Street's Disciple
Nas
(Sony)
It is tempting to label Nas as \mainstream."" His album sales are consistently at the top of hip-hop charts, his videos can usually be seen on MTV, and his tracks can often be heard on the radio. It is easy to label Nas as mainstream if these are the basic qualifications, but ""mainstream"" today connotes an air of mediocrity. Nas should not be categorized as such. Mainstream hip-hop is usually in the mainstream because it is safe. It has been done before and the formula is proven. Nas is among the few artists in hip-hop who writes those formulas.
His latest album-Street's Disciple-is no exception. This double CD is rife with social commentary, both locally and globally significant-case in point being a track entitled ""These Are Our Heroes."" Produced by little-known producer Buck Wild, the beat imbues an acid-jazz feel that colors the track before the flows have been laid. Nas rhymes about his dissatisfaction with modern day role models-particularly in comparison with those of old, who include Stokely Carmichael and Red Fox, among an array of others. The first verse could be perceived as a typical rap device as Nas rhymes with vitriolic passion dissing Kobe Bryant for all of his recent trials and tribulations, which Nas sees as a failure of leadership by supposed role-model Bryant. As the song rolls along though, it is apparent (even to the most devoted Laker fan) that there is a much more serious message along this seemingly typical rap jibing-Nas ultimately gives nods to the leadership provided by Tiger Woods, Taye Diggs and Cuba Gooding Jr., interestingly enough.
Longtime followers of Nasir Jones realize that much of Nas' musical genius comes from the mentorship of his father, Olu Dara, a fairly accomplished (albeit obscure) jazz musician. Nas invites his father's collaboration on two tracks on this album, but one in particular, ""Bridging the Gap,"" stands out. The production on this track is a blatant throwback to his father's jazz era in southern Mississippi with the chorus sung by Olu himself. The song is a brilliant autobiographical portrait of his father's mentorship. There is a little bit of everything on this double album, and it should not go without mention that Doug E. Fresh, Ludacris and Busta Rhymes all lend their talent to tracks on this intricate release.
-Alec Schrager
