Tag: Nas

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Vico Uno – Heaven is a Bitch (Nas vs. Led Zepplin vs. Gramatik)

Excuse the delayed post today, I landed in San Fran this afternoon and have been restaurant hoping since. Anyways, I was walking back to my hotel when I checked my Soundcloud and I saw a submission that contained the names Nas, Led Zepplin & Gramtik – sold! The mashup was done by a dude named Vico Uno who describes himself like this –

My name is V!co Ono and i’m 18 years young. All you need to know is I am a Los Angeles native and I am very interested in all genres of music.”

Word.

I can’t hype this mashup enough. First of all, he used the AZ verse from Life’s A Bitch which is hands down one of the best Hip Hop verses of all time. He sampled Stairway to Heaven, one of the greatest rock songs of all time and used a Gramatik beat to tie it all together. Blending all those worlds so tastefully is the beauty of modern production so big ups to Vico Uno for making it happen. Alright, it’s Friday and I’ve got two more places to check out in the bay before I head to Vegas in the morning. Bump this at your pre-games and get the party started in style, enjoy.

Vico Uno – Heaven is a Bitch (Nas vs. Led Zepplin vs. Gramatik)

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Nas & Damian Marley – Patience

I can’t remember the last music video that actually kept my attention for the entirety of the song. This one has me glued to the tube like I’m watching MTV in early 90’s. First of all, the song which sample Amadou & Mariams Sabali is sick on it’s own. Damian Marley and Nas don’t make microwave music so when I heard they were working on an album together I knew it was going to be some high quality engaging entertainment. The video for this song comes eight months later but man was it worth the wait, no pun intended.

Nabil Elderkin goes all out on the cinematography, giving us one of the most epic videos I’ve seen in a while. You might recognize the style from Kanye’s Coldest Winter, Welcome To Hearbreak or Paranoid videos which he also directed but this is by far his most epic. Two of my favorite artists who both deliver incredible verses in a pretty much flawless song, enjoy.

Nas & Damian Marley – Patience

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Kevin Casey’s Sample Saturday – Incredible Bong Band et Nas

In 2002, Nas found inspiration in his feud with Hova and his own mother’s passing to drop his most personal album to date, God’s Son. The album covers themes such as religion, violence, and his own emotional experiences during that time.  In a period where most artists were going the safe route when picking beats for their albums, Nas went the other way and used non-mainstream hip-hop producers like Alchemist and Salaam Remi. The result was one of Nas’ most revealing work, and was generally well received amongst fans and critics.

Now let’s get it all in perspective, for all yall enjoyment made a song yall could step with.”

“Made You Look” was the first single off of God’s Son and brought forth a very classic hip hop vibe.  The song was produced by one of my personal favorites Salaam Remi, who also did 5 other cuts on the album, and is most recently responsible for the modern-day classic “All I Want Is You”.  In a very interesting video interview that inspired this post, Remi speaks on the making of “Made You Look” and how the Incredible Bong Band’s “Apache” sample he was chopping was intended for…. Ricky Martin, of course.  In a technique he says he picked up from Large Professor, he slowed down the sample to make sure his chops were perfect, and in doing so heard the loop as it is on the Nas record.  I will always remember the day I first heard this bump because it was unlike any other singles coming out at that time.  It was a risk, it was a statement, and it worked. (K.Casey/P.Walsh)

Incredible Bongo Band – Apache

Nas- Made You Look

via Kevin Casey Music

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Music

Nas – The World Is Yours

I’ve been hesitant to post anything from Illmatic because like anything of good quality it’s not a quick-fix one night stand, you have to listen to the whole album many times to really understand and appreciate all of it’s beautiful details. Also, Illmatic is so complex in terms of rhyme patterns, expression, insight and innovation that I would have to do some very serious writing to do it justice and I simply don’t have that kind of time on Halloween. However, I did read something on Pitchfork that will better express how I feel about this album.

Illmatic is the best hip-hop record ever made. Not because it has ten great tracks with perfect beats and flawless rhymes, but because it encompasses everything great about hip-hop that makes the genre worthy of its place in music history. Stylistically, if every other hip-hop record were destroyed, the entire genre could be reconstructed from this one album. But in spirit, Illmatic can just as easily be compared to Ready to Die, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, and Enter the Wu-Tang as it can to Rites of Spring, A Hard Day’s Night, Innervisions, and Never Mind the Bollocks. In Illmatic, you find the meaning not just of hip-hop, but of music itself: the struggle of youth to retain its freedom, which is ultimately the struggle of man to retain his own essence.“–Matthew Gasteier

Nas – The World Is Yours

Do I think it’s the best Hip Hop album of all time? In my opinion titles like that limits the way you can appreciate other candidates so I won’t answer the question, not to you or myself. Do I think you can build hip hop from Illmatic alone? Absolutely not but I will encourage you to check this album out, it really is something special. Also, peep some classic articles and reviews about Nasty Nas after the break. Bloggin’ like it’s 1994, whatever. Enjoy.

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