Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Nas - Life Is Good

Nas. Kid Wave. Escobar Caesar. The Nasty. God's Son. Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones. So much to say. He and BIG introduced me to HipHop. I know it may sound crazy, especially from a white boy from the woods, but they changed my life. I had to trick a little old lady into buying Illmatic for me (because of the explicit lyrics warnings) from the CD store in the mall. I can only imagine the cashier's face wondering why this little white woman was listening to gangster rap. But during a time in my life I listened to that album and Life After Death exclusively. Literally nothing else. To this day I can reproduce all the lyrics, from all the tracks, on either album. I was about 10 years old and had no idea what half the shit meant, but it was all I wanted to hear. Street tales from a different world. Hustle. Two gifted lyricists streaming foreign words together. Men coming from broken homes, broken neighborhoods, broken schools. But they rhymed with a passion and a purpose. They spit soul through their bars. They painted lyrical pictures of their struggle and their climb. To a little 10 year old in Upstate New York they were gods. They led me to other artists like Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Big L, and so many more. Today I post all this music on a random blog hoping maybe someone enjoys it because one day I heard Nas say "I never sleep, because sleep is the cousin of death." So when you listen to this know you are listening to a legend. You are listening to one of, if not the, greatest to ever put words to music. Buy this album.