Nas

On 2002's God's Son, Nas continues to effectively balance true hip-hop sounds with commercially viable hits. He runs the gamut from the hardcore ("Zone Out") to the inspirational ("I Can") and miraculously squeezes in a duet with 2Pac ("Thugz Mansion"). All in all, a strong record that shows Nas's production and storytelling skills have yet to diminish.

It's been almost ten years since Nasir Jones burst on the scene with Illmatic, a definitive
portrait of a young hustler that got by on Nas' street-poet musings and warm, groove-heavy
production. Since then, Nas has been wandering confused through the hip-hop jungle,
morphing from up-and-comer to tricked-out gangsta to a bullshit prophet named
Nastradamus. 2001's Stillmatic was supposed to be his comeback, but its muddled... More >

Confessions of a mama's boy, tales of a hustler, lies of a mortal man ("Book of Rhymes," "Get Down") (Grade - ***)