Die Another Day

Crafting another eulogy for hip-hop, Nas breeds a few improbable near-masterpieces

A A A Comments By Michael Spies Tuesday, Dec 12 2006

Twelve years ago, Common declared hip-hop a mangled, barely living whore he pledged to resuscitate. Nas now declares that whore deceased. "Everyone sound the same/Commercialized the game," he complains on Hip Hop Is Dead's title track, buttressed by will.i.am's improbably vicious Iron Butterfly sample. Nas's eighth record (and first for Def Jam) is a Dante-channeling journey through the many diverse facets of hip-hop, highlighted by the Dr. Dre–produced "QB Tru G's," wherein Nas—supported with a simple, eerie synth line and a verse from the Game—re-establishes both his street credibility and his status as hip-hop royalty. Elsewhere, "Black Republican" is a gripping Jay-Z collaboration with a dissonant string arrangement and a harsh reappraisal of the American Dream in the ghetto. These ideas are hardly novel, of course, but Nas pulls them off as if they were.

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Hip Hop Is Dead
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At record's end, "Can't Forget About You" offers us a nostalgia-fused how-I-fell-in-love-with-hip-hop retrospective that's dangerously close to a masterpiece, will.i.am's sample of Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable" improbably anchoring a beat of both beauty and depth. The hook, sung by Chrisette Michele, is a gorgeous melody that could easily pass for a Billie Holiday sample, and Nas, like the imagist he is, contemplates something more peaceful than death: "There comes a day in your life when you want to kick back/Straw hat on the porch when you old perhaps." We had a good run for a while. No tears now. It's time to start over.

Nas plays Nokia Theatre Times Square December 22, nokiatheatrenyc.com.

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