NAS: NOT QUITE DEAD YET posted by O.W.

Nas: Hip-Hop Is Dead + The N
From Hip Hop Is Dead (Def Jam, 2006)

Nas: Thief's Theme
From Street's Discipline (Columbia/Sony, 2004)

Here is some Real Talk™ about Nas, spotted over at Soul Strut:

"i don't understand why we keep expecting anything good from nas... the same s--- just keeps happening over and over again... nas is like a high schoool girlfriend that you associate all these good times with (illmatic), then you go off to college and s--- is still ok, but kind of weird (it was written), then you run into her during the holidays and it's great to see her (nas is like) so you decide to hang out (i am...) and you're like "i don't even know this person"... it keeps happening, every few years you run into each other (the jay-z beef, ether, made you look), and you think there could still be some sparks there (because there was that one time (god's son) you ran into each other at that bar had pretty good sex - even though it didn't quite have the same magic it once did, it was still good), so you hang out again (stillmatic, street's disciple, hip hop is dead), but it will just never be the same... at some point you just have to move on, and i think this is that point for me and nasir...

unless he puts out a really good single in a couple of years.

It is rather true...hip-hoppers of a certain generation (*cough cough* mine) keep a candle burning for Nas, waiting for...for...actually, I'm not sure what we're waiting for. Maybe we just want to stop being disappointed.

With that said...I'm not really mad at these two songs from Nas' upcoming album that have leaked so far. I won't say anything at length about either - you can listen and decide for yourself - but here's one thing I have to let off: "Hip Hop Is Dead," is produced by Will.I.Am and it uses, prominently, "In a Gadda Da Vida." "Thief's Theme," which came out two years ago, produced by Salaam Remi, also uses, prominently, "In a Gadda Da Vida." Notably, the two songs sample different versions of the original but, and let me just state this clearly...

IT'S THE SAME BASIC SAMPLE, ergo, the two songs sound like variations of one another.

I don't get it. Why is Nas (or Will or whoever) recycling the same song just two years later? It's not like they put a new spin on, say, "Halftime." Again, I don't get it.