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It Takes One to Know One

This was a lot of fun; anymore we get to wax poetic about Nas’ albums off of the title alone, no need to actually listen to and review the album. What I heard of his last album though I wasn’t that inspired to hear the rest of it, off of the beats alone which left something to be desired. This time his album is titled; well let’s just say it’s something people say that we need to stop calling ourselves and trying to reclaim and take back from our slave owners. So you can imagine the controversy that alone is creating.

But it makes you wonder, “will I listen to this album”, “should I buy it”? A lot of people on the fence bought Nas’ last album because of the appeal, both positive and negative, that it brought about. This is an album that everyone will have, but no one will be comfortable talking about, and that could be a great thing for Nas. At the end of the day though creative marketing isn’t going to save Nas that much, who is respected artistically but is challenged to move the numbers than the artists who have become more mainstream than him do. Arguably he still sells more than a lot of conscious artists, though some, like Common, and Kanye West (though the thoroughness of his conscious approach is still arguable) may inevitably represent such rap in the future. There is also much to be said when other conscious artists that are somewhat mainstream refuse to even go as far as Nas has, like Talib Kweli and Mos Def, or Little Brother, for example.

Buying the album will be a political statement, and a social one as well; and it wouldn’t surprise me if this doesn’t rank up there with some of Nas’ more popular albums, if for all the wrong reasons though. One thing is sure; either it’s bluntness is an unapologetic selling it for what it is, or this is an album with a controversial title that has nothing at all to do with what it purports …