Artist: NaS
Album: Hip Hop is Dead
Label: Def Jam / Nasir Jones Experience
Release Date: December 19, 2006
Track listing:
1. Money over BullShit
2. You Cant Kill Me
3. Carry on Tradition
4. Where Are They Now
5. Hip Hop is Dead ft Will.I.Am
6. Who Killed it ?
7. Black Republican ft. Jay Z
8. Not Going Back ft. Kellis
9. Still Dreaming ft. Kayne West
10. Hold Down The Block
11. Blunt Ashes
12. Let There Be Light ft. Tre Williams
13. Play on Playa ft. Snoop Dog
14. Cant Forget About You ft. Chrisette Michele
15. Hustlers ft. The Game and Marsha Ambrosius
16. Hope
RAPCENTRAL REVIEW:
With more buzz than the recent Doctors Advocate, every rapper and fan has been asking the question, is hip hop really dead? There hasnt been such a wave of beef, and instability and talk about what state of mind hip hop is in. Young Jeezy,Young Buck, Jim Jones and others have claimed hip hop is alive while others such as Smoke from Field mob, Method man and other old/washed artist are yelling its dead.
I dont want to go on about "Hip Hop is Dead" contraversy because its still going on and I dont want to forget something.
Singles on the cd are Hip Hop is Dead produced by Will.I.Am is a flipped track of "The Thiefs Theme" which is pretty much the same exact beat. The song is the theme of the album and the eye brow raiser which was the buzz record around all the controversy that surrounded the cd. This song was vital to the life of the cd. It addresses old rappers, new rappers, beef and if it will be barried. The point of the song is pretty much stop killing hip hop. "Nas is the ghetto american idol, no matter what you do, your not getting my title".
Ok lets talk the album now! Some hot tracks for the radio are Hustlers ft. The Game which I definatly can see being the next single. Produced by the boss Dr. Dre it was bound to spark some convo about it. This brings hip hop questions, is Dre and Game still on good terms ? Nevermind, but Play on Playa is another good track with Snoop Dog which could be fit for radio, but who really cares what hits radio anymore ? Nas definatly kills Snoop dog on this track.
Some tracks on the cd that are appealing and stand out. I like to give recognition to good tracks that wont make the Top Tracks Section because that belongs to the official Singles which aren’t always the best. So here they follow:
Let There Be Light – this track is definatly one of those Nas songs that we can all remember next to One mic and If I rules the world. Its not radio friendly but its a beautiful track.
Black Republican - a great collaboration. This is a reason you know hip hop hasnt died because Jay Z and Nas on the same track ? Thats like Kobe and shaq or Tupac and Biggie. Its a decent song, not the best but some tracks you have to dig for the art in it.
Hope – Song is an acapela (meaning no beat for you people who dont know) and adresses his fire is being directed at people who kill hip hop ” and also talks about his album isnt a diss to dirty south, new school or old school.
Cant Forget About you & Where Are They Now - tracks for those who have come and gone, won and lost, influenced and destroyed. Nice tracks
TOP TRACKS: 5. Hip Hop is Dead 12. Let There Be Light 15. Hustlers
RAPCENTRAL OVERALL RATING: 4.8
HIP HOP WONT DIE ~ NAS
HIP HOP WONT DIE ~ NAS
HIP HOP WONT DIE ~ NAS
HIP HOP WONT DIE ~ NAS
HIP HOP WONT DIE ~ NAS
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ALL MUSIC GUIDE REVIEW:
Hip Hop Is Dead is not Illmatic. Illmatic stands as one of the most impressive debuts in rap music, and consequently has set up inevitable, and often unfavorable, comparisons with each of Nas' subsequent releases. And so it is practically a given that the two albums in fact do not compare, that the beats, the rhymes, the insight, the flow Mr. Jones had on Illmatic have not been duplicated here, and in all honestly, probably never will. Nas himself seems aware of this — though he would never admit it — as throughout the record he references the MCs, the producers, the DJs who made the music what it was and what it is today, many of whom were releasing material in the early '90s, when Nas first made a mark. He himself is one of them.
The statement that "hip hop is dead" is clearly meant to be controversial, and was, as rappers and rap fans alike exploded into debate after Nas declared it to be the title of his next album. But it's also a statement that the MC doesn't completely adhere to. He flip-flops between declaring that it has already gone, to warning of its imminent departure, to promising "to carry on tradition," to resurrecting it. But these inconsistencies don't come from contradictions in Nas' beliefs; rather, they stem from the fact that his biggest problem with hip-hop has nothing to do with current talent, but what hip-hop itself has become — how it's magnified from an art form, from a way the ghetto expressed itself, into a commercialized, corporate entity that Nas himself is part of, something about which he feels more than a little guilty. This is most openly addressed on "Black Republican," which appropriately features an equally guilty (in terms of both improving and commercializing rap music) Jay-Z, who spits out better lines than anything he did on Kingdom Come. The track, which ingeniously samples "Marcia Religiosa" from The Godfather II (a film that, in many ways, parallels Nas' ideas about hip-hop as it deals with the dark side of making money and the problems that befall an overly zealous pursuit of the always crafty American Dream), finds both MCs lamenting the state of the genre while also acknowledging their own participation — and enjoyment — of what it's given them. "Black Republican" is an understanding and admittance of hypocrisy, and this sentiment continues in "Not Going Back" and "Carry on Tradition," the latter in which Nas rhymes, "We used to be a ghetto secret/Can't make my mind up if I want that/Or the whole world to peep it." Nas enjoys the fame, but he also realizes that it has hurt the very thing he loves most, his "first wifey."
Yet Mr. Jones is not completely blaming himself for hip-hop's demise. In fact, he gives more of that responsibility to those who don't respect it, who don't know its originators, and he takes stabs at them more than at himself (he did release Illmatic, after all). He's also willing to ease up on his criticism and rhyme in more general terms, although it is these tracks (specifically "Still Dreaming" and "Hold Down the Block," but much of the second half of the album as well) on which he loses some of the intensity and intelligence that he displayed earlier in the record. Still, he's able to regain his strength by the end, bringing together the East and West Coast on the Dre-produced "Hustlers," which features a great verse from the Game about trying to decide between buying Illmatic or The Chronic and being the "only Compton ni**a with a New York state of mind." Nas finishes up Hip Hop Is Dead with the spoken word piece "Hope," which, despite its seeming simplicity, shows off his indelible flow, how he raps as easily as he talks. Consciously or not, listeners are reminded that there's a reason he was the one who made Illmatic, and why it, and therefore Nas himself, will continue to be held in high esteem.
he has already announced he's well into working on his next release too 
