in and removed its controversial title, Nigger. “Record stores are gonna have a problem in this day and time selling a record with that title,” he told MTV.com. In a subsequent press statement, he tried to explain why he backed down: “I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. It’s that important. The streets have been waiting for this for a long time. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that Nas has turned into a coward. Back in 2002, Nas was scheduled to headline Hot 97′s Summer Jam, thanks to the widespread belief that he “won” his famous battle against Jay-Z. (Or rather, Jay-Z “lost” by going too far with “Super Ugly.”) Nas allegedly wanted to use a number of props celebrating his “victory,” including a noose and an effigy of Jay-Z. But Hot 97 (WOHT-FM 97.1) wouldn’t allow him to use the props. (Nas denied that he planned to use an effigy and a noose in his performance.)

Angrily, Nas canceled his appearance without an official explanation. He then gave an interview to Hot 97′s rival, Power 105 (WWPR-FM 105.1), and alleged that many of Hot 97′s top DJs, including Angie Martinez and Funkmaster Flex, took bribes from major labels in exchange for playing artists on their shows. “A whole evil empire funded by a bunch of other evil empires, Def Jam is one of them – that’s giving [Hot 97] money to play all they artist records,” Nas, who was signed to Columbia at the time, claimed during the interview.

However, by the end of 2002, Nas retracted his statements in order to promote his then-new album, God’s Son, on Angie Martinez’s highly-rated show. In his analysis of Nas’ surprising shift, Entertainment Weekly Evan Serpick wrote, “It’s a sad week for hip-hop. Tuesday morning, Nas, one of the most talented rappers and outspoken critics on earth, appeared on New York’s Hot 97 radio station and completed his transformation into the biggest sell-out on the planet.”

Worse, a subsequent 2005 investigation led by former New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer revealed that Nas’ allegations were essentially true. (Though Funkmaster Flex has often been accused of participating in pay-for-play schemes, which is illegal, he has never been formally charged.) The investigation would have vindicated Nas — if he had exhibited the courage to stand up for his convictions.

So is Nas’ latest album an honest intellectual endeavor, or a provocative gambit to make money and enhance his stature? It’s probably a little bit of both. With little success as a a singles artist, Nas survives as a major artist by marketing himself as a poet who speaks truth to power. For the most part, it’s paid huge artistic dividends, even when the man himself seems more craven than he wants to admit.

Guests on Nas’ ninth solo album include the Last Poets, the Game, Chris Brown and Busta Rhymes; producers include Cool & Dre, Toomp, Jay Electronica and Salaam Remi. The 17-track disc doesn’t include early mixtape cuts such as “Be a Nigger Too,” but it does have a lead single in “Hero” (with Keri Hilson on the hook). After its July 15 release, Nas will join the Rock the Bells tour.

• 1. “Queens Get the Money”
• 2. “Can’t Stop Us Now” (feat. Eban Thomas from the Stylistics & the Last Poets)
• 3. “Breathe”
• 4. “Make the World Go Round” (feat. Chris Brown & the Game)
• 5. “Hero” (feat. Keri Wilson)
• 6. “America”
• 7. “Sly Fox”
• 8. “Testify”
• 9. “N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave and the Master)”
• 10. “Who Are You?”
• 11. “Untitled”
• 12. “Fried Chicken” (feat. Busta Rhymes)
• 13. “Project Roach” (feat. the Last Poets)
• 14. “Y’all My Niggas”
• 15. “We’re Not Alone” (feat. Mykiel)
• 16. “Black President”
• 17. “Like Me” (bonus track)
• 18. “Proclamation” (iTunes bonus track)

• 7/19: First Midwest Bank Amphitheater, Tinsley Park, IL
• 7/20: Arrow Hall, Toronto, ON
• 7/26: Tweeter Center, Boston, MA
• 7/27: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
• 7/31: Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
• 8/02: Bicentennial Park, Miami, FL
• 8/03: Jones Beach Theater, New York, NY
• 8/08: House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV
• 8/09: Glen Hall Pavilion, Devore, CA
• 8/16: Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
• 8/23: Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater, Englewood, CO
• 9/06: Gorge Amphitheater, Quincy, WA

7/19-7/27, 8/02-8/03, 8/09-9/06: Rock the Bells
7/31: w/Talib Kweli, Jay Electronica

www.nasindependenceday.com
www.myspace.com/nas

By now, every hip-hop fan knows that Nas plans to drop a new album before the year is out, and he’s going to call it Nigger.

Nas has bandied the title since late last year during promotional appearances for his acclaimed 2006 disc, Hip Hop is Dead. According to a Billboard.com story, he changed the title from Nigga to Nigger, presumably to clarify his serious intentions. (With Nigger, he claims that it will be a look at the sordid history of the word itself, not just a clever exploitation of society’s current fondness for the word “nigga.” I think.) Island Def Jam is scheduled to release the album on December 11.

Much like the title of Hip Hop is Dead, Nigger has already generated controversy. Professional blowhard and media whore Al Sharpton told MTV.com that he’s “opposed to anybody using the term.” (Ironically, he made his comments at a preview screening for American Gangster.) More seriously, the Brooklyn Paper reported that New York Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries will exert political pressure to force Universal Music Group’s hand. He said he would try to have New York State withdraw $84 million in investments out of the company if Nas did not change the title.

Judging from comments, essays and articles posted on hundreds of websites, more people have focused on Nas’ ill-timed announcement and the word “nigger” than the implications of censoring him. It was the same fate that befell his last album, Hip Hop is Dead: most people ignored the actual music — a nuanced meditation on maturing as an artist in a genre hellbent on youthful destruction — and instead took the title at face value. Nas may have yet another strong album that goes deeper than its loaded title. But will his fans pay attention this time? As Little Brother once rapped, “nobody’s listening” to the lyrics anymore.

“If Cornel West was making an album called Nigger, they would know he’s got something intellectual to say,” Nas told MTV.com. “To think I’m gonna say something that’s not intellectual is calling me a nigger, and to be called a nigger by Jesse Jackson and the NAACP is counterproductive, counter-revolutionary.”

“We’re taking power [away] from the word,” he continued. “No disrespect to none of them who were part of the civil-rights movement, but some of my n—as in the streets don’t know who [civil-rights activist] Medgar Evers was. I love Medgar Evers, but some of the n—as in the streets don’t know Medgar Evers, they know who Nas is. And to my older people who don’t now who Nas is and who don’t know what a street disciple is, stay outta this mutha—-in’ conversation. We’ll talk to you when we’re ready. Right now, we’re on a whole new movement. We’re taking power [away] from that word.”

Not much is yet known about the music for Nigger yet, except that Nas will reunite with longtime collaborator Salaam Remi. It will arrive only a month after his previously announced Greatest Hits, and will be his first venture solely with Island Def Jam (after the Def Jam/Columbia co-release Hip Hop is Dead).

Stay tuned.

Plug One review: Nas, Hip Hop is Dead

www.myspace.com/nasstillmatic

Did you know that Nas’ longtime relationship with Columbia Records has lasted longer than nearly any other rapper’s? Yes, Nas has been on Columbia for fifteen years, dating back to his 1992 debut single, “Halftime.” Only LL Cool J (20+ years with Def Jam) has had a longer tenure at a single label.

That relationship ends with Nas’ Greatest Hits. When he signed with Def Jam last year, part of the deal is that Columbia would get rights to two more Nas discs, with one — last year’s Hip Hop is Dead — being a co-release. Greatest Hits fulfills his contract with Columbia, and concludes a storied era in hip-hop history.

Scheduled for release on November 6, Greatest Hits contains one new track, “Surviving the Times.” It includes most of his best-known hits, from “Life’s A Bitch” to “I Can.” But fans will have plenty of reason to complain about its dearth of classics, too. Where’s “Halftime”? Where’s “Nas is Like”? Shit, where is “Ether”? Only God’s son knows.

The track listing is below.

• 1. “Surviving The Times”
• 2. “Less than an Hour (Theme from Rush Hour 3)”
• 3. “It Ain’t Hard to Tell”
• 4. “Life’s A Bitch”
• 5. “N.Y. State of Mind”
• 6. “One Love”
• 7. “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)”
• 8. “Street Dreams (remix)” (feat. R. Kelly)
• 9. “Hate Me Now” (feat. Puff Daddy)
• 10. “One Mic”
• 11. “Got Ur Self A…”
• 12. “Made You Look”
• 13. “I Can”
• 14. “Bridging the Gap” (feat. Olu Dara)

Plug One review: Nas, Hip Hop is Dead

www.nasgreatesthits.com

Last fall, when the music industry’s systemic problems finally came home to roost in the form of catastrophic album sales and weak, uneven albums, Nas’s Hip-Hop is Dead was a small glimmer of sunshine. Unlike Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come, the album didn’t trumpet its values through heavy-handed advertising campaigns and glossy singles. It was dense and complex, full of conflicting emotions left open to interpretation. And in the end, the audience responded positively, proving that hip-hop culture isn’t a junkyard for pop culture (as some contend), but an art form capable of insights as profound as any other.

Next month, Nas is taking his revival act on the road. It’s called the “One Man, One Mic, One Night” tour, and kicks off in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 31. Tour dates are below.

Nas’ upcoming tour is the latest project to solidify his recent success. In January, he commissioned a trio of imaginative all-star remixes for his track “Where Are They Now.”

The 80s remix features MC Shan, Raheem from the Furious Five, Doctor Ice, Mixmaster Ice and Kangol Kid from UTFO, Kool Moe Dee, Sha Rock from Funky Four +1 More, Tito from the Fearless Four, Grandmaster Caz, Lin Que, Dana Dane, Pebblee Poo & Just Ice. (For an amazing primer on these artists, check out the blog Wake Your Daughter Up.)

The 90s remix includes Redhead Kingpin, Rob Base, Original Spinderella, Father MC, Monie Love, Mike Gee from the Jungle Brothers, EST from Three Times Dope, Dres from Black Sheep, Das EFX, DoItAll from Lords of the Underground, Chip-Fu from Fu-Schnickens & Positive K.

The West Coast remix stars Breeze, Kam, King Tee, Candyman, Threat, Ice-T, Sir Mix-A-Lot, the Conscious Daughters & DJ Bobcat.

Then, he teamed with Kanye West, Rakim and KRS-One for “Classic.” The single, with versions produced by Rick Rubin and DJ Premier, celebrates the 25th anniversary of the ever-popular Nike brand Air Force One, benefits the Force4Change Fund, a Nike program that helps youth leadership programs.

A word of warning about the tour: Historically speaking, Nas is not a great live performer. (And no, that’s not an oxymoron for rappers). Much like Rakim, the lyricist to whom he’s often compared, Nas has a reputation for rhyming (and lip-synching) over his own tracks and forgetting the words. Dude needs a Teleprompter! Seriously, though, I hope he proves me wrong this time around.

Check out the dates:

• 3/31: University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
• 4/02: House of Blues, Cleveland, OH
• 4/03: Rams Head Live, Baltimore, MD
• 4/05: Norva Theatre, Norfolk, VA
• 4/06: House of Blues, Myrtle Beach, SC
• 4/07: House of Blues, Orlando, FL
• 4/08: Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• 4/10: Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA
• 4/11: Neighborhood Theatre, Charlotte, NC
• 4/13: Love Nightclub, Washington, DC
• 4/14: Matthews Arena, Boston, MA
• 4/15: Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, Providence, RI
• 4/16: Metropolis, Montreal, QC
• 4/17: Kool Haus, Toronto, ON
• 4/19: State Theater, Detroit, MI
• 4/20: Congress Theatre, Chicago, IL
• 4/21: Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI
• 4/22: Myth, Minneapolis, MN
• 4/23: The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
• 4/25: Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO
• 4/26: Harry O’s, Salt Lake City, UT
• 4/29: House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV
• 4/30: House of Blues, Los Angeles, CA
• 5/01: House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
• 5/02: 4th & B, San Diego, CA

www.myspace.com/nas

Nas
Hip-Hop is Dead
Island Def Jam

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Nas is right, ya know. In a society where the individual is little more than a consumer, where truth is subjugated to marketing and hype is accepted as truth, our lives are worth less every day. Art means nothing and entertainment is paramount. But this isn’t a new phenomenon. Nearly everyone accepts this as fact, and almost as many are resigned to do nothing about it. There’s no evidence that this doesn’t apply to Nas. On Hip-Hop is Dead, he uses cultural deterioration as a metaphor for personal loss. If you’re expecting that the album amounts to anything more or less than this, you’ll be disappointed.

The Queensbridge emcee has always been better at telegraphing the details than framing the larger picture. Sure, he can string together a few keen observations that pass as wisdom, but he’s too contradictory and too megalomaniacal to be a leader. The only album where he presented a semi-unified socio-cultural critique was 2004′s underrated Street’s Disciple. On that disk he espoused old-school black separatism: African Americans should shield themselves from white culture, weed out the “acceptable Negroes” and boycott the white man’s politics. As the country was preparing to decide whether or not to give Dubya another four years as the leader of the world, the message didn’t exactly resonate. In a climate where hip-hoppers were encouraged to get involved in mainstream politics, the time wasn’t right for Nas’ message.

If you must find meaning, think of Hip-Hop is Dead as more of a personal eulogy than a public polemic. Nas has lost his youth, which he conveniently conflates with a social movement. To that extent, the most revealing track is “Not Going Back.” It begins with a scene of Nas driving away from a shootout with Kelis in tow. Wifey is hot, claiming that the gun exchange was unnecessary and dangerous. Nas knows this, but he’s still charged, and it’s clear that he resents a life where he is coddled and isolated, where existence is sterile and mundane. He yearns for a return to hood life, but knows that’s impossible. Like most of his listeners, he experiences that life vicariously. He might “buy the projects,” but he’s “not going back.”

The flip side of this dynamic is the excellent “Hold Down the Block.” The despair is in the details. Here, “brothers disappear,” “feds feast on street dons” and “rain hurt niggas bones who been shot.” It’s different from Nas’ other ghetto surveys because the focus is on over-the-hill dons who hold “38s in their forties.” He respects their grind, and enshrines their struggle, but he’s also glad that he’s not in their shoes and wants you to respect that. As he says on “Let There Be Light,” “I can’t sound smart/cuz y’all run away/They say I ain’t hungry no more/And I don’t talk about yay/Like there’s no other way for an ex-hustler/…I beg to differ.”

It’s not surprising that the album’s most viscerally immediate track, “Money over Bullshit,” is largely a technical exercise. Nas reels off images of “scarred grills, skully hats, and gaspy fullies.” He rhymes “pure euphoria” with “death to all y’all,” and calls out “snitches in rap” that get their “tails snapped and trapped.” By the third and final verse, where the QB emcee unleashes his flow, the listener is hypnotized. It doesn’t really matter that the lyrics amount to little more than a litany of money porn, subliminal disses and murder fantasies. It’s “deep by sound alone,” and it doesn’t matter if the themes aren’t original or insightful.

For those in need of the usual rap crit rhetoric, here goes: This is the best New York hip-hop album of the year. Nas’ collaboration with Jay-Z, “Black Republicans,” clinches that. Hip-Hop is Dead also ranks among the best of Nas’ career. It’s certainly no Nastradamus, his only true misstep, and rarely has the emcee been as consistently on point as he is here. Even when he latches onto a bad idea, as on the detective noir allegory, “Who Killed It,” the lyrics are too riveting for one to completely dismiss it. But despite the album’s greatness, fans will be let down. They expect Nas to resurrect Illmatic, something that was always more of an idea than an actuality. Like youth, that era is gone forever.

– Sam Chennault

Three years after The Black Album and his “retirement” from the rap game, Jay-Z finally returns with his 9th album of original material, Kingdom Come. The disc is scheduled for release via Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam on November 21.

The success or failure of these two albums — and Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come in particular — will not only test the commercial potency of mainstream hip-hop, but the solvency of a formula (big-name producers, high-profile guest artists) that has dominated New York rap culture since the Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die in 1994. Will these projects last beyond to-be-expected huge first-week sales (expect Jay-Z to debut with over 500,000 SoundScans)? Will they reaffirm hip-hop as a cultural force to be reckoned with, and not just a fountain of novelty dance hits and lurid tabloid headlines?

Stream: “Show Me What You Got”
Stream: “Where Y’all At”