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Sep 18, 2020Nas is more ruminative and measured, like he's found his stride again, even as he flagrantly contradicts himself and waylays men and women with relationship advice that rings hollow. Going strictly by the conviction and feeling in each line, King's Disease is the MC's best work since 2008.
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Aug 26, 2020‘The King’s Disease’ finds Nas grappling with a raft of contradictions, contrasting the opulence of his lifestyle with the need for vitality in his message. It’s not perfect, but it’s less an end product, and more the search for creative process – by the end, you become convinced the Queens rapper has found his throne.
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Aug 26, 2020From start to finish, this album ceases to stray from its main concept, and Nas doesn’t have to sacrifice the quality of his music to do so. Primarily produced by Hit-Boy, King’s Disease delivers a feel appropriate for the times and hits the mark as being one of the better rap albums of the year.
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Aug 31, 2020King's Disease is a record that's occasionally swollen with too many ideas, backed up by lazy rhymes and unsavoury politics. Thankfully, with impeccable production overseen by executive producer Hit-Boy and bolstered by a slew of excellent guest features, Nas overcomes these pain points to pull together his most satisfying project in close to a decade.
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Aug 31, 2020The creative process seems more organized and thought out, allowing Nas to do all the things he’s good at, without embellishing any of them.
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Aug 26, 2020The album is stuffed with this kind of lyrical proficiency, which demands high levels of dissection. ‘King’s Disease’ is an acutely perceptive and culturally relevant body of work that finds its author willing to try out new ideas. There’s a genuine conversation to be had about whether it’s the best rap album of the year so far.
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Aug 27, 2020The new album marks a retreat into a nostalgia-act comfort zone—one which suits Nas, even as it yields diminishing returns.
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Aug 26, 2020The biggest missed opportunity lies in Nas’ inability to reach beyond the ambitious presentation found in everything surrounding the lyrics. He’s entertaining in spurts, but much like his “godly” contemporary Jay-Z, one has to wonder if what he says ever really matters on “King’s Disease” any more.
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Aug 27, 2020At its best, King’s Disease is a slick Illmatic redux, a fresh portrait of Nas’ now-mythical hustler years that expands his Queensbridge universe with new characters and anecdotes and finds him in vintage form as a rapper and storyteller. At its worst, it is a misguided attempt to paper over abuse allegations and a stark showcase of his increasingly questionable politics when it comes to women. 26 years after Illmatic, Nas still has room to grow.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 65 out of 79
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Mixed: 2 out of 79
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Negative: 12 out of 79
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Aug 30, 2020
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Aug 29, 2020
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Aug 28, 2020Beautifully crafted. Lyrical and production works at its best. Shout out to Nas and Hit-Boy.