Nasty Nas delivers he's 11th studio album and it's a masterpiece. He definitely hasn't lost he's touch.
Nas showcases lyrical shadow boxing on full display as bars flow effortlessly throughout the slightly over 25 minute release. Hip-Hop has been starved of this kind of intellectual relationship between message and witty wordplay for quite some time. Nas shows he's still very much the capable hand that delivered Illmatic 25+ years ago.
Kanye West is now 4/4 on production. Thats 28 completely different sounding instrumentals. You can hate, but he's genius can't be denied, especially after a completely stellar verse on Cops Shot the Kid. There is a slight misstep on White Label where the sample comes as almost a hindrance to Nas' flow.
The other features come from star in the making 070 Shake on the album opener and elsewhere The Dream makes he's presence felt on the two best songs: Everything & Adam and Eve. Nas being a veteran shows that he's just as "woke" as ever. He was woke before being woke was cool. That leads to some incredible one liners and superb verses.
I don't know where this'll rank amongst he's discography, but it's definitely going to rank as one of the best albums of 2018.