Not counting Lost Tapes (2002) and collaborative albums, Nas has released a total of 10 studio albums, and this article is going to be based on ranking the best of those 10 albums. What criteria am I gonna use in this ranking? Flow, lyrical content, technicality, song concepts...etc. I believe an album is as good as its weakest link, so some albums might have a lot of great songs on them, but also have a lot of not so good songs, and that will put them lower on my list. So, here we go. I got to say, the top 6 were the hardest to place, cos they are all great albums.
10. Nastradamus (1999)Ironically, this was the first Nas album I actually owned. My cousin's had two copies in their home, and just weren't feeling the album, so they gave me the two. I had one permanently in my discman, and one in the deck. I played the black CD so much I can recite every line on every song till this day. I think Nas went very deep with this album and sacrificed a lot for that...He focused so much on content, and didn't care too much for making actually songs that a normal music fan would find pleasing to the ear. Of course he had 'You Owe Me' on there, which was very catchy, but that was just one song, and a lot of people still complained that Nas sold out with it.
Songs like 'Come Get Me' produced by DJ Premier, and 'Big Girl' showed how technical Nas can get with delivering his lyrics. Majority of the songs off the album, from the intro, to songs like Project Windows, to God Love Us, to New World, to the outtro was Nas being super conscious with his lyrics, and kicking knowledge. As I said, Nas paid more attention to what he wanted to say than how he was going to deliver it. This album was so dark that I can't believe he recorded it between 2-3 months after I Am dropped...the two albums dropped 6 months apart in 1999.
9. Street's Disciple (2004)
This album...I think the problem with this album is that he made a double CD album. I had a version where I picked 16 of my favourite from the 25 track double CD, and it was super great. This is one of my best Nas albums, along with Untitled and Nastradamus because he was very politically conscious on them, and also because he didn't let making radio friendly hits come in the way of actually putting the message out there. He was very experimental on this albums, telling stories (and also how he changed his voice) on Sekou Story and Live Now is just phenomenal. Like Nastradamus, Nas didn't make this album for the mainstream, he made it for listeners, and that's why a lot of people overlook it. And maybe if he made it a single album, and cut out songs like The Making of a Perfect Bitch, it would have fared better.
8. I Am (1999)This album had 'Hate Me Now', one of Nas's biggest hit till today. And I love the song because it was not made for radio, but made its way to radio because of how ferocious Nas's lyrics and delivery were. unfortunately, not too many songs with that much lyrical intensity can be found on the album. Don't get me wrong, you got songs like NY State Of Mind Part 2, Favor for a Favor (feat. Scarface), and Nas is Like, but there were some songs that were subpar and didn't give the album a solid feel. Before I forget, Undying Love, the last song on the album had Nas narrating a story about coming home to find his wife in bed with another man. The lyrical technicality on this song is one of the reasons why I consider Nas the best rappers ever.
7. Hip Hop Is Dead (2006)
If you ask me, the lead single of this album, Hip Hop Is Dead is one of the weakest Nas lead singles in his whole career. At his pre-birthday bash 2 days ago, he had to ask the DJ to skip the song and play Made You Look instead when the song came on. This was Nas's first album on Def Jam, and I think he wasn't allowed enough creative freedom. Songs like Hustlers (feat. Game), Not Going Back, and Let There Be Light are stand out tracks on this album, but it was like he was trying to do so many things with the rest of the songs on the albums, and it didn't play out well. It definitely didn't leave up to what people expected to hear from someone who claimed Hip Hop was dead, but it's definitely better than the albums I listed above.
6. Godson (2002)All the albums from here on out are classics to me. I don't care what anyone says, they are classics. I think people will appreciate them better in years to come. I am one of Nas's biggest fans, but I never let that blind my judgement of his works. When It comes to strong structure, production, lyrics, flow, this albums is on point. I mean, you pop it in the deck, and just sit back, and let Nas carry you through the album. From the very first track (Get Down) on the album, you are hooked. I gave the album to my friends who were Jay Z fans (that was the heights of the Jay/Nas war), and they kept that song (Get Down) on repeat all day long. I don't have to list any standout tracks, cos I would be implying that the album had some bad songs. The album is a great body of work.
5. It Was Written (1996)
The album after the critically acclaimed Illmatic. I credit Steve Stoute for this album. In fact, I credit Stoute for the remainder of Nas's career after Illmatic. Although the whole world (rap listeners that really appreciate raw rap lyrics) wanted Nas to make another Illmatic, it would have affected his longevity in the game if he had did so. Nas wouldn't be the person I am writing about today if he made another Illmatic. After Illmatic, Nas was still living in the hood, where Steve Stoute drove his Lexus to come and meet Nas, and be approached by Jungle (Nas's brother) with a gun when he was asking around for Nas.
He spoke to Nas, and told him about a direction he wanted Nas to go. Nas took him up as a manager, and they made It Was Written, the best selling Nas album to date (over 4 million copies sold to date, in the U.S alone). As much as Illmatic was crowned one of the best rap albums of all time, it only sold Gold (500k copies) at the time, and didn't go platinum till 7 years later, when Nas and Jay Z were beefing. Nas, on It Was Written still stayed super lyrical with it, but had songs that people could sing along to and vibe to, like If I Ruled The World, and Street Dreams.
4. Life Is Good (2012)This is a very good follow-up to his Untitled album, and a very good body of work for the time it dropped. It solidified Nas's status as a great lyricist, and still appealed to the mainstream young music listener of today. Nas was able to pull-off having great production and great lyrics on this album, and that is all the public has always wanted from Nas.
3. Illmatic (1994)
Illmatic! Whoa! I don't know what I can say more than what has already been said about the album. Like Jay Z said on 'A Star Is Born'- "I had Illmatic, on bootleg, the shit was so ahead, thought we were all dead." I think what makes Illmatic such a great album is the fact that there was no wac song on it. It had just 9 songs, and one intro, and all the songs were dope. All the verses from the songs were flawless...every line connected with the next, there was no line that was in the wrong place, or a word in the wrong place. And untop of that, he had very deep lyrics, for someone that was 20 years old (18 when he recorded most of the songs on the album).That's what, in my opinion made Illmatic a super dope album.
2. Untitled (2008)Untitled, The Nigger album is the most underrated Nas album ever. I had a hard time with the placement of this album, and the one at number 1. This album had a theme, and Nas delivered to the best of his ability. The production, his flow on songs like 'Hero' and 'We Are Not Alone' is just out of this world. It just showed that Nas still had it. He was kicking knowledge, but didn't come as too preachy, and also didn't lose sight of his delivery and song technicality like he did with Nastradamus and Street's Disciple. This is my favourite Nas album of all time.
1. Stillmatic (2001)
My friend, who is a big Jay Z fan always used to point out something to me whenever he spoke about this album. He said he was won over by Nas based on how he was able to make a masterpiece within a period of 3 months or less. If you listen to Stillmatic, you would notice that from 'Ether' to 'You're Da Man', Nas was directly responding to shots Jay threw at him on 'Blueprint', which dropped in July of 2001. Stillmatic dropped December of 2001, and an artist has to submit his album two months before it drops. So, do the math, it took Nas 3 months or less to record the majority of what you hear on Stillmatic. After Blueprint dropped, and everyone heard Takeover, no one thought Nas would come back after that.Even I, as a big Nas fan didn't think Nas could come back after Takeover. I just didn't see how he was going to pull it off. DJ's were even playing Takeover at clubs at the time, and people would chant along.It was like a Nas burial song. Jay Z was at his peak at the time...he was the biggest rap act in the world at the time. And then, Nas dropped Stillmatic, BOOM! It was like he dropped a nuke...it hit the ground, and its destruction started to spread. Everything on Stillmatic was fire! People heard Ether, and word of mouth did the rest. Nas showed all his abilities on that album; from his battle skills (Ether, Destroy and Rebuild,Got Yourself A Gun...), to his deep lyrical skills (One Mic, Second Childhood), to his storytelling skills (Rewind), to his politically conscious side (Rule, What Goes Around...) I think there is no other more complete Nas album than this album. Stillmatic is Nas's best album ever.
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