The Lost Tapes (Nas album)

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The Lost Tapes
L.E.S.
  • Poke and Tone
  • Precision
  • Rockwilder
  • Al West
  • Kanye West (co.)[1]
  • Nas chronology
    Stillmatic
    (2001)
    The Lost Tapes
    (2002)
    God's Son
    (2002)

    The Lost Tapes is a

    thug
    persona of Nas' previous records.

    Released with little promotion, The Lost Tapes debuted and peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200, selling over 70,000 copies in its first week. It received widespread acclaim from critics, some of whom viewed it as Nas' best record since his 1994 debut album Illmatic. A second volume of previously unreleased songs was planned before Nas had signed with Def Jam Recordings in 2006, but the project was delayed because of issues with his record label; The Lost Tapes 2 was eventually released on July 19, 2019.

    Background

    In 2001, Nas made an artistic comeback with the release of his fifth album Stillmatic and his highly publicized feud with rapper Jay-Z.[2] Both events revitalized his image in hip hop music at the time, following a string of commercially successful but critically subpar albums.[2] Nas' record label, Columbia Records, capitalized on his comeback with a promotional campaign that included the release of two archival albums, the extended play From Illmatic to Stillmatic: The Remixes and The Lost Tapes, while leading up to the release of his 2002 studio album God's Son.[3]

    Preparation

    Nas in 1998

    The Lost Tapes compiles previously unreleased tracks that Nas recorded during 1998 to 2001 in the sessions for both his 1999 album

    mastered for The Lost Tapes.[4]

    Songs on The Lost Tapes were recorded in several recording studios in New York, including

    Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, and Hill, Inc. The album was packaged with a booklet featuring artwork by Chris "C-Money" Feldman and photography by Kareem Black, along with liner notes displaying the slogan "No cameos. No hype. No bullsh*t".[9]

    Music and lyrics

    public housing project
    pictured).

    The Lost Tapes features introspective lyrics and themes of

    themes.[14] John Bush of AllMusic said the songs "have more in common with his early recordings; there's more of a back-in-the-day, wasn't-it-all-so-simple-then sound to 'Doo Rags' and 'Poppa Was a Playa,' two tracks that definitely wouldn't have fit on the raging Stillmatic."[15] Music writer Craig Seymour observed "spare beats" in the music and few boasts in Nas' rapping,[10] while Chris Conti from the Boston Phoenix said the simple beats "counteract Nas's complex bars of braggadocio and street-life storytelling."[16]

    According to

    New York Daily News writer Jim Farber commented on his lyrical observations, "Nas focuses on linear scenarios and on human motivations ... "unlike many hard rappers, Nas' tales of ghetto horror are not covert boasts but expressions of true fear". Farber took note of "a cinematic tale of self-destruction in 'Drunk by Myself,' and a compelling autobiography narrated from the womb in 'Fetus.' "[19]

    The opening track "Doo Rags" contemplates Nas' youth and society's cyclical nature.

    '86 crack blitz" and discusses his own significance: "This thug life you claimed it, I make millions from entertainment / Now back in the hood, certain cats they wanna kill me / They ice-grill me, but on the low, niggas feel me."[23] "Nothing Lasts Forever" advises to appreciate life's small epiphanies and be optimistic about the future.[12] On "No Idea's Original", Nas notes the similarities of people in life and views other rappers as creatively derivative, while distinguishing himself from them:[24] "No idea's original, there's nothin new under the sun / It's never what you do, but how it's done / What you base your happiness around material, women, and large paper / That means you inferior, not major."[6] He references the line "there's nothing new under the sun" from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the song's chorus.[18] "No Idea's Original" samples Barry White's 1973 song "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby", a frequently sampled recording in hip hop music.[24]

    "Blaze a 50" features a violin-based instrumental and a complex

    blunt and expresses his thoughts, including criticism of hoodlums and their effect on their neighborhoods: "The 'hood love you, but behind your back they pray for the day / A bullet hit your heart and ambulance take you away / That ain't love it's hate / Think of all the mothers at wakes / Whose sons you've killed and you ain't got a cut on your face?"[27] "Drunk by Myself" has lyrics concerning alcohol and self-medication.[2]

    "Poppa Was a Playa" was co-produced by Kanye West (pictured here in 2005).

    "Black Zombie" is an impassioned, self-reflective critique of problems afflicting the African-American community, including prejudice ("You believe when they say we ain't shit, we can't grow / All we are is dope dealers and gangstas and hoes"), economic insolvency ("What do we own? The skin on our backs / We rent and we ask for reparations, then they hit us with tax"), and dependency ("I'm a

    Complex calls it an "honest dedication to his old man: a jazz player, a rolling stone" and writes of the song, "The love is there despite the man's faults. Nas crafts a full picture of the past, looking at the infidelity and fights from both parents' perspectives."[30]

    An untitled hidden track follows "Poppa Was a Playa" and has Nas rapping from the perspective of his prenatal self.[2] It was originally recorded for I Am... and had planned titles "Fetus" and "Belly Button Window".[8][31] The track opens with solemn guitar chords and the sound of bubbling liquid before being overlaid with a beat and a piano riff.[32] An introductory verse is delivered by Nas in a spoken word tone: "Yeah. I want all my niggas to come journey with me / My name is Nas, and the year is 1973 / The beginning of me / Therefore I can see / Through my belly button window / Who I am."[32] The narrative follows the time before his birth, covering subject matter such as his parents fighting and his expectations for life.[33] In Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop (2009), writer Adam Bradley denotes the track's lyrical narrative of an MC's story of birth as "one of the core narratives in rap", having its roots in a similar autobiographical convention found in African-American slave narratives. Of Nas' narrative, Bradley states, "By endowing the insensible with voice, he aspires to an expressive level that transcends speaking for oneself, or of oneself, to one that self-consciously constructs itself as an artist giving shape to that which lacks coherence."[32]

    Marketing and sales

    The Lost Tapes was released by

    Sony Music Entertainment.[34] It was first released on September 23 in the United Kingdom, then September 24 in the United States,[35] October 9 in Japan – where it was issued with three bonus tracks –[36] and January 20, 2003, in Australia.[11] The release received little marketing, with hip hop journalist Rob Markman noting no promotional music videos were produced and Nas' absence from the cover.[37]

    On October 2, 2002, The Lost Tapes was reported to have sold more than 70,000 copies in its first week of release, giving it a chart debut of number 10 on the

    Critical reception

    Professional ratings
    Aggregate scores
    SourceRating
    The Source
    [43]
    Spin8/10[25]
    Stylus MagazineB[14]
    The Village VoiceB+[17]

    The Lost Tapes was met with widespread critical acclaim. At

    average score of 81, based on 12 reviews.[41]

    Reviewing for Entertainment Weekly in September 2002, Craig Seymour said Nas' "gritty, yet hopeful, reflections make Lost Tapes a real find."[8] Rolling Stone critic Jon Caramanica hailed it as "the real Stillmatic", writing that it "displays Nas' gifts for tightly stitched narrative and stunningly precise detail."[13] In The A.V. Club, Nathan Rabin deemed it a masterpiece whose assorted tracks cohere as well as any of Nas' official studio albums while reaffirming his reputation as "rap music's poet laureate of urban despair".[2] Ken Capobianco from The Boston Globe said the leftover songs prove why Nas had so much promise early in his career,[12] while Spin's Chris Ryan viewed the record as a hip hop version of Bob Dylan's much-bootlegged Basement Tapes—"a raw document [that] still proves that Nas had it all along."[25] PopMatters critic Marc L. Hill called it a "masterfully arranged" and "necessary addition to the collection of any hip-hop fan".[35] In The Village Voice, Christgau was particularly impressed by the four autobiographical songs closing the album, preferring them to other songs he felt are nothing more than outtakes.[17] In a less enthusiastic review, Brett Berliner from Stylus Magazine wrote that as good as the songs were, "they don't make a real album ... [more] like a superb mixtape",[14] while Billboard's Rashaun Hall believed the production on some of the songs sounds outdated.[20]

    In a retrospective review,

    Complex included The Lost Tapes in their list of "25 Rap Albums From the Past Decade That Deserve Classic Status".[49]

    Sequel

    A follow-up compilation,

    online petition in December asking for Def Jam to release the album.[55] After losing time to the project's delay, Nas began recording for a new studio album and put plans for The Lost Tapes 2 on hold.[56][57] In a May 2011 interview for MTV News
    , he explained why the sequel was abandoned:

    When I released Lost Tapes, it was on Sony. Being at Sony for so long, I was used to things going easy. Kinda easy. At Def Jam, I just got there, I'm still in my ways at Sony. I'm like, 'yeah, this record'll come out this time, a few months later I'ma drop this.' But we just started working together, so they're like, 'We can do this, but wait, maybe we should do it like this,' and I wasn't used to that. And then there was no communication at all, and I wasn't used to that. With Sony, I wasn't used to a lot of communication, it was just, we understood what we were doing. [...] Def Jam, it was more, 'Let's sit down, let's have tea and talk this over.' I wasn't so used to that, and I saw kinda things falling behind. It kinda messed up my flow, I thought. The timing for that is gone. Now, it's all about the new record.[58]

    On June 11, 2019, Nas shared a promotional video via his Instagram account, announcing the release of The Lost Tapes 2 in the near future.[59] Its track listing and cover art were revealed on July 2, and the album was released on July 19.[60]

    Track listing

    No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
    1."Doo Rags"
    Deric Angelettie, Allan Wayne Felder, Norman Ray Harris
    Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, Kanye West (co.)[1]7:09
    12."Fetus"Jon Shriver, Nasir JonesShrive Alive AKA Jon Shriver3:19
    Total length:43:02
    Japan edition bonus tracks
    No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
    13."It Ain't Hard to Tell" (Large Professor Remix)Highleigh Crizoe, Jones, William Paul MitchellLarge Professor2:51
    14."Affirmative Action" (Remix) (featuring Foxy Brown and AZ)Dave Atkinson, Barnes, Anthony Cruz, Jones, Inga Marchand, Cory McKay, OlivierDave Atkinson, Poke and Tone3:23
    15."One Mic" (Remix)Tyrone Fyffe, Jones, James MtumeTy Fyffe4:34
    Total length:53:40

    Notes[9]

    • "U Gotta Love It" contains excerpts from the composition "Love Song" performed by Mandrill, written by Carlos Wilson, Louis Wilson, and Ricardo Wilson.
    • "No Idea's Original" contains excerpts from "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby" written and performed by Barry White.
    • "Poppa Was a Playa" contains excerpts from the composition "The Newness Is Gone" written by Allan Wayne Felder and Norman Ray Harris, performed by Eddie Kendricks.
    • A hidden track begins at 3:49 of track 11.

    Personnel

    Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[9]

    Charts

    Chart (2002) Peak
    position
    Nielsen SoundScan)[61]
    52
    Canadian R&B Albums (
    Nielsen SoundScan)[62]
    10
    French Albums (
    SNEP)[63]
    104
    Swiss Albums (
    Schweizer Hitparade) [64]
    50
    US Billboard 200[65] 10
    US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[66] 3

    Year-end charts

    Chart (2002) Position
    Canadian R&B Albums (
    Nielsen SoundScan)[67]
    174
    Canadian Rap Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[68] 87

    See also

    References

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    Bibliography

    External links