Hip-Hop Is Alive! 5 Things Nas Should Do to Make His 10th Solo Album A Classic
1. Pay homage to Illmatic—without forcing the issue.
Nas made it to double digits! Back when he was recording Illmatic, that was probably unthinkable. Yet, here he is. So he should try and pay his respects to his first album ever on his tenth project. Of course, he shouldn't force the issue—recreating a classic is damn-near impossible!—but maybe he could start the album off with a few bars from one of Illmatic's tracks. Or sample one of the track's productions. Or simply set his tenth album up the same way he set up his first, with just 10 hard-hitting tracks on it. However he chooses to do it, a simple nod to his past could go a long way towards making his tenth album a masterpiece.
2. Draw off the experiences you've gone through over the course of the last three years.
Nas probably has a pretty interesting perspective on the world right now. It's almost as if he's come full circle as both an artist and as a person. So while he spent his last two albums—Hip-Hop Is Dead and Untitled respectively—mostly rapping about conceptual ideas that were on his mind, we'd recommend making his tenth album his most personal yet. From his divorce to his place in the current state of hip-hop to his longevity, there's got to be a lot on his mind right now. We hope he gets it all out onto this new project.
3. Work with nothing but New York-based producers.
No disrespect to producers from outside of the Big Apple, but Nas came into this game on the back of a bunch of hard-nosed beats produced by guys who hailed from NYC—or at least sounded like they hailed from NYC (before someone calls us out for not recognizing DJ Premier's hometown of Houston!). Why not take it back to that for an album and make it an all-NYC affair behind the boards? Or, better yet, Nasir should call the same group of guys who helped produced his first album. Now, that would make a statement.
4. Or, even better yet, collaborate with a single New York producer for the entire album.
Okay, okay, so that pipe dream known as a Nas/DJ Premier album has been on the "TBD" release schedule for about as long as Detox has at this point. We've accepted that it's never dropping. But there has to be some New York producer—or, at the very least, a producer with a distinctly New York sound (we're looking at you, Alchemist!)—that could whip together ten tracks of heat to round out a Nas album. The one rapper/one producer approach to recording has worked for a gang of other MCs recently. Why not Nas, too?
5. Consider featuring more newer artists that people would never expect to hear on a Nas album.
If Nas doesn't decide to go with the whole retro theme on his tenth album, we wouldn't blame him. But then we expect him to really blow us away by being forward-thinking featuring a bunch of acts that we wouldn't necessarily expect to find on a Nas album. We're not necessarily convinced he needs a Soulja Boy or Waka Flocka Flame to get that point across. But since he's already working with Frank Ocean, what about Tyler, The Creator? What about Drake? What about—gasp!—J. Cole? Nas could really put himself back on the map for the new generation of rap fans (you know, the ones who were 2 years old when Illmatic dropped) by showing that he can keep up with the young guys (and girls! Nicki!?) of rap. That would not only help Nas celebrate his long career but also add a whole new chapter to his book of rhymes.
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