So why is Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
When Hip Hop Is Dead was released in 2007, there was a lot of chatter about its title and the album’s content, What It All Means both in terms of Nas’ When Hip-hop Is Dead was released in 2007, there was a lot of chatter about its title and the album’s content, What It All Means both in terms of Nas’ career and hip-hop’s relative health as a whole.
When I throw on the title track, “Hip-hop Is Dead,” circa 2023, that stuff fades into the background as I’m completely delighted by the carnivalesque organ, crushing hard rock guitar hook, and Nas’ top-notch (and very much alive) rapping prowess. will.i.am adds a verse of his own on this one, and the pairing works really well.
It’s important to note that Nas is as nimble a songwriter as he is as a rapper. “Hip-hop Is Dead” the song is playful in terms of the notion of hip-hop “dying” – playfully violent – with Nas as the self-proclaimed last MC standing.
If hip-hop should die before I wake
I’ll put an extended clip inside of my AK
Roll to every station, murder the DJ
Roll to every station, murder the DJ
“Black Republican,” featuring fellow hip-hop icon Jay-Z, is wonderfully bombastic, with an Eastern-tinged and huge-sounding musical soundscape backing up the pair.
It’s interesting to think about what the song title and lyrics conveyed in 2007, late in the increasingly unpopular George W. Bush administration, versus 2023 where, uh… many Americans have suffered nearly a decade of MAGA and Trumpism dominating politics.
I feel like a Black Republican, money I got comin’ in
Can’t turn my back on the hood, I got love for them
Can’t clean my act up for good, too much thug in him (nah)
Probably end up back in the hood, like, “F— it then”
Nas has always been an outstanding collaborator (see: Distant Relatives, a great and unique album – #380 of best 1,000 albums ever – made in conjunction with Damian Marley), and “Still Dreaming,” featuring Kanye West and Chrisette Michele, is both a wonderfully smooth and groovy hip-hop number and a pleasing change-up versus the more aggressive material.
And “Blunt Ashes” stands up with the best of so-called “gangsta rap,” a haunting and absolutely compelling track.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with Nas’ Hip-hop Is Dead
There’s a long tradition in music to declare something as “dead,” typically as a way to either ironically convey that it’s very much alive, or to relay that the one making the statement is keeping the flame alive (and/or brighter than all the other would be comers, of course).
Quick example from an album already covered on the best 1,000 albums ever project: “Rock and Roll Is Dead,” by Lenny Kravitz, off of Circus (#482).
Indeed, back in 1969, The Doors recorded an hour-plus jam that they dubbed “Rock Is Dead.”
I’m a huge Doors fan… and this thing ain’t that good, frankly.
Other bands who proclaim that rock is dead include Marilyn Manson and the great Tenacious D.
Some stats & info about Nas – Hip Hop Is Dead
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Hip Hop, Rap, East Coast Rap, Hardcore Rap
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Hip Hop Is Dead released? 2007
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #312 out of 1,000
Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Hip hop just died this mornin’ and she’s dead, she’s dead.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.