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A couple tracks might sonically resemble inferior versions of years-old tracks that helped make Nas a hip-hop deity and, nearly ten years after Nas was first accused of selling out, he might still sound a little awkward over radio-friendly productions. But the MC has never made an album as engrossing or as necessary as this one.
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From "Project Roach," where Nas says that the NAACP's burial of "n*gger" was pointless, to "Untitled," which discusses Louis Farrakhan's role in America, the Queens MC impresses his listener while provoking social and political thought.
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The new album, immersed in a soul-funk sound with guest spots from the Stylistics and the Last Poets, is contradictory at times, but the idea of building hope through about an hour's worth of music supersedes any effort to brew controversy.
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Like a professor spewing a semi-clever lecture on civil rights and contemporary left politics where he’s pretty good at rhyming his facts but acts like rhyming is all the sinew that his presentation needs to connect the bones of his argument.
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Brilliantly sequenced, the album reaches a euphoric climax with the "Yes, we can change the world" hook of 'Black President,' a close cousin of Lupe Fiasco's 'Superstar.'
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Mixing his ear for hits, like single ‘Hero’, with the political eloquence that marks the record out, this ought to be the album that promotes Nas back up into the super leagues that 1994’s "Illmatic" originally shot him into.
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It's refreshing to hear a complicated record that doesn't shy from grown-up ambition.
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Those who care not only about hip-hop but the culture it reflects and shapes will find Nasir Jones' latest the most intriguing, provocative and ultimately troubling album released this year.
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Ho & bling free rap of the highest thought provoking order.
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More often than not, though, Nas offers windy whines instead of innovative ideas.
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The beats beat Green Lantern's. And what the finale has to say about Obama is so sane I may just check out van Sertima myself.
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Taking a tip from William Cooper’s conspiracy theory tracts, Nas deftly delivers attention-grabbing rhymes with a sickly slick flow yet offers little backup for his inflammatory insinuations in the way of persuasive substance.
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As ever, this most eloquent of rappers is stronger on zingers than philosophical coherence. But his dismal taste in beats strands his poetry in a sea of mediocrity.
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Unfortunately, no amount of slick beats and swagger can camouflage Untitled’s defects.
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On Untitled you get to decide whether you prefer Nas thoroughly exploring half-assed concepts or half-assedly exploring thorough concepts.
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"Illmatic" was stylistically brilliant and incalculably influential, but Untitled is a more mature, emotionally-driven, and philosophically-complex piece of work. It’s also a masterpiece.
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Even if the music isn't extraordinary, Nas himself is legendary on "Untitled" - and as long as racism is relevant, so is this album.
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This is a sprawling, furious, deeply ambivalent theme album about institutional racism, the failures of black leadership and the pathologies and promise of early-21st-century African-American life.
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The lyrics are all terrific; the beats, not so much.
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Untitled is far from terrible, but it's still a deflating, disappointing, infuriating listen.
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Nas finds a wonderful groove in its final third, as the rapper takes a break from heady theorizing to rap allegorically from the perspective of a cockroach and pens a love song to fried chicken.
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For every moment of clarity on this album, there’s an eyebrow-archer to match.
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The WireUnfortunately, for all the insight, this willingness to play victim often overshadows the incisiveness of the MC's observations when it come to the beats he has chosen to rail over. [Sep 2008, p.66]
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Ultimately, Nas’ decision to sacrifice lyrical and aesthetic sensibility for controversy, hype, and pop-appeal exposes the commodification and hollowness of his artistic voice and vision.
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Controversy aside, without any truly addictive tracks, you can't consider Nas's latest among his greatest. But it's hard not to appreciate the effort.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 128 out of 154
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Mixed: 13 out of 154
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Negative: 13 out of 154
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SeanLSep 4, 2008
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EmH.Jul 20, 2008
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Will******Jul 16, 2008