Nas – “Light-Years” review

Queensbridge, New York icon Nas linking up with DJ Premier for his 18th LP. Known for being the son of jazz cornetist/guitarist Olu Dara, his debut illmatic & the equally classic sophomore effort It Was Written would both go on to be widely acknowledged as some of the greatest albums in hip hop history. I also enjoy stillmatic, The Lost Tapes, God’s Son & Life is Good. Then there was the Kanye West-produced NASIR & The Lost Tapes II, which I felt like they were fine additions to his catalogue even though the overall consensuses were polarizing. Both the King’s Disease & Magic trilogies produced by Hit-Boy however would all become his most celebrated material since Life is Good, finishing Mass Appeal Records’ historic Legend Has It series with the mythical Light-Years coming out after almost 2 whole decades in the making.

“My Life’s Real” opens up by talking about telling the truth because there’s no use in lying over a piano-driven boom bap instrumental just before “Git Ready” brings a funkier vibe to the table laying down criminal lines all because of some paper. “N.Y. State of Mind 3” serves as the trilogy chapter to one of my top 10 Nas songs in his whole entire discography sampling Billy Joel while “Welcome to the Underground” flips a guitar so he can talk about tuning cornballs into cornstarch.

As for “Madman”, we have Nas eerily coming together to drop murderous material from a psycho while “Pause Tapes” recalls making his 1st beat by using dual cassette decks to loop samples. “Writers” blends funk music & boom bap so they can give their flowers to hip hop’s oldest element a.k.a. graffiti writing prior to the “Daughters” sequel “Sons (Young Kings)” sampling a piano for a shoutout to everyone in their lives who have sons of their own wishing them nothing but the most powerful bond.

“It’s Time” continues the 2nd half of Light-Years keeping it funky talking about the whole concept of time itself while “Nasty Esco Nasir” samples some strings mixed with kicks & snares promising the world that we’re entering the 4th phase of his career. “My Story Your Story” featuring AZ makes for the only guest appearance & 1 that doesn’t disappoint, tossing the mic back-&-forth with each other seamlessly for 4 minutes while “Bouquet (To the Ladies)” dedicated itself to the women in our culture.

The song “Junkie” rounds out 3rd with an orchestral boom bap crossover talking about being his great-great-grandfather’s dream in the living flesh while “Shine Together” suggests that easy money is robbery in the grand scheme of things, becoming increasingly phenomenal for every word he spits. “3rd Childhood” finishes off by revisiting the concept of “2nd Childhood” from stillmatic, which I’ve always related to especially since I get older including a reference to the late Black Sabbath frontman & WWE Hall of Famer Ozzy Osbourne.

There was a point in time where people thought Light-Years wouldn’t ever see the light of day similarly to Redman’s 9th album Muddy Waters 2 last Christmas Eve & roughly 37 months since “30” on King’s Disease III teased it, I’m grateful it finally came to finish what has been amongst the most important years in Mass Appeal Records’ entire decade-long history. DJ Premier’s jazzy boom bap production rivals Hit-Boy’s throughout the King’s Disease & Magic series earlier this decade and Nas’ pen continues to sharpen with time.

Score: 4.5/5

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Ransom – “The Reinvention” review

Here is the highly awaited 13th EP from Jersey City wordsmith Ransom. Coming up as 1/2 of the short-lived duo A-Team alongside Hitchcock, he branched out on his own in 2008 following their disbandment beginning with the full-length debut Street Cinema & the Statik Selektah-produced sophomore effort The Proposal. But it’s been safe to say these last couple years have been his biggest so far whether it be the 5 EPs that he put out produced by Nicholas Craven or 7 based around the 7 deadly sins, Heavy’s the Head produced by Big Ghost Ltd., the Rome Streetz collab album Coup de Grâce, Chaos is My Ladder, Director’s Cut 4 & Deleted Scenes 2. Lavish Misery produced by Harry Fraud was a step above Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child and MadeinTYO producing Smoke & Mirrors last summer was an exciting surprise, but The Reinvention produced by DJ Premier had me as excited The Coldest Profession almost 3 months earlier.

“Amazing Graces” begins with with a gritty piano instrumental talking about his style being so outstanding whereas “A Cut Above” works in some strings hoping that may the best man win lyrically. After the “Rap Radar” interlude, “Chaos is My Ladder” dustily welcomes anyone hoping to reach his level of lyricism while “Forgiveness” talks about going from broke to sipping champagne in Venice.

The song “Survivor’s Remorse” winds down the last few minutes of The Reinvention explaining that fake love always deceives along with the opinion of one not really trying to win if they’ve never taken a loss in their entire lives & the title track sends off the EP by advising those in attendance to prepare for his growth to he seen since they’re already stuck around to see the vengeance.

Representing a meeting of 2 master craftsmen whose fingerprints are woven into the DNA of hip-hop production & another who is recognized by peers & fans alike as one of the best pound-for-pound lyricists alive, The Reinvention showcases Ransom & DJ Premier joining forces to create a transformational musical experience that epitomizes the streetwise mentality realizing the journey’s just as important as the destination.

Score: 4.5/5

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Roc Marciano – “The Coldest Profession” review

Long Island, New York emcee/producer Roc Marciano preluding his forthcoming 13th LP Criminal Jazz with a brand new EP. Beginning in the very late 90’s as a member of the Flipmode Squad, he then went solo in 2008 to drop classic albums that would pave the way for those like Griselda such as Marcberg & Reloaded. He would begin focusing on producing projects for other artists like Flee Lord & Bronze Nazareth following Mt. Marci & of course returning to enlist The Alchemist to produce The Elephant Man’s Bones & The Skeleton Key couple years apart from each other, both of which I gave perfect scores to. Once I heard one of my top 3 producers DJ Premier was fully producing The Coldest Profession, chances of it reaching the same caliber as those albums with Uncle Al were extremely high.

After the “Arrival” intro, the lead single “Armani Sections” was a fly boom bap opener staying freshly dressed whereas the final single “Prayer Hands” dustily talks about constantly being a thinkin’ man instead of wingin’ it. “Good to Go” gives off an eerier boom bap atmosphere lookin’ to leave people slumped over the steering wheel just before the funky “Glory Hole” talks about shooting holes in the wall with firearms.

The Coldest Profession’s final leg starts with “RocMarkable” hooking up another boom bap instrumental justifiably explaining that you can’t get the feeling of this music both these guys are making from any other narcotic in a ziplock that while “Travel Fox” talks about the numbers being unsolvable even if algebra was used to crack the code.

“Execution Style” finishes what could be a candidate for EP of the Year referencing the late アイアンマンヘビーメタル級王座, TNA World Tag Team Champion, WCW World Television Champion, 2-time WWE United States Champion, 7-time WCW World Tag Team Champion, 4-time WWE Intercontinental Champion & 2-time WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall.

Mass Appeal Records has already made it known Nas’ upcoming 18th album will be fully produced by DJ Premier before 2025 is over & as a warm up, the latter & Roc Marciano join forces for an immaculately crafted EP combining the Gang Starr beatsmith’s signature sound with Marci’s endlessly smooth lyrics portraying himself as the illustrious pimp we’ve come to know him as.

Score: 5/5

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DJ Premier – “Hip Hop 50” review

DJ Premier is a 56 year old producer & DJ from New York City that I think anyone who’s passionate about this culture we call hip hop should be familiar with by considering his lengthy production discography whether it be Gang Starr, PRhyme, Jeru the Damaja, Group Home & many others. He’s rightfully regarded as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all-time & is definitely in the top 5 in my book, so to see that he’s dropping a debut EP of his own with all proceeds going to the Universal Hip Hop Museum that’ll be opening in 2024.

“Lettin’ Off Steam” by Joey Bada$$ is a rock/boom bap infused opener talking about getting the paper whereas “Remy Rap” by Remy Ma & Rapsody takes a funkier turn to boast their lyrical abilities. The song “Beat Breaks” by Nas works in some synthesizers paying tribute to Queensbridge while the penultimate track “Terrible 2’s” by Run the Jewels talks about how they can’t be fucked with over a petrifying boom bap instrumental. “The Root of All Evil” by Lil Wayne & Slick Rick ends the EP on a positive note looking ahead to a promising future.

Didn’t think we’d get a solo effort from the Boom Bap God himself, but I’m happy we did because it’s the best EP of the year right now. The list of guest MCs was incredibly curated & Preem just knocked it out of the park behind the boards. Very excited to hear if he’ll be involved with the 2nd installment to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of our culture next summer.

Score: 4.5/5

Gang Starr – “One of the Best Yet” review

Gang Starr is a revered East Coast hip hop duo consisting of Guru & DJ Premier. Before disbanding in 2006 as well as Guru’s death in 2010, the 2 have made a name of themselves with arguably one of the greatest discographies in hip hop history. But with the 10 year anniversary of Guru’s passing coming up in 5 months, Premier has decided to commemorate him with 1 last album under the Gang Starr name.

After the “Sure Shot” intro, we go into the first song “Lights Out”. Where Guru & M.O.P. get bloodthirsty over an explosive piano-inflicted beat. The track “Bad Name” disses wack rappers over a soulful boom bap beat while the song “Hit Man” with Q-Tip sees the 2 comparing themselves to assassins over a gritty beat.

The track “What’s Real” with PRhyme finds both Guru & Royce da 5’9″ defining their versions of real over an instrumental that sounds like Moment of Truth era Gang Starr & after the “Keith Casim Elam” interlude, the song “From a Distance” with Jeru the Damaja sees the 2 reclaiming their prowesses over an orchestral boom bap beat.

The track “Family & Loyalty” with J. Cole finds the 2 talking about diamonds over a luxurious beat while the song “Get Together” with Nitty Scott sees the 2 getting romantic over a slow instrumental. After the “NYGz/GS 183rd” interlude, the song “So Many Rappers” talks about the rap game over a tense instrumental.

The track “Business or Art” with Talib Kweli sees the 2 talking about the industry over a haunting beat, but the next song “Bring It Back Here” is so short that it really shouldn’t have been placed on here. After the titular interlude, the penultimate track “Take Flight” is a cutthroat installment of Gang Starr’s “Militia” series. Then the closer “Bless the Mic” finds Guru flawlessly showing off his skills 1 last time.

I’m not a big fan of posthumous albums, but this is one of the better ones out there. Guru’s unreleased verses are well incorporated as are the features & DJ Premier continues to show that he’s one of the best producers in hip hop history.

Score: 4/5