Oh, how the mighty fall. Hard.
Nas seemed almost superhuman when in 1994 he released his
debut album, the undisputed classic album Illmatic.
It has been a relatively continual downfall back to humanity since then, with
the temporary market correction of Stillmatic
through God's Son. All three discs
during that time (2002-04) were good, perhaps great, but nowhere near the
immortality that Nas gained with his first attempt. Now, with Greatest Hits, Nas proves this fact with
alarming poignancy.
The clearest sign of this reality is in the track list
itself: Four of the 14 tracks are from Illmatic.
No other record represented here gets more than two. This obviously screams "Go
buy Illmatic, instead!" whether
intentionally or not. That is to say, Nas has released some worthwhile singles
since 1994, as shown in this collection, but hardly any albums that would
classify as such.
Add to that some of the odd inclusions on the compilation. A
remix of "Street Dreams" features R. Kelly trying (key word) to channel Marvin
Gaye, and is therefore the most out-of-place track. The original version, from It Was Written, is superior due to the
sample from Eurythmics's
"Sweet Dreams" being left alone in the background to ground the beat, as
opposed to being completely crushed under random keyboard sounds.
Also, Greatest Hits
contains two songs that are neither great nor really hits: The first two tracks
are new to the Nas catalogue. Opener "Surviving the Times" has never been
released and is an odd choice to open a disc of well-known songs. Then we have
the Cee-Lo collaboration "Less Than an Hour" from the "Rush Hour 3" soundtrack.
The latter is overall a better track than "Surviving the Times," but Nas'
rapping is vastly improved on the former. In fact, Nas spits so well on "Surviving"
that it gives hope for future work, including his forthcoming album next month
whose title might well overshadow the music on it.
Other than that, most of Nas' biggest hits are present,
including his best song, "One Mic." That said, this hits collection displays
Nas' rise from a rap god with infinite street cred (1994-96) to commercial
sellout (1997-00) and then coming full circle by regaining respect from his
peers (2001-present).
Whether it was blind luck or the result of a calculated
marketing decision, Columbia is just lucky this disc isn't called Best Of. Had it been, a class-action
lawsuit may have been brought against them for false advertising.
3 stars out of 5
