God's Son [PA]

Performer: Nas
Artist: Bravehearts; Claudette Ortiz; Kelis; 2Pac; J Phoenix; Alicia Keys; Lake
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel includes: Nas, Bravehearts, Kelis, Claudett Ortiz, 2Pac, J. Phoenix, Alicia Keys, Lake, Jully Black. Producers include: Nas, Eminem, Salaam "The Chameleon", Ron Browz, The Alchemist. In the tradition of its predecessor STILLMATIC, GOD'S SON seeks to erase the memory of Nas's commercial pop-crossover albums, instead hearkening back to the poetic glory days of STILLMATIC. The New York hip-hop legend returns to the thoughtful, introspective philosophy that turned heads early in his recording career. There are no attempts at fancy, hook-laden production here--quite the opposite in fact, as the tracks almost seem to go out of their way to be workaday, subservient frameworks to the lyrics. Sampling records (James Brown's "Funky Drummer," Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache") that have already been used by a jillion other rappers, Nas makes it clear that his focus here is strictly on the message. Nas's mother died during the making of this album, and the experience moved him to address such weighty topics as mortality, religion, family, and personal responsibility. Those themes might seem far from the thug-life reveries of many of his contemporaries, but for Nas it's business as usual.

Rolling Stone (1/23/03, p.66) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A welcome return to form....Nas is deft with sorrow-tinged details--about everything from drug addiction to the rap game to failed love..." Entertainment Weekly (12/13/02, p.82) - "...Nas...returns to his introspective roots..." - Rating: B Vibe (2/03, pp.135-36) - 4 discs out of 5 - "...With grim determination, Nas sets out to give the currently vacuous genre of hip hop a swift kick in the ass..."

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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