- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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The WireJul 26, 2018Nasir comes closest to being an unqualified success. Those still hoping for the return of ruthless adolescent Nasty Nas will be disappointed--although recent allegations of spousal abuse from ex-wife Kelis cast a troubling shadow--but his voice is thick with middle-aged grit and gravitas. [Aug 2018, p.63]
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Jun 26, 2018The two music minds came up with a project that wavers between brilliant synergy and occasionally uninspired filler.
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Jun 19, 2018There are some slight missteps, like West’s tedious hook on Everything, but Nasir proves Nas’ ongoing relevance as one of New York’s biggest living rappers, with the best overall production and best quality control since Illmatic: the curse may finally be lifting.
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Jun 21, 2018When you factor in all its dexterity, randomness and overall generality, it’s hard to truly believe NASIR was the album he had been cerebrally building these past six years. No, this isn’t “grown man Hip Hop” to bring balance back to whatever the younger generation of mainstream rappers are doing at the moment; nor will it ever reside in the upper echelon of the living legend’s catalog. It is, however, imperfect fine art.
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Jun 20, 2018The writing is so meandering and mechanical that little here feels intentional, even the gaps. And strangely, that’s the bittersweet takeaway: Nas the meticulous observer has been supplanted by Nas the nervous rambler. It doesn’t feel like an accident.
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Jun 18, 2018The real issue with Nasir is Nas, who seems to have taken it upon himself to become as mercurial as his producer, his rhymes shifting from acute, powerful indictments of racism to stuff that makes no sense, or seems to be there purely for the purposes of provocation.
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Jun 16, 2018Whilst stylistically Nasir may well have plenty of strong moments, its contradictions make it a difficult, problematic listen: it’s the silences on here which so often deafen.
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Jun 20, 2018Songs like this [“Adam and Eve”]--and “Stay” from Life is Good--suggest that Nas might’ve done better had he picked slower, more melancholic beats and rapped like the elder statesman he is, rather than whatever we actually got on the record.
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Aug 3, 2018A prevailing quantity of the tracks is either forgettable or regrettable. Nas often sounds unenthused.
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Jun 25, 2018The musical performances by West and his collaborators alone are able to save Nasir from total disaster and do warrant a listen. But as for Nas, he's left completely overshadowed.
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Jun 21, 2018Although its brighter moments ("Adam and Eve," "Cops Shot the Kid") save it from being a complete fall from grace, overall Nasir is disappointingly heedless. Hopefully his next effort is more honest.
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Jun 20, 2018NASIR is the weakest of the recent Kanye output, though perhaps more consistent than ye it fails to put a dent in the current hip hop conversation, feeling especially limp in comparison to the sudden arrival of a one-time nemesis and his wife.
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Jun 18, 2018Nasir is among the weakest Nas albums, but there’s nothing spectacular about its failure. It is, simply, the one thing Nas has avoided being all these years, through revolutionary highs and car-crash lows: dull.
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Jun 26, 2018His lyricism, though timely at points, is largely impersonal if not flat-out pedestrian and makes NASIR the first album in Nas’ catalog that Nas has failed to show up for.
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MojoJul 23, 2018A major step up, until Nas fluffs the rhyme ball spouting credulity-testing conspiracies. [Sep 2018, p.96]
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Jun 19, 2018It all rings hollow due to how thinly sketched out the writing and production is. Much of it is awkward, directionless, and, at times, just confusing--showing an artist grasping at a million ideas and hoping to grab one, with none of it being done in any interesting or shrewd way.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 225 out of 305
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Mixed: 47 out of 305
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Negative: 33 out of 305
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Jun 15, 2018
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Jun 16, 2018
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Jun 17, 2018