Nas is nice... but will.i.am was a bad idea

Posted over 3 years ago

Artist:
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Nas
Album:
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- QUEUE
Hip Hop Is Dead
Track:
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Hip Hop Is Dead

I don't know guys... You may or may not have heard the new title-single from Nas's upcoming album, "Hip Hop is Dead." It samples a song caled _In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida_ released in 1968 by a rock band called Iron Butterfly. Strangely, this sample is also used in the song _Thief's Theme_ from Nas's most recently released work, the 2-CD album Street's Disciple. I don't know if using the same sample that was used in Nas's last album was will.i.am's idea or Nas's idea. Frankly I don't know why he chose will.i.am to produce the title-song on his album, I think that was a bad idea. Maybe Pharrell, or Dr. Dre, or Primo, or... shoot, even Mannie Fresh would have been a good choice. While I'm still excited about the release of this album, this song isn't a very good look. But of course after you hear _Illmatic_, you want to compare everything he does to it... Poor guy gets beat by his own first album.

Comments (10)

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david hyman says hmm. new jay-z and new nas not holding up. does not bode well for def jam.

Permalink posted 12/08/2006
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Violet Grey says What I don't understand is why it's still considered "creative" to sample someone else's work as the basis for your song. If the backing track is what really makes the song or, at least, inspires the lyrics then why are we giving credit to the producers and MC's. All the credit should go to who ever it was that wrote and recorded the song being smpled. Can't Stop the Signal

Permalink posted 12/08/2006
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sekout says Violet, Hip Hop actually originated with the DJ’s sampling sound over beats while the MC “rapped” over it. Sampling is a quintessential part of the genre. As far as what “makes” the average hip-hop song, traditionally it’s supposed to be the lyrics, and how well the beat is sampled. Sampling is considered to be an art within itself, as it can be done well or poorly. (For example, I thought the song from this post was sampled much better in Thief’s Theme in comparison to the way it was sampled in Hip Hop is Dead) this post I made a while back sort of talks about sampling.

Permalink posted 12/09/2006
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JCTrojan says Well as far as I'm concerned, Nas has never really been known to consistently produce or release good albums. Every now and then there'll be some musical gold on a cd, but overall he's pretty unreliable in that respect. As far as will.i.am, he's probably just trying to use someone who's hot who hasn't got as much producing cred as the others. But sampling the same song twice in a row .... bad move. no matter who's idea that was he shouldn'ta let that one go. personally I prefer Jay-Z ....... but if he doesn't hurry up and retire like he keeps threatening to he's gonna lose a lotta respect.

Permalink posted 12/09/2006
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ciaran says Sampling, when done well, is incredibly creative. Certainly more so than rock bands recyclying each others' riffs. Listen to The Jam's Start and The Beatles Tax Man and tell me that isn't a 'sample'.....

Permalink posted 12/11/2006
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ciaran says And if you're still not convionced about sampling, see if this will change your mind...

Permalink posted 12/11/2006
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sekout says This post is old, but I hope someone catches this...

Permalink posted 12/14/2006
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ciaran says And doesn't it sound good on Church organ?! Priceless......

Permalink posted 12/15/2006
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JCTrojan says that was a great episode too. buy your soul for $5...

Permalink posted 12/17/2006
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Prawler says it is funny that by saying that he will sell more albums. shock value

Permalink posted 11/06/2007