Most of the topics addressed here have simply been done better elsewhere. This is not just because of its brevity ( Illmatic was only three tracks longer, after all) and because it comes at such a late point in Nas’ career. Its compelling origin story aside, NASIR (released Jvia Mass Appeal Records) will likely go down as a minor entry in its author’s catalogue. The resulting seven-track album is one of multiple fruits of that eyebrow-raising outing, along with the Kanye/Kid Cudi collaboration, Kids See Ghosts, and solo records by Pusha T, Teyana Taylor and West himself. Looking to remedy that negative trend is Kanye West, who invited his occasional collaborator (see “We Major” and “Still Dreaming,” among others) to a group recording session out in Jackson Hole, Wyoming earlier this year. Still, it just hasn’t been the same without one of hip-hop’s titans punching out records with the frequency he demonstrated over the better part of two decades from 1994 onwards.

No new album has emerged from the champion lyricist since 2012’s Life is Good - although, to be fair, he has kept active in plenty of projects in the meantime, including the Netflix productions The Get Down and Rapture. Nas’ NASIR may not be a masterpiece, but the intelligent, highly aware record is an intriguing and welcome return for the long-absent God MC.ĭespite having famously avowed to forever keep his eyes open, on the grounds that “sleep is the cousin of death,” Nas has largely been musically dormant over the last six years.

Nasir album review