Nasir (album)
Nasir | ||||
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Studio album (mini-album) by | ||||
Released | June 15, 2018 | |||
Recorded | June 2018 | |||
Studio | West Lake Ranch (Jackson Hole, Wyoming)[1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 26:29 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
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Nas chronology | ||||
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Nasir (stylized in
The album is executive produced by West, and is the fourth of five seven-track albums West produced in what has become known as the "
Background
American musician DJ Khaled's 2016 album Major Key featured a track titled "Nas Album Done" with Nas which announced the completion of his album. The same year, Kanye West expressed his wish to produce an album by Nas, seemingly promising Barack Obama that he would achieve this.[6][7]
In May 2017, Nas' brother,
Release and promotion
In April 2018, Kanye West announced that he was producing Nas' new album with a release date of June 15, 2018.[9] West later released an incomplete track listing of the five albums he was working on, revealing the Nas track "Everything".[10] On June 12, West revealed a full tentative tracklist for the album, while the album title and cover art was revealed on June 14, a day before release.[11]
A listening party for the album took place on June 14, 2018 in Queensbridge, New York City and was streamed via Mass Appeal's YouTube channel.[11]
Critical reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 5.8/10[12] |
Metacritic | 58/100[13] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [14] |
The A.V. Club | B−[15] |
Exclaim! | 5/10[16] |
The Guardian | [17] |
Mojo | [18] |
MusicOMH | [19] |
NME | [20] |
Pitchfork | 6.1/10[21] |
Rolling Stone | [22] |
XXL | 4/5[23] |
Nasir was met with generally mixed reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 58, based on 16 reviews.[13]
For
Later Nas couldn't really explain why the album didn't resonate with audiences and critics. "I don't know what went wrong," Nas began. “I like "Cop Shot the Kid,' I like 'Adam and Eve. I like the music in 'Simple Things.' It's a short album. We just didn't get enough time. I wish we'd worked on it more.“[26]
Commercial performance
Nasir debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 with 77,000 album-equivalent units, of which 49,000 were pure album sales.[27] It serves as Nas's twelfth top-ten album in the United States.[28] The album dropped to the number 36 in its second week, earning an additional 14,000 album-equivalent units.[29]
Track listing
- Credits are adapted from the CD version.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Not for Radio" (featuring Tony Williams | 3:21 | ||
5. | "Everything" (featuring The-Dream and Kanye West) |
| 7:32 | |
6. | "Adam and Eve" (featuring The-Dream) |
| 4:10 | |
7. | "Simple Things" |
|
| 2:19 |
Total length: | 26:29 |
Notes
- ^[a] signifies a co-producer
- ^[b] signifies an additional producer
- "White Label" features uncredited vocals by Mano.[30]
Samples[31]
- "Not for Radio" contains samples of "Hymn to Red October (Main Title)" from The Hunt for Red October, spoken by Basil Poledouris.
- "Cops Shot the Kid" contains samples of "Children's Story", performed by Slick Rick, and dialogue from Wattstax, spoken by Richard Pryor.
- "Bonjour" contains samples of "Dance Music" from Dame Dash.
- "Everything" contains samples of "Space Time Girl", written by Adrian Owusu, Jake Ferguson and Malcolm Catto, as performed by The Heliocentrics.
- "Adam and Eve" contains samples of "Gole Yakh", performed by Kourosh Yaghmaei, dialogue from The Godfather Part II, spoken by Al Pacino.
- "White Label" contains samples of "Prison Song", performed by Shahram Shabpareh.[32]
Personnel
Musicians
- Phillip Peterson – cello, string arrangement (tracks 1, 4)
- Victoria Parker – violin (tracks 1, 4)
- Plain Pat – drums (tracks 5, 6)
Technical
- Zack Djurich – engineering
- Sean Solymar – engineering
- Juan "AyoJuan" Pena – engineering (track 1)
- Mike Malchicoff – engineering (track 4)
- Mike Dean – mixing (tracks 1, 3, 5)
- Jess Jackson – mixing (tracks 1, 3, 5)
- Andrew Dawson – mixing (tracks 2, 4, 6, 7)
- BoogzDaBeast – programming (track 1)
- Ryan Hendrickson – engineering (tracks 1, 4)
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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References
- ^ Jonah Engel Bromwich (February 23, 2020). "Kanye, Out West". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 24, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
- ^ Yeung, Neil Z. "Kids See Ghosts – Kids See Ghosts". AllMusic. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
- ^ Findlay, Mitch (March 26, 2018). "Kanye West's New Album: Everything We Know". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
- ^ "Nas: Nasir (Billboard 200)". billboard.com.
- ^ "Nas". officialcharts.com.
- ^ "Kanye West Promised President Barack Obama He Would "Do Beats On Nas' Next Album"". Pigeons and Planes. March 5, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
- ^ "Kanye West Says He Promised President Obama He'd Produce On Nas' Next Album". HotNewHipHop. March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
- ^ "Nas' Brother Jungle Updates Fans on "Nas Album Done" Status". DJBooth.
- ^ "Kanye Says He's Producing Nas' New Album - Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. 23 April 2018.
- ^ "Kanye West reveals tracklist for Kids See Ghosts collaborative album with Kid Cudi". Consequence of Sound. May 15, 2018.
- ^ a b "Nas Reveals New Kanye-Produced Album Title, Cover, and Live Stream". Pitchfork. June 14, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
- ^ "NASIR by Nas reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ a b "Nasir by Nas Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
- ^ Kellman, Andy. "Nasir – Nas". AllMusic. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- ^ a b McGowan, Colin (June 15, 2018). "Nas and Kanye make a rushed connection on Nasir". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
- ^ Harmony, A. (June 21, 2018). "Nas: Nasir". Exclaim!. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ a b Petridis, Alexis (June 18, 2018). "Nas: Nasir review – shifting, mercurial, but ultimately queasy listening". The Guardian. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
- ^ Cowan, Andy (September 2018). "Nas: Nasir". Mojo. No. 298. p. 96.
- ^ Devlin, Ben (June 15, 2018). "Nas – Nasir". MusicOMH. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
- ^ a b Aubrey, Elizabeth (June 16, 2018). "Nas – 'Nasir' review". NME. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
- ^ Kearse, Stephen (June 20, 2018). "Nas: Nasir". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
- ^ a b Thompson, Paul (June 18, 2018). "Nas: 'Nasir' Is the One Thing the Rapper has Never Been Before – Dull". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
- ^ Kennedy, John (June 26, 2018). "Nas' 'Nasir' Album Is (Good) Rapping for Rap's Sake". XXL. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
- ^ "Review: The Kanye West Rush Job Shortchanges "NASIR's" Potential". HipHopDX. June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (July 13, 2018). "Robert Christgau on G.O.O.D Music's Good (and Less Good) Music". Vice. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
- ^ "Nas Addresses "What Went Wrong" with Kanye".
- ^ a b Caulfield, Keith (June 24, 2018). "5 Seconds of Summer Earn Third No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Youngblood'". Billboard. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ Caulfield, Keith (June 24, 2018). "Nas Claims 12th Top 10 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Nasir'". Billboard. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
- ^ Eustice, Kyle (July 2, 2018). "Hip Hop Album Sales: XXXTENTACION's "?" Lands At #2 On Billboard 200 Following His Death". Hiphopdx. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
- ^ "Stream Nas' new Kanye West-produced project 'Nasir'", Fake Shore Drive, June 16, 2018, retrieved March 30, 2019
- ^ "Nas Releases New Kanye-Produced Album Nasir: Listen". Pitchfork. June 16, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
- ^ "Song Details", Universal Music Publishing Group, retrieved July 28, 2020
- ^ Ryan, Gavin (June 23, 2018). "Australian Charts: 5 Seconds of Summer Have A No 1 Album". Noise11. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Nas – Nasir" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Nas – Nasir" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Nas – Nasir" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Nas – Nasir". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Nas – Nasir" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
- Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ "Lescharts.com – Nas – Nasir". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
- GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Nas". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
- ^ "Italiancharts.com – Nas – Nasir". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
- ^ "Nas". Oricon. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Nas – Nasir". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Nas – Nasir". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
- ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Nas – Nasir". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Nas – Nasir". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
- ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
- ^ "Nas Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
- ^ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2018". Billboard. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
External links
- Nasir at Metacritic