[Untitled] : Nas : Review : Rolling Stone

Late last year, Nas announced that his new album would be called Nigger, prompting howls of protest from Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the NAACP — a formidable phalanx of opponents, even for one of rap's most hardened battlers. Nas eventually backed down, and the CD now bears no title. But the cover art — an arresting image of the rapper's bare back, lashed with whip marks that form the letter "N" — leaves little doubt about the album's real name.

Still, the music is the farthest thing from shallow provocation. For 15 years, Nas has been the standard-bearer for New York rap traditionalism: a prodigiously skilled lyricist with an old-fashioned commitment to street reportage and a lust for scorched-earth rhyme battle. His main theme has been his inner struggle — torn between the allure of gangstadom and his loftier impulses — but on Untitled, Nas turns his gaze outward. This is a sprawling, furious, deeply ambivalent theme album about institutional racism, the failures of black leadership and the pathologies and promise of early-21st-century African-American life. It is also the closest hip-hop has come to a semiotics seminar — an album-length meditation on the meanings, ambiguities and historical ironies of the n word. In short, it is the most intensely political record since the heyday of Public Enemy and Ice Cube, with Nas sounding as virtuosic as he did on his 1994 debut, Illmatic.

At the center of it all is that incendiary six-letter epithet. In "Y'all My Ni**as," he raps, "We changed the basis of derogatory phrases. . . . Now people are mad if they ain't one." In "Untitled," Nas champions the word as an honorific for all revolutionaries: "Be the resistance/No matter what color you are/Everybody niggas." Throughout, he plays the politically incorrect trickster, resisting easy sloganeering, denouncing Bill O'Reilly on the one hand and hip-hop materialism on the other, gleefully exploiting racist and misogynist minstrel-show stereotypes in songs like "Fried Chicken" and "Project Roach."

Nas has often taken a perverse approach to record production, confessing to interviewers that he avoids memorable hooks because they would distract from his lyrics. Untitled includes tracks from A-listers Cool and Dre, Stargate and Mark Ronson, but the neosoul-flavored sounds and unadorned beats are almost militantly dull. Sometimes, the beats aren't beats at all: "Queens Get the Money" finds Nas freestyling over wan piano filigree, with nary a drum or bass to be heard.

Luckily, the rhymes reward close listening. "N.I.*.*.E.R. (The Slave and the Master)" is an epic packed with vivid details: "I come from the ghetto/Where old black women talk about they sugar level." But Nas is also a fierce battle-rhymer, reeling off punch lines — "I'm over they heads, like a bulimic on a seesaw" — and tight couplets: "You ain't as hot as I is/All of these false prophets is not messiahs/You don't know how high the sky is/The square mileage of Earth, or what pi is."

This talk of messiahs is nothing new. Nas titled his 2002 album God's Son and has often styled himself as rap's savior and martyr. On 2006's Hip Hop Is Dead, he concluded that the genre would perish unless resurrected by . . . Nas. And on Untitled's booming lead single, "Hero" (produced by Polow Da Don), he accuses his record company of something close to crucifixion: "This Universal apartheid/I'm hogtied, the corporate side." Nas' self-righteousness can make his records heavy going. The sanctimony even seems to seep into his flow; his lyrics are often brilliant, but his rapping is unmusical, lacking the joyful swing of his fellow first-tier MCs.

Still, on Untitled, Nas has found subject matter worthy of his grandiosity and his grumpiness. And the album holds a surprise: a song about a savior who isn't Nas. Untitled ends with "Black President," an ode to the man Nas calls a "new, improved JFK": Barack Obama. Fittingly, on a record full of conflicted feelings and complicated politics, the rapper's endorsement is wary and measured: "I'm thinking I can trust this brother."

JODY ROSEN

(Posted: Aug 7, 2008)

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Track List

Play All

Queens Get The Money (track not available in Rhapsody)
You Cant Stop Us Now featuring Eban Thomas, The Last Poets
Breathe
Make The World Go Round featuring Chris Brown, The Game
Hero featuring Keri Hilson
America
Sly Fox
Testify
N.I.*.*.E.R. (The Slave and the Master)
Untitled
Fried Chicken featuring Busta Rhymes (track not available in Rhapsody)
Project Roach featuring The Last Poets
Yall My Ni**as
Were Not Alone featuring Mykel
Black President

Your Turn

Give us your review of Nas

Review 1 of 8

4of 5 Stars

He stays with the N concept/theme but veers off topic Lupe- Like (unnecessary rhyming) Nas was hilarious but Busta needed more time to write his verse in "Fried Chicken". "Black President" piano sounds like Lupe Fiasco's "Hip Hop Saved My Life". Nas was not the first to rebel against the government, and he will not be the last.

Aug 9, 2008 22:17:09

Review 2 of 8

5of 5 Stars

Nas is what hip hop embodies. A tough, real, and most importantly smart human being. His rhymes are so much better than anyone in the game now. This album merely reminds the public who truely is the best rapper in the game. There has been a lot of talk this summer from critics and people alike that lil wayne is now "the best". Calling lil wayne the best rapper in the game is like calling Bush the president in the world. But back to this album, what a masterpiece. Every track is impressive, i'll grant that some are much better than others, but all are better then the crap out now. And unlike every other hip hop album out now, this album has a purpose, a point of view, and isnt all about hos, guns, drugs, and making money. I challange anyone who doubts nas' greatness to listen to this album and compare it to others.

Aug 2, 2008 12:55:27

Review 3 of 8

4of 5 Stars

good album, glad he did politcal thing, this listeners intrigued. i probably rank this in the best records of this year

Jul 26, 2008 05:11:50

Review 4 of 8

Not Rated

It always concerns me when rappers stress freedom and equality. I hope Nas includes the GBLT community in his vision of freedom from bigotry and oppression, although there's no specific reference that I found. (What a surprise!) The rap community is one of the most notoriously bigoted, homophobic groups toward the GBLT community. Preaching for freedom for some and not others is futile. None are free until all are free. But kudos to Nas for creating rhymes that display trenchant ideas and explore critical social issues. It's better than 15 tracks about guns, drugs and tits.

Jul 25, 2008 14:36:46

Review 5 of 8

5of 5 Stars

In a world of underrated and overrated hip hop albums, "Untitled" breaks the mold.

Jul 25, 2008 13:11:43

Review 6 of 8

5of 5 Stars

i really don't know where to begin. nas' album is really good. his rhymin is off the chain, but while there are some flaws with the record, like 'make the world go round', in which guest the game name drops things like polo and jessica simpson, on an album where nas is trying to name drop people like ivan van sertima and reginald f. lewis, i have to say that i love this album, besides some thematic inconsistencies. i believe that this album should have been rated at least four and a half stars for a couple reasons. one would be the fact that rollingstone can give kanye west's graduation and lil wayne's carter 3 both four and a half stars. i would challenge the reviewer to listen to all three albums back to back and then decide which is the best, and rate accordingly. lil wayne is note a better rapper than nas, nor the best, as the rs reviewer claimed. and while kanye does have better beats on average, he is still not a better rapper either. neither artist has put together the final package that nas has either. kanye's beats are tight, adn often better than the independent producers that nas uses, but wayne's are not. his review for c3 should have gotten a whole less star. nas has made some of the best songs of his career with 'fried chicken' 'slave and master' 'untitled' y'all my niggas' and 'testify,' while tracks like 'phone home' and 'misunderstood' off of weezy's album showcase mediocre rapping and stupid choruses and beats. as a side note, how is rs going to give hip hop is dead and untitled the same review, when it is painfully obvious that hhid is far inferior to untitled, both conceptually and musically? (lyrically equal) these are just some of the inconsistencies i would like to point out. i have respect for kanye and lil wayne, but i think nas needs more credit for making an album that no one else would make, still being on the top of his game after 10 albums and 16 years as a professional entertainer. no one can do what he does, including fellow microphone beasts eminem or jay-z. his album is not perfect. it has some wack beats and a couple of overly serious moments, but it was better than grad, c3 and hhid in my opinion. should not it have gotten better reviews?

Jul 23, 2008 07:48:35

Review 7 of 8

5of 5 Stars

hmm..where do I begin... I heard this album over 50 times already on the net and I loved it soooo much i had to get not only one but two, I would've bought more but im poor sorry lol...this album is any word that describes the word perfect and or classic.. i literally got chills from every song on this album and thats crazy cause i haven't heard an album that has had such a powerful impact on me in the longest time...by the way you can tell how much he has matured over the years as a man and a eMCee and i got alot of respect for that..but alot of people are saying this is a bad album compared to illmatic but i don't think you can compare them cause they each have a completely different topic, one's speaking about life in Queens Bridge this that and the third and the other is more of a political type album, you get what im saying?(to everybody reading this) illmatic gets 5 mics, classic cause its crazy in all forms in its own topic and to me the Ni**er album deserves it because the same reason you know what i mean?... but anyways i just want to thank him for this album and all the rest of them of course... he has been a major impact on my life as a hip hop head and a man.. and just to say it one more time this album deserves a 5/5, 4/4, 10/10, A+, depending on the rating scheme its either perfect or extremely close to it..and by the way Im kinda disappointed in the fact that this site rated this album 4 stars and rated the Carter 3 a 4.5 when to be honest Im not hating but that album wasn't even that good, even hardcore lil wayne fans that i know said the same but all im saying is the Ni**er album is perfect from beginning to end and the Carter 3 just doesn't have enough good songs to rate it that high...the message in the Ni**er album its self is crazy and Im not even African American im a hispanic dude but it doesn't even matter what race you are, this album's message is for everyone to hear just listen closely... and on the beat topic...the beats couldn't fit the topic any better if you really think about it...anyways it's classic and for the real hip hop heads who really love H.E.R. and know what it means, please support this album cause it deserves it, not just cause its Nas but because its real hip hop and theirs very little left, for now at least but thats all i have to say.. ONE LOVE

Jul 22, 2008 22:49:32

Review 8 of 8

5of 5 Stars

I think this is a album that not only black people need to hear but america in general.Nas has always been a great emcee,but now he sounds like a leader with stage to not only lead but educate.Peace to hip-hop

Jul 22, 2008 08:33:46

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