Details
Track Listing
1. Money Over Bullsh*T
2. You Can't Kill Me
3. Carry on Tradition
4. Where Are They Now
5. Hip Hop Is Dead - (with Will.I.Am)
6. Who Killed It?
7. Black Republican - (with Jay-Z)
8. Not Going Back - (with Kelis)
9. Still Dreaming - (with Kanye West/Chrisette Michele)
10. Hold Down the Block
11. Blunt Ashes
12. Let There Be Light - (with Tre Williams)
13. Play on Playa - (with Snoop Dogg)
14. Can't Forget About You - (with Chrisette Michele)
15. Hustlers - (with The Game/Marsha Ambrosius)
16. Hope
| Details | | Contributing artists: | Jay-Z, Kanye West, Kelis, Snoop Dogg, The Game | | Producer: | Chris Webber, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, L.E.S., Mark Batson, Nas, Salaam Remi, Scott Storch, Stargate, Will.I.Am, Will.i.am, Wyldfyer | | Distributor: | Universal Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Additional personnel: Marsha Ambrosius, Tre Williams, Chrisette Michele, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Kelis, Snoop Dogg, The Game, Will.I.Am.
Title and all, Nas's eighth solo album clearly intends to spark controversy. But what gives Nasir Jones the right to declare that HIP HOP IS DEAD? For one Nas's 5-mic debut album ILLMATIC represents the best of a by-gone era. Since then he's tried to find his place in the ever-evolving genre, flirting with the mainstream to mixed results, all the while mired in beef with former allies and childhood friends as well industry rivals. The fact that HIP-HOP IS DEAD is the product of his teaming with one of those former(?) rivals, Jay-Z, shows that business trumps beef--as Nas emphasizes on track one, "Money Over Bullshit."
The title cut, with its pounding Iron Butterfly beat and nihilistic lyrics, is profoundly provocative. And while the long-awaited collaboration with Jay-Z on "Black Republicans" will inevitably draw attention, Nas shows he's best on his own--doing his Sam Spade impression in the hard-boiled detective story "Who Killed It"; producing an unapologetic swansong to his hood life in "Not Going Back"; and spitting introspective street poetry in "Can't Forget About You." Nas is past trying to relive his ILLMATIC glory--and that's ultimately the point--yet HIP HOP IS DEAD contains both the gutter ghetto anthems and gritty brilliance that made him a legend in the first place.
Industry Reviews
4 stars out of 5 -- A fully realised, painstakingly compiled assault on hip hop's slide into bling-ridden mediocrity.
Nas' latest opus comprises solid lyrics and layered beats and proves that hip-hip isn't dead, it's just been asleep...
HIP-HOP IS DEAD is a loud, expansive album, packed with brand names and big ideas -- and is arguably the best thing Nas has done since 1996's IT WAS WRITTEN.
[D]enser and more grandiose than the minimalist digital funk heard on rap radio. -- Grade: B
4 stars out of 5 -- Nas never solves the crime, but his point is implicit -- few MCs are taking the artistic chances he does.
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