Greatest Hits [PA]

Performer: Nas
Engineer: Jason Vogel; Kevin Crouse; Stan Wallace; Graham Marsh; Eddie Sancho; Steve Souder; Jaye Wynn; Rob Marks; Ben Kane; Diego Garrido; Michael Sroka; Jason Vogel; Anton "Sample This" Pushansky; Paul Gregory; Stevo; Salaam Remi; Kevin Crouse; T. Latham; Pablo Arraya; Stan Wallace; Rick Travali
Producer: Rashad Smith; Nas; D. Moet; Q-Tip; DJ Premier; L.E.S.; Chucky Thompson; Chris Webber; Salaam "The Chameleon" Rami; Large Professor; Tone; Pretty Boy; Megahertz Music Group; Rashad Smith; Nas; D. Moet; Salaam Remi; Q-Tip; DJ Premier; Chris Webber; L.E.S.; Poke & Tone; Chucky Thompson
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: AZ (vocals); Olu Dara (guitar, harmonica, trumpet); Salaam Remi (guitar, bass guitar, drums); Salaam "The Chameleon" Rami (guitar, drums); Delight 2000 Watts Music (keyboards); Angela Hunte (vocals, background vocals); Lauryn Hill (vocals); Vincent Henry (guitar, strings, harmonica, baritone saxophone); Mercedes Abal (flute); Kathryn Bostic, Chanelle Gstettenbauer (background vocals). Additional personnel: Olu Dara, Puff Daddy, R. Kelly, Cee-Lo. Audio Mixers: Diego Garrido; Stevo; Kevin Crouse; Richard Travali; Eddie Sancho ; Salaam "The Chameleon" Rami; Tone. Audio Remixer: R. Kelly. Recording information: Battery Studios, New York, NY; Chung King Studios, New York, NY; D&D Recording, New York, NY; D.A.R.P. Studios, Atlanta, GA; Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY; Hit Factory Studios, New York, NY; Right Track Recording, New York, NY; sony Music Studios; Studio Atlantis, Los Angeles, CA; TransContinental Studios, Orlando, FL; Unique Studios; WEstlake Studios, Los Angeles, CA. Photographers: Daniel Moss; Jonathan Mannion; Danny Clinch. Arrangers: George R. "Golden Fingers" Pearson; Mike "The Razor" Brinkley. Nasir Jones has gone from Nasty Nas to Nas to Escobar and back from his watershed debut ILLMATIC through to the polemic that is 2006's HIP-HOP IS DEAD. GREATEST HITS surveys Nas's hottest album tracks during this journey. Two previously unheard tracks (the autobiographical "Surviving the Times," which describes the young MC's struggle to enter the rap game, and "Less Than an Hour," the theme from RUSH HOUR 3 featuring Cee-Lo) kick the collection off. Overall, GREATEST HITS is an evenhanded blend that brings some of Nas's most successful tracks together with his strongest lyrical performances. AZ, R. Kelly, Lauryn Hill, Puff Daddy, and Q-Tip are featured. Already considered one of hip-hop's great MCs, a claim made even more believable by the fact that he's able to continue to release relevant, often controversial, material -- material that, while perhaps not as great as what was on his debut, Illmatic, is still interesting and intelligent and generally pretty decent -- Nas has been due for a true greatest-hits collection for a while now. The aptly titled Greatest Hits does just that, tracing his career chronologically, from the aforementioned Illmatic (and it makes sense that there are four tracks from that album -- the most of any -- included) to Street's Disciple (which only boasts one, "Bridging the Gap"). 2006's Hip Hop Is Dead is left out here, but there are two new songs, neither of which is as good as "Life's a Bitch" or even "Street Dreams," but both of which are still pretty fun. The in-demand Cee-Lo Green adds his distinctive vocals to the spooky "Less Than an Hour" (which also can be found on the Rush Hour 3 soundtrack), and even the Chris Webber-produced "Surviving the Times," on which Nas raps about his life and his experiences making music, is well done, though not particularly inventive or unique. There's not much out of the ordinary here: the songs included are all among the MC's most popular and feature the appropriately well-known guest stars (Diddy, when he was Puff Daddy, on "Hate Me Now" and R. Kelly on the remix of "Street Dreams"), which means that even with the new tracks it may not be enough to entice or satisfy a diehard, but for those not expecting or needing more than a decent retrospective, Greatest Hits should do the trick. ~ Marisa Brown

With charged poetic lyrics spit in an almost impossibly smooth flow, Nas turned the rap world on its ear in 1994 when the Queens MC unleashed the instantly immortal ILLMATIC. The immaculate record contained few frills, no skits, no celebrity cameos, just the rapper's deceptively complex rhymes, words that lounged in the listener's psyche for days after, layered over beats by some of the best producers of the day. While the following years would find Nas hard-pressed to live up to his supernova debut, he quietly released solid records. In 2001, his spirit revived by a beef with Jay-Z (they would reunite on stage years later), he released the acerbic STILLMATIC, which was followed by a string of critically praised records, but no shortage of controversy.

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