I can't believe both of you missed the greatest intro bar in Hip-Hop history! "Freedom or jail, clip's inserted, a baby's being born Same time a man is murdered, the beginning and end"
Rakim/nas are pretty much responsible from for changing rap from that 80s run dmc style to what rap was from 90s-now with people like j cole, Eminem, Kendrick, etc. You can find a real old jay z songs and hear him change his style to sound more like nas. Which nas talks about in his diss towards jay z, Ether. Nas, your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper.
It was more Rakim, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane and KRS 1. Nas was the first branch from that tree to go on and become the strongest, oldest and healthiest branch. He has sprouted more healthy branches than any others who came from those roots.
@@pfeiffdog0811bdk in my top 3 definitely a pioneer I usually jus call him the blueprint when tryna explain to niggas how he helped lay shit out for the guys who stepped on the scene late down the line ..
Great reaction fellas. You should definitely check out “Take it in blood” and “The Message” both from Nas 2nd album It was Written. Keep up the good work tho.
Nas is the Goat easy here go songs to listen too. It ain't hard to tell New York state of mind Ether Rewind Street dreams Made you look 2nd childhood Gave you power Fetus
Well done for checking out Nas, lads. If you want more, you can't go wrong with his first 2 albums - illmatic and It Was Written - both are up there with the best hip hop albums of all time and he's firmly in the GOAT debate. For me he's #1, but with the very best it's down to personal preference anyway. Past his first 2 which are 10/10s, other top notch albums are: Stillmatic, Lost Tapes, God's Son, Distant Relatives (with Damian Marley), King's Disease 2 and Magic - all 9/10s IMO. Life is Good is an 8.5/10. Street's Disciple, Hip Hop is Dead, Untitled, Lost Tapes 2 and King's DIsease 1 are all 7.5/10s. Other ones inbetrween those are also decent, but I'm giving you the best ones. If you want the newer stuff go with KD2 and Magic, if you want to start from the old days go with Illmatic and continue from there.
NaS has some of the most creative Tracks & Albums in Hip-Hop history: One Love - POV of Letter I Gave You Power - POV of Gun Last Words - POV of Jail Cell Project Windows - POV of Kid looking out a Project Window Sekou Story/Live Now - Rhymes as female Fetus - POV of Fetus Dance - Best Hip-Hop track Dedicated to a Mother! Book of Rhymes - POV of pages in book Rewind - Spits story backwards Project Roach - POV of Roach Fried Chicken - Just genius vision Daughters - Every father to a baby girl can relate Concept Albums: Hip Hop Is Dead - Sounds better Today! Untitled Album - Will always remain relevant due to its content! Distant Relatives - Beautiful Africa Vibe! Life Is Good - 1st Adult Hip-Hop Album!
Y’all get a follow. Bump out more Nas reactions especially cuz y’all need and I’m here for it. Nas is the greatest….y’all just legit scratched the surface
Omg lol, nas is from queensbridge. I wouldn’t say he’s “black power”. He just talks about his life and things he sees. Illmatic is his first album and the best rap album ever. It set the standard for what we see today. Nas was the first to rap the way everyone raps now. The first to sing on his own hook. The first to use his childhood photo as his album covers. He inspired Tupac and biggie with illmatic. Song like she’s so many tears and juicy sounded like nas songs at the time. He was the first to work with different producers. He is the blueprint for how rappers rap, even today. Before nas, rappers in the 80s were more pop or rock sounding. Nas used heavy samples, loops. He was the first to do it and EVERYONE copied. Today it’s the standard of rap, rap about real life, use samples, singing your own hooks. Just try to imagine the only rap that was out was run dmc, ll cool j, nwa. No biggie, no pac, no ice cube (post nwa). And then you hear a song like “one love” for the first time. The video was simple, just him and his friends in queenbridge, no concept. That’s hard for a new artists back then to pull off. The samples on illmatic are crazy, no one was rapping over samples. He was rapping over Michael jacksons human nature. Listen to “street dreams”, people thought it was weird for him to sing his own hook. Now they do it all the time. That’s the reason why he still raps on records with young rappers today and not look old and lame. It’s style his style, it’s just evolved now.
I was 18 in 1997. Man we lived the best life. But also I wish I was 18 now so I could hear 90s gems for the first time all over again. It was a Nas on every coast, that sounded totally different from each other. If u was born in 1975 to 1985 you just don't know.
If y’all like NAS y’all need to check out the rap duo called “ MOBB DEEP - Quiet Storm”. They are from the same area as NAS. Subbed. I enjoy when y’all give your thoughts and input on things in your life the song reminds you of. Keep it up.
damn i feel like a real OG. i'm from the south bronx and moved to queens bridge when i was 13. that's where nas is from. mobb deep too among others. calling this music old school now is the truth, just makes me feel a certain way.
4:53 It really was like that though. Life was rough back then compared to today. Most people stay inside on the internet these days but we were literally out in the streets because we had nothing to do. That's why there were more fights, drive-bys, and shootouts back then. It was wild asf.
Bro enjoyed ur reaction. Nas is a legend. .. amongst others in the 90s ... one of the not reacted much to artists of that time and by the way still blowin smoke ... is apathy ... he got mad history ... its a catalog for eons ... but he dont get the utube treatment like he deserves ... react to new england royalty ... he drops bars of platinum and he has soooo much more. Looking forward to yall reacts .. jedi mind tricks ... army of the pharoahs ... demigodz ... fire fire fire
Yo DJ Premier and Nas....Them two have done some sweet joints....I like the reactions....This era was on point....XClan, BDP(My Philosophy), AZ, Ol Skool LL joints, Rakim, Nore, FatJoe, Big Pun, LOX, too many to name....Just the keep them reactions coming...💯💯💯💯💯💯
I applaud y’all for taking the time to do homework, that’s ill. I feel like Nas is getting his props from the younger generation and that makes me happy. I’m only 30 myself, still younger, was a kid when he was in his prime, but to have witnessed his prime was amazing. His debut dropped when I was 2 years old lol 😂.
I love that you guys wanna learn more about the foundations. If you like this, you are gonna love hundreds of gems. So much good shit. Especially if you're not up on 2pac, nas, Biggie, Jay even early snoop
I like what you Kings are doing. Suggestion: play song all the way through (at least verse by verse) and then give brief reaction. Hip Hop is official and NAS is the GREATEST! Yall stay positive, 💯
New subscribe here (and longtime hip hop head) great reaction! Made me shed a tear with that word for word acapella of "today was a good day" that was dope and uplifting to see. Anyway here are a few old school classics you definitely want to check out: AZ- "Sugar Hill" Notorious B.I.G- "sky's the limit" OC- "time's up" Black Moon-"Buck em down" Gangstarr-"Full Clip" Krs-one-" MC's act like they don't know" Kool G Rap "take em to war"
“Today was a good day” by ice cube was also a song that used nas flow. The old school sample, talking about his day, storytelling. Nas did it first, ice cube didn’t initially rap like that. A lot of people changed their flow after illmatic. If you want to learn, just explore. I was a baby when illmatic came out. Just explore and read about hip hop history and you’ll find a lot of stuff. The 90s was about getting money but the 90s was very violent, less credit card scams and more shooting/mugging 😂 lol crime rate was way higher than it is now, so you would not have wanted to live like this back then. I watched a nas documentary and they showed a picture of him and his friends/neighbors around the time illmatic came out and everyone is dead, doing life, doing 15, dead. It was very sad, nas said if he hadn’t done music he’d probably be like everyone else in that picture. This is a rap video lol don’t let the rap videos fool you. When nas says he saw fiends sniffing cocaine he was not lying, he grew up in the crack epidemic, it slowed down in the 90s but it was still there. Where he is now is not a backdrop or random area, it’s actually the projects he lived in. The samples on this song are samples of his own voice from the Illmatic album. Sorry I’m writing so much but I just listened to illmatic for the first time like a week ago and now I’m obsessed with nas. I didn’t know all this about his influence until now. I knew he was a great rapper but like you guys I never fully listened to his music. I haven’t listened to tupacs earlier stuff or Lauren hill. I just take time out my day and listen to music I hear about but never heard for myself.
Pretty much agree with everything you wrote except for Ice Cube emulating Nas flow. It Was A Good Day came out in 1992. Illmatic dropped in 1994 so if anything it's the other way around.
One of yall said you listen to Mobb Deep. I'm gonna assume you haven't gone all the way through Mobb's catalog bc you would've heard Nas multiple times by now. I suggest "Eye For An Eye" and "It's Mine" by Mobb Deep. Both songs feature Nas.
🔥 reaction. If you do dig into Nas' earlier music, you may want to look at the lyrics. I'd suggest "One Love" by Nas or "Just A Moment" by Nas ft. Quan. As far as Pac goes, he has a song for everybody lol. Yall probably know the big songs so check out "Heavy In the Game", "Letter 2 My Unborn", "Thugz Mansion", or "Hail Mary" by 2Pac.
Y'all should check out AZ, he was Nas' partner back in the day and he's dope in his own right. Check out his song "The Come Up", make sure it's the dirty version
SMH....ya;ll have no idea what ya'll have been missing...lol dam!! He literally has some of the greatest albums of all time...He is considered by many if not all the Greatest of all time...What rock have ya'll been sleeping under?!! He has too many to name.....Start with Illmatic....It ain't hard to tell, The world is yours, the world is yours remix one love all have videos to review and react too....This is absolutely astonishing that ya'll haven't listened to the greatest lyrics of hiphop ever!! I mean that literally..he has atleast 5 or 6 classics albums with an untold amount of classic verses...
@@HBKSHOW1 in all honesty and seriousness ...you could start with the first verse he ever spit at age 16....on a song called "live at the bbq" by main source. There is a video of a live show in NYC back when it came out highlighting Nas verse. Then his second verse ever on a song called "Back to the grill again" smh both classic verses at age 16 and 17....y'all have to do this man .. But if you wanna go straight son "It ain't hard to tell" video was the first single off Illmatic....💪🏾👏🏾🙌🏾
Fellas, I love your NRG and quest to learn. Excuse the length, but I'm so excited to see two young kings interested in learning more about the culture and the legends that proceeded you. Below, you'll find some backstory along w/few gems to listen to and possibly do a reaction. Since you've listened to Nas, you gotta check out classics like Rewind, Made U Look, Nasty, Get Down, Nah I Mean (w/Damian Marley), Don't Body Yourself (50 cent diss) & Ether to deepen your appreciation...dude is off the charts! However, before Nas, the self-proclaimed God-Son & title of 114th Surah (chapter) in the Holy Quran, came the God MC, Rakim Allah. When you listen to his flow and content, I trust you'll see why he's titled as the GOD MC. He literally spits different and many credit him (incl. myself) with changing the course of rap & dividing the timeline between before and after Rakim. (Backstory) He was part of the 5% Nation which believes among other things in the metaphysical manifestation of God in man form. Their leader, Clarence 13x broke off from the Nation of Islam & started his sect in Harlem NY around 1963/4, ultimately spreading throughout the 5 boroughs. As it increased in popularity, it began to influence the rap culture mostly in the 80s & 90s. For context, some of the culture's greatest artists like Erykah Badu, Wu Tang, Busta Rhymes, Mos Def, Public Enemy, Jay Z, Nas, Brand Nubians, Gangstarr (Guru), Big Daddy Kane, Poor Righteous Teachers and more were either influenced or part of the movement at some point in time. You'll find many references to Black Consciousness, the Divinity of the Black Man, Supreme Wisdom, Mathematics and samples of the Most Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan throughout their music. Anyway, pull up any of the following & listen but I recommend starting with his masterpiece...Holy Are You..pure heat! Others include - I Know You Got Soul, Eric B for President, It's Been A long Time, Microphone Fiend, When I be on Da Mic, Lyrics of Fury, Move Da Crowd & Don't Sweat the Technique, Classic (w/KRS 1, Nas and DJ Premier), Addictive, & the Watcher 2 (Dr. Dre, Jay-Z & Rakim). Before Rakim, rap was elementary and very linear & predictable in structure with a single rhyme at the end of every sentence i.e. Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, LL, Kool Mo Dee etc. After Rakim, the style of rap changed forever and became infinitely more intricate with multiple rhymes in a sentence & an element of unpredictability where a listener, couldn't finish the rhyme on their own before the artist. Finally, given that you love Biggie and slick talk, please peep Fred da Godson...He's much more contemporary but had the illest metaphors and double/triple entendres ever in my book! Unfortunately, we lost him in 2020 to Covid at the young age of 35. Peep his iconic freestyle on Flex, BET Backroom and Talkin Bout Money...listen closely til you recognize the depth of his wordplay. Also peep his Guerrilla Glue album with Joell Ortiz...simply mind blowin'... I recommend...Move Da Crowd (Rakim and Eric B beat), Feliz Navidad, Outstanding and Murder One. Finally peep Talk Dat and Can't Stop the Rain collabos he did with Joell and Graph respectively. Between the three, I rank em in this order Rakim, Nas and then Fred. They each have their own God flow & you can tell they're a cut above their competition (IMO). Final note:...I've seen no reactions to many of these timeless tracks esp. the Guerilla Glue project. They could present a nice opportunity for you fellas to 👀❤🔥& make more content. Can't wait to see where you guys take it from here! Enjoy!
