Back on the hardcore block and with plenty to prove after two years without a record under his own name,
Nas
designed
Stillmatic
as a response: to the
rap
cognoscenti who thought he'd become a relic, and most of all to
Jay-Z
, the East Coast kingpin who wounded his pride and largely replaced him as the best rapper in
hip-hop
. The saga started back in the summer of 2001 with the mixtape "Stillmatic,"
' answer track to an on-stage dis by
. A few months after
countered with the devastating
"Takeover,"
dropped the comeback single
"Ether"
and the full album
; tellingly,
had already released his response to
(titled
"Super Ugly"
) before
even came out. Dropping many of the mainstream hooks and featured performers in order to focus his rapping,
proves he's still a world-class rhymer, but he does sound out of touch in the process of defending his honor.
relies on a deep-throat vocal repeating the phrase, "F*ck
," while
"You're da Man"
hits the heights of arrogance with a looped vocal sample repeating the title over and over.
"Destroy & Rebuild"
is a solid defense of his Queensbridge home, and
"Got Ur Self A..."
is an outstanding track, the best here, complete with chant-along chorus. Despite the many highlights, a few of these tracks (most were produced by either
Large Professor
or
himself) just end up weighing him down:
"Smokin',"
one of the worst, is an odd
G-funk
track that would've sounded dated years before its release.
certainly isn't as commercial as past
output, but it places him squarely behind the times. Facts are facts: he's not the best rapper in the business anymore. ~ John Bush