"Just To Visualize Is Like A Coke Rush..."

AZ's Legendary album dropped on June 2nd and I didn't even know. I consider myself a huge AZ fan and the fact that the album's release wasn't on my radar threw me off. I have every AZ album in my collection and whenever he drops an album I'm one of the first people keep an eye out for it. AZ's style of rapping is timeless, there's some emcees/rappers (yes, there is a difference) whose flow and delivery are dated. For example, if you listen to KRS-One & Marley Marl's Hip-Hop Lives album nothing about it, well at least in my opinion, radiated about the message they were attempting to convey. With AZ, he never changed when it came to his image, he always portrayed himself as the teacher of street knowledge and which each song you never doubt the narrator's experience. This is where he and Nas differed. Nas and AZ were parallel to each other early in their careers. I felt like Nas went on a tangent after It Was Written and didn't find his voice of reason again until Stillmatic. AZ on the other hand followed his same formula since Doe or Die but major success seemed to elude him (Read my previous post on the Top 3 Reasons Why AZ Isn't Where He Should Be).

For years, we as hip-hop fans dreamed of the day that Nas and AZ would drop an album together. Tracks like "Life's A Bitch", "Mo' Money, Mo' Homicide" Various songs from The Firm, "How Ya Livin", "The Flyest", "The Essence" and "Serious" (a mixtape hit) were the closest we ever came but the way things are looking, that dream may be deferred. As a fan of the culture, I realize we can all be a bit too picky so I'm pretty much satisfied just as long as both emcees release quality material.