So I attended the Nas Hip Hop is Dead Listening Session
I got lucky and was given the opportunity to listen to the album more than a month before its release. The event was held in a small room at Sony Studios. When you first get in there is a free buffet and free drinks, the room was full of Hip Hop is Dead Promo signs. When it started, Nas made his way through the crowd and gave a speech on why he thinks Hip Hop is Dead and hopes everyone enjoys the album. Then surprisingly Jay-Z and Solange come in, other guest included Swizz Beatz, Rodney Jerkins, Bilal, Amanda Diva and Mr.Cee. The tracklising for what we heard goes as follows:
QB Tru G- Chorus goes a Compton Compton OG, mixed with a QB QB Tru G. The Game raps-"I was the only Compton rapper with a NY State of Mind. Definitely a hot track.
Won't Go Back- Soulful track
You Mean The World To Me
Play on Playa feat. Snoop
Where Are They Now- Track brings up a lot of rappers that have seem to disappeared. Some rappers Nas mention include Craig Mack, K-Solo, and EPMD. The song uses a James Brown Sample. Nas makes his intentions clear:"This ain't a diss record, its a song for MCs that was were misrepresented."
Carry on Tradition- Hot track, Nas raps,"Everybody is a rapper but few flows are fatal." He says Hip Hop is Dead and we are the reason.
Hip Hop Is Dead
Still Dreamin feat. Kanye West
Blunt Ashes
Let There be Light
Can't Forget About You feat. Chrisette Michele - They took this song seriously, made an announcement to really pay attention to this one and even started the track over. Definitely a banger with a crazy beat.
Nas stayed for about a song and a half then had to leave to go to a radio station. Jay-Z and Solange stayed for a while. As Jay-Z was leaving a track comes on with him rapping. Jay-Z comes back from the hallway and tells the DJ don't play that one smiling. So he leaves and everyone in the room begs the DJ to play it, He starts playing and Jay-Z comes back again and this time the DJ shuts it down. People complain to the host of the event but he just said, "what you want me to do thats my boss." The song turns out to be, "Black Republican."
The listening session was enough to convince me to buy the album. There are suppose to be more tracks that we didn't hear besides the one featuring Jay-Z. Hip Hop is Dead will be in stores December 19th. For an indept review of every track check out AllHipHop.
