Nas's latest fans flames of malcontent
RAP
"Untitled"
Nas. Def Jam. 15 tracks.
Grade: C+
Nas is a martyr of his own making, from his shortsighted proclamations about the death of hip-hop and his steadfast resistance to radio-friendliness on down to the original title of this album, which was to be a too-familiar racial epithet up until, inevitably, the needs of commerce trumped the whims of art.
Or maybe Nas has finally figured out commerce. Thanks to the name that never was, this album was a conversation piece long before anyone heard it. On his new single, "Hero," he addresses the controversy: "Still in musical prison, in jail for the flow/ Try telling Bob Dylan, Bruce or Billy Joel they can't sing what's in they soul/ So untitled it is, I never changed nothing."
Finally, Nas has a cause to match his temperament: his own suffering. And he hasn't sounded as vibrant as he does on this, his ninth album, in years. On "Sly Fox," he takes aim at a frequent antagonist, Fox News, and "You Can't Stop Us Now" is a swaggering, proud stroll. Moreover, Nas still has a gift for the telling detail. "My father was not a banker, neither was my neighbor," he raps. "When it came to getting paper, who the hell was gonna train us?"
As a thinker, Nas is more blatantly conflicted than even Kanye West. But unlike West, when Nas contradicts himself on record, it doesn't come off as self-examination; rather, it sounds wishy-washy. "Make the World Go Round" begins as a clever enough celebration of flash — "I need faces mad with frowns/ when I'm around/ or I'm wasting fabric" — before devolving into laziness: "Lately, I burn so much trees, I keep environmentalists angry." And that's before the teenage R&B sensation Chris Brown inexplicably shows up for a verse (Atlantans Polow da Don, DJ Toomp and Keri Hilson show up to pitch in, too). Nas goes on to talk about seeing a UFO on "We're Not Alone" and raps on "Project Roach" from the perspective of, um, a roach. For every moment of clarity on this album, there's an eyebrow-archer to match.
Worse, Nas is the least musical of the great rappers, with little sense of melody and little flexibility in rhythm and cadence. It spills over to his beat selection, which tends toward the stultifying. The ones here are reminiscent of the mid-1990s, largely rooted in gentle soul music. In short, these are beats that don't work harder than the rapper.
Only someone as stubborn as Nas would have chosen the tremulous, distant-sounding piano loops of "Queens Get the Money" to open his album. But then again, only someone as stubborn as Nas could find a way to deliver such a firm, arresting, if occasionally nonsensical verse atop it. Just two minutes long, it sounds almost accidental, and it is transfixing. Perhaps not surprisingly, the best song on this album is barely a song at all.
— Jon Caramanica, New York Times
ALSO OUT
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• The third album from the reigning International Bluegrass Music Association entertainers of the year the Grascals is "Keep on Walkin'."
• Classic rock influenced indie outfit the Hold Steady is back with "Stay Positive."
• John Mellencamp teams with producer T Bone Burnett for "Life, Death, Love and Freedom," which is being released by Starbucks' Hear Music label.
• "All Sides" is the new one from roots-rock and world-music inflected quintet O.A.R.
• The new album from Atlanta rap-rockers Rehab is actually a reworking of the 2005 album "Graffiti the World" with a new version of "Sittin' at a Bar" (now called "Bartender Song") from the band's debut "Southern Discomfort."
• Deep-voiced country singer Randy Travis returns to the mainstream with "Around the Bend."
• Former "American Idol" contestant Ace Young hits stores with his self-titled debut.
COMING NEXT TUESDAY
• New albums from Danny Aiello (yes, the actor), the Avett Brothers, Candlebox, Miley Cyrus, Buddy Guy, Larry the Cable Guy, Slightly Stoopid and Paul Weller.
— Shane Harrison
