Album Review: Nas - Kings Disease 2

 Artist: Nas

Album Title: Kings Disease 2

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Stand Out Track of Album: Nobody Ft. Lauryn Hill 

It's only right that I start my album review segments with my favourite artist of all time.

Nas has been the most crucial component in my love for hip hop music. His mastery in telling incredible stories and ability to put you in the scenes of his verses have been unmatched by the artist before him and are still the standard of quality in hip hop artistry today.

KD2 is the second instalment of a Nas album Executively produced by Hit-Boy. With the previous King Disease gifting us with tracks like Full Circle, featuring The Firm giving us a nostalgic feeling and reminding us of great moments in Nas's career and Spicy showing Nas's influence at relevance to the younger generation, We definitely expected a similar approach in this album. 

Album Highlights: 

Death Row East:

Death Row East allows Nas to touch on a story circulating the hip hop industry for decades, as he describes the famous day where he and the late Tupac meet up in New York after being embroiled in a lyrical feud. 

The two Titanic artists had been able to hash out their differences, but there were a few discrepancies that Nas artistically paints in the track. He describes his rendition of the events that take place and clears up some of the hood politics that had been circulating for years "There's a rumour spread I'd like to address / Pac was never set up by Stretch (Let it rest)." He describes the impact Suge and Tupac had on the city of New York when the East vs West beef what at its climax.

As usual, Nas's cadence and expert way of navigating through a story with words cultivates you and puts you amongst the drama that was circulating at the time. Although the production on this particular record may not have complimented Nas's quality of poetry, Nas carried the song to make the track a standout record on the album. 

YKTV (You Know The Vibes)

Where the production of Death Row East was slightly lacklustre, Hitboy made up for it with the heavy-hitting track YKTV ft. A Boogie with the hoodie and YG. This street anthem definitely adds an upbeat mood to the album, displaying Nas's versatility to create modern-day street rap while still maintaining his style and delivery authenticity. An A Boogie featuring shows Nas's relevance to the younger generation and allows him to show his growth by allowing for more features to be included in his catalogue. A Boogie Rises to the occasion of featuring with the GOAT of hip hop and delivers a well-crafted verse with his signature melodic tone and rhyming pattern. The two artist's chemistry on the track gives you a feel on a block celebration with the "OGs" and the Young bulls linking up and showing respect and appreciation towards each other. As I mentioned earlier, Hit-Boy definitely wasn't playing games with the production of this track because the inclusion of YG makes this record a national hood smash rather than just a NY record. Hit-Boys production on this track almost makes you think YG is rapping on a completely different song with how seamlessly he changes the record's mood from being located in New York to LA. Using a similar formula to the record Spicy ft. Fivio Foreign and ASAP Ferg, Nas successfully achieved with a multi-generation collaboration again. 

Rare: 

Rare is one of those tracks that reminds you of any debate of Nas's importance to the culture or his status as the most elite MC to touch the mic is null and void. His wordplay and delivery with Hit-Boy complimenting the production allow Rare to be seen as a record that enables Nas to display his versatility in rhyming patterns. The interchange of the beat during the track demonstrates that, and he also illuminates his status by reminding his audience of what he's done for the culture and what he still does. He reminds you through the whole album, in fact, that his presence in the hip hop industry is never to be compared to anyone other than himself. 

Nobody:

Nobody. Probably one of the best songs of the year for true hip hop fans. The smooth production makes this record an instant classic. It sets up the scene for Nas so perfectly to rap his ass off and Absolutely murders the beat. If any Nas fans ever felt like Nas, like he hasn't harnessed the energy of his first three albums, allow me to introduce his feature. The legend that is Ms Lauryn Hill. This feature outshines the EPMD 2 ft. Eminem record for me. Not only do you get Ms Lauryn Hill, you get Fugees-esk Ms Lauryn Hill. She raps like she hasn't missed a beat, and she hasn't. The legendary singer/rapper reminds everyone why she is a prophet in this music industry and that her presence on any record garners the red carpet treatment. Still, with this also being a Nas record, this track is somewhat the crown jewel of Hip Hops royal lineage. 

The whole album is a complete body of work with honourable mentions such as EPMD 2, Brunch on Sunday, Count me in, and Nas is good. With it being mentioned that the first Kings Disease was supposed to be a double album, I'm please they decided to take this route to bless us to two separate albums as Nas is an artist that we want to hear from all the time. Because of the artist he is, a double album wouldn't have done him justice in this day and age. Nas is an artist whose albums need to be enjoyed, like Red wine. His albums are of the highest quality, and during this time when music is easily consumed and disposed of, an album from The God himself should always be digested in its entirety. 

The reason for this album only been rated a 3.5/ 5 is solely because Nas's first album can never be touched. KD2 is genuinely a great album. But great for an artist like Nas is just a little over average. It Was Written, I Am, Stillmatic and Godson are just a few juggernaut albums from an undisputable catalogue. Illmatic set the bar so high for Nas that not even he can match it and Kings Disease is a truly fitting title for the stage he is at in his life. He has done everything, and anything more that he gives to the music industry now is nothing more than a blessing.