For years hip hop has been getting shitted on, never being respected for the artform it is. Instead they called it a "fad", they called emcees talentless, the music was meaningless. That may have been the case til 1994, when Nas dropped Illmatic.
"I drink Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell
From the spliff that I lift and inhale, it ain't hard to tell"
The Dr. Seuss, simple rap days were officially over. His lyrics had meaning, the quote above paints a picture of Nas blowing smoke into Medusa's mouth, vivid images. Nas was bringing the art into hip hop, but that was just the beginning.
It Was Written back then was considered a sell out album, looking back now we can understand how ahead of his time he was. 'I gave you power' a first in its own right, which was later jacked by Tupac when he made 'me and my girlfriend'. (Pac stans, before you start sending me hate mail just know that i love him too....but the outlawz said he took the concept from Nas in the 'making of makavelli' edition of the Source)
Lets fast forward a little. I want to show you some real art that probably went right over your head. We begin in 2001, during the Nas vs. Jayz beef. You probably remember the stillmatic freestyle that sparked the whole beef....but let me shed some new light on it.
listen to the 1:56 mark:
"My next few albums, instead of projects,
There'll be a difficult test inside the cover for the mind's optics"
If you recall, Illmatic and It was written had QB in the background. This freestyle dropped before Stillmatic was released, so lets take a look at the covers of the next couple albums and see what he's talking about.
Stillmatic
2001 was the bling era. Rocafella and cash money had the game in a choke hold, the art was removed from hip hop. It was all about singles, champagne, and jewlery.
Nas has on every single piece of platinum jewlery he every bought, including the infamous QB piece. The New york city skyline is in the background with dark clouds above, looking like theres about to be a bad storm.
Pay attention to his right hand, hes got 4 fingers stretched out. These 4 fingers are representing his previous 4 official studio albums (Illmatic, It was Written, Nastradamus, I Am).
A pigeon stands next to him, looking right at him. For now, we're still in the dark about what he's trying to say...but going back to the line he specifically said "my next few albums"
God's Son
Now the message is complete. In 2001 Nas was making a biblical reference with the Stillmatic cover. The dark clouds symbolise a storm is coming, particularly over NYC. That was the bling era when hip hop lost its essence. Jayz and his Crystal raps were coming to an end. It was time for a change. Just as god sent Noah down to earth in desperate times to save Gods creations and start fresh....God's Son was sent down to save hip hop and start fresh.
Looking at the God's Son cover, there is a flood in the background. Noah had to build Noah's arch to save the animals during the flood, Nas made this album. All the platinum he was wearing, the fly velour suit, is gone. He is shirtless with 2 pieces of gold jewlery. This symbolises the end of the bling era. Tracks like 'Destroy and Rebuild' show Nas' disgust with the state of hip hop.
Looking at the back of the cover, the Moses comparison is confirmed. In the bible Noah was told to save 2 of each animal...Nas holds 2 doves with 2 pieces of gold on. Doves and gold symbolising purity...bringing back the essence of hip hop. Nas representing the leader and the chosen one.
This dude goes much deeper than rap. He is too lyrical to spit anything meaningless in any of his songs, if theres something you dont understand then it has a deeper meaning. I took time to write this blog not only for you to appreciate the man, and learn something new...but to open your mind that Hip Hop is definetely an art. The Beatles had codes and messages in their music along with most Rock n Roll artists. Hip hop is no different, just as with poems, and literature...there are deeper meanings that artists like Nas, Jayz, Ras Kass, Tupac and many others incorporate to make their music meaningful.
Crazy right.
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