by
Samori Swygert
www.facebook.com/thegemix/
A few weeks ago, rapper Nas noted that he was tired of the nostalgic admiration of his debut album, ILLMATIC. This album was released April 19, 1994, and it brought Nas much acclaim, notoriety, praise, and anchored him in HipHop history. The album debuted with only 10 tracks.
Fast-foward to 2019, Nas has pumped out a diverse catalogue from full LPs to Best of Albums, to an EP with Kanye West, and another round of his Lost Tapes series. Nas has been a highly debated artist since his arrival on the over-crowded and highly competitive HipHop scene. Nas has survived career-ending industry beefs, he’s outlasted several industry trends, gimmicks, and styles.
This Queensbridge King, seems to operate with his own pace, mystique, and walks to the beat of his own drum. We’re not even talking about his success in the business arena with the Queensbridge Venture Partners. What is it about Nas’s lyrical DNA that keeps him relevant and resonating with the people?
I think part of the answer is that he has a unique ability to master being INTROSPECTIVE, RETROSPECTIVE, and INNOVATIVE. He also masters the technique of PERSONIFICATION. Personification is a writing technique in which the writer places themself in the position of another person or thing and narrates life from that perspective. That is unique, AND THEN TO MAKE IT RHYME!
These literary gifts are in addition to the gritty street stories, cool persona, intellectual, and spiritual positions he takes. Nas then tops of his rhymes with the historical wisdom of an elder statesman. Nas is like (no pun intended) a well trained tour guide as he narrates the past so vividly and graphically when he gets retrospective. Nas is like a Verbal-photographer. He also becomes like Morpheus in the Matrix when he goes introspective and shares his thoughts, how he thinks, and what governs his judgement. When he gets innovative, he leaves you amazed at how he arrived at a final masterpiece from 1 single idea, or leaves you wondering, “what made you think of that?”
Nas is not just a “rapper”, he is one of the 20th and 21st century great literary mentalists.
Below are 15 songs that Nas wrote throughout his career, and ARE NOT ON ILLMATIC!
- Money is my bitch- I Am (1999)
- I gave you power- It was written (1996)
- Sekou Story- Streets Disciple
- Who killed it?- HipHop is Dead (2006)
- Rewind- Stillmatic (2001)
- 2nd Childhood- Stillmatic (2001)
- Last Words- Nastradamus (1999)
- World’s an addiction- Life is Good (2012)
- Back When- Life is Good (2012)
- Doo Rags- The Lost Tapes (2002)
- A New World- Nastradamus (1999)
- Fetus- The Lost Tapes (2002)
- Poppa was a Playa- The Lost Tapes (2002)
- Project Window- Nastradamus (1999)
- One Mic- Stillmatic (2001)
