Rapper Ranking Project: Rapper #4 - Nas

[The Lonious Monk]

Nas is pretty close to the perfect MC, but he doesn't deserve a perfect score.

Take Catalog for instance. He's got a big catalog and that is due to his longevity, so he deserves credit for that, but not every album in that catalog is strong. Nastradamus is pretty weak as albums from good artists go. And I personally think Double CDs are a bad decision in general, but even in the context of measure Street's Disciple against other Double CDs, it's one of the weaker ones. Compare that to someone like Pac. Sure, Illmatic is arguably better than any of Pac's albums, but all of Pac's studio albums are good. I don't believe he has the low points that Nas had which is why I gave him a 5.

2 bad albums out of 11 isn't a bad record. And Street Disciple wasn't as bad as Gift and a Curse. He had a lot of bangers on it too. Theif Theme, These are our heroes, Street Disciple, Disciples, Rest of my life, Moment in time, Nazereth Savage, U.B.R, War, Getting Married. I don't think it was that bad. I like it. And Nas have whole albums with themes. Hip-Hop is dead had a theme. Untitled, and God son had a theme and so did Life is good. There are not too many rappers with 9 really great albums mix with at least 4-6 classic or critical acclaimed albums in their discography.

But 4 isn't a bad score though. 4 means that he stands out even among good to great rappers. And if he truly had 2 bad albums, 6 great albums, and 4 classics, he'd definitely get a 5. But objectively speaking, even as a Nas fan, I don't think his discography breaks down that favorably. I Am is actually one of my favorite Nas albums, but it's not even close to classic. The same goes for God's Son. He's got 2 or 3 classics, 2 or 3 subpar albums, and the rest are just good. That's more like a 4 than a 5.

 

[metal face terrorist]

"- His record sales are not exceptional for a good rapper"



8 Platinum albums (Counting the Firm album) and 2 Gold albums. Besides Jay, Pac and Em who has more?

 

[genocidecutter]

All 5 across the board.

 

[5 Grand]

Nas is pretty close to the perfect MC, but he doesn't deserve a perfect score.

Take Catalog for instance. He's got a big catalog and that is due to his longevity, so he deserves credit for that, but not every album in that catalog is strong. Nastradamus is pretty weak as albums from good artists go. And I personally think Double CDs are a bad decision in general, but even in the context of measure Street's Disciple against other Double CDs, it's one of the weaker ones. Compare that to someone like Pac. Sure, Illmatic is arguably better than any of Pac's albums, but all of Pac's studio albums are good. I don't believe he has the low points that Nas had which is why I gave him a 5.

Nosign.

There are tens of thousands, (if not hundreds of thousands) of rap artists.

Out of the tens of thousands of rappers:

how many have a 5 mic classic?

how many have two 5 mic classics?

how many have three 5 mic classics?

I think we can all agree that Nas has at least three 5 mic classics. We wouldn't agree on which albums, but for the sake of argument lets say Nas has 12 albums, at least three 5 mic classics and scores of collaborations

Here's a link to all of his collaborations:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ingles&usg=AFQjCNFOi4zTT_pzmjto6kRaUKwAs-9RIg

Here's a double disc I made of Nas collaborations a while back

1. Live @ The Barbeque - Large Professor, Akinyele and Joe Fatal

2. Back To The Grill Again - MC Search, Chubb Rock and Red Hot Lover Tone

3. Mo Money Mo Homicide - AZ

4. Verbal Intercourse - Ghostface and Raekwon

5. Foulness Freestyle

6. Phone Tap - AZ, Nature and Dr Dre

7. Grand Finale - DMX, Method Man and Ja Rule

8. Body In The Trunk - NORE

9. John Blaze - Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Big Pun and Raekwon

10. Its Mine - Mobb Deep

11. The Essence - AZ

12. Serious - AZ

13. Stillmatic Freestyle

1 Hot Boys - Missy Elliot, Eve and Q Tip

2 Ice King - Res feat Nas

3 The Bridge 2001

4 Second Coming

5 Don’t Body Yourself

6 My Will

7 Material Things - Jully Black

8 The Rise and Fall

9 2 Seater Produced by Swizz Beats

10 We March As Millions

11 Quick To Back Down - Lil John and The Bravehearts

12 Stay Chisled - Large Professor

13 New York State of Mind III - Rakim and Alicia Keys

14 Classic feat Kanye West, Rakim, KRS and DJ Premiere

If Nas's two worst albums are Nastradamus and Street's Disciple then he has a near flawless catalog. And considering that nobody's perfect he deserves a 5 for catalog.

 

[power_wisdom]

Also Nas got rappers like Cam and Jim Jones saying he was an influence on them as rappers. Prodigy said it too. J Cole, Dave East, Eziel too. They have classes on Nas lyrics in colleges. The Outlawz admitted they were happy when Pac made peace with Nas because he was one of their favorites. Game got into beef with 50 because he was a Nas fan. He got a classic movie. A couple documentaries too.

 

[*~queenbee~*]

Nas is all 5's! except

Catalog (4)

Collabs (4)

Eta: I had to make some corrections.

 

[The Lonious Monk]

"- His record sales are not exceptional for a good rapper"



8 Platinum albums (Counting the Firm album) and 2 Gold albums. Besides Jay, Pac and Em who has more?

If we only measured by 90s standards, you'd have a point. However, when you got cats coming out now going Platinum in less than a month, suddenly a Platinum album is no longer the standard for good sales. I mean T.I. doesn't have as many albums as Nas and he's got 5 Plats and 2 Golds.

 

[*~queenbee~*]

@"blackgod813"

 

[metal face terrorist]

"- His record sales are not exceptional for a good rapper"



8 Platinum albums (Counting the Firm album) and 2 Gold albums. Besides Jay, Pac and Em who has more?

If we only measured by 90s standards, you'd have a point. However, when you got cats coming out now going Platinum in less than a month, suddenly a Platinum album is no longer the standard for good sales. I mean T.I. doesn't have as many albums as Nas and he's got 5 Plats and 2 Golds.

Nas sold the records he sold without a top ten billboard single. No pop records. "If I Ruled the World" is his only gold single. That proves how impactful his was.

How many rappers have 8 separate album Platinum plaqs plus 2 gold's?

 

[The Lonious Monk]

Nas is pretty close to the perfect MC, but he doesn't deserve a perfect score.

Take Catalog for instance. He's got a big catalog and that is due to his longevity, so he deserves credit for that, but not every album in that catalog is strong. Nastradamus is pretty weak as albums from good artists go. And I personally think Double CDs are a bad decision in general, but even in the context of measure Street's Disciple against other Double CDs, it's one of the weaker ones. Compare that to someone like Pac. Sure, Illmatic is arguably better than any of Pac's albums, but all of Pac's studio albums are good. I don't believe he has the low points that Nas had which is why I gave him a 5.

Nosign.

There are tens of thousands, (if not hundreds of thousands) of rap artists.

Out of the tens of thousands of rappers:

how many have a 5 mic classic?

how many have two 5 mic classics?

how many have three 5 mic classics?

I think we can all agree that Nas has at least three 5 mic classics. We wouldn't agree on which albums, but for the sake of argument lets say Nas has 12 albums, at least three 5 mic classics and scores of collaborations

Here's a link to all of his collaborations:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ingles&usg=AFQjCNFOi4zTT_pzmjto6kRaUKwAs-9RIg

Here's a double disc I made of Nas collaborations a while back

1. Live @ The Barbeque - Large Professor, Akinyele and Joe Fatal

2. Back To The Grill Again - MC Search, Chubb Rock and Red Hot Lover Tone

3. Mo Money Mo Homicide - AZ

4. Verbal Intercourse - Ghostface and Raekwon

5. Foulness Freestyle

6. Phone Tap - AZ, Nature and Dr Dre

7. Grand Finale - DMX, Method Man and Ja Rule

8. Body In The Trunk - NORE

9. John Blaze - Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Big Pun and Raekwon

10. Its Mine - Mobb Deep

11. The Essence - AZ

12. Serious - AZ

13. Stillmatic Freestyle

1 Hot Boys - Missy Elliot, Eve and Q Tip

2 Ice King - Res feat Nas

3 The Bridge 2001

4 Second Coming

5 Don’t Body Yourself

6 My Will

7 Material Things - Jully Black

8 The Rise and Fall

9 2 Seater Produced by Swizz Beats

10 We March As Millions

11 Quick To Back Down - Lil John and The Bravehearts

12 Stay Chisled - Large Professor

13 New York State of Mind III - Rakim and Alicia Keys

14 Classic feat Kanye West, Rakim, KRS and DJ Premiere

If Nas's two worst albums are Nastradamus and Street's Disciple then he has a near flawless catalog. And considering that nobody's perfect he deserves a 5 for catalog.

Ok, again, recognize what the scores mean. A 4 doesn't mean someone stands out among thousands of trash rappers. A 4 means that person stands out among dozens of good to great rappers. A 5 means that person is arguable top 5 or top 10 at worse. If every one agrees that Nas has a top 5-10 catalog I'll up his score.

As for the collaborations, he has a lot, but it not just about how many. It's also about who. I only docked him him .5 and it's because his collaborations are like 90% with NYC artists from the 90s. Meanwhile you have other people who have worked with damn near everyone in the game.

 

[The Lonious Monk]

Ok, no one agrees with the Impact score. I asked if 4 was a good compromise. You guys are making good arguments that it deserves to be raised, but a 5 would put him on Jay and 2Pac's level and above Big based on previous scoring. Do ya'll really think that Nas holds that much influence in the industry? I mean let's be real, someone like 50 has had more of an impact than Nas. His music hasn't been as good or meaningful, but for a while every move he made had an effect on pretty much everyone else coming out in NYC. Can you really say that's ever been the case for Nas?

 

[power_wisdom]

Nas is pretty close to the perfect MC, but he doesn't deserve a perfect score.

Take Catalog for instance. He's got a big catalog and that is due to his longevity, so he deserves credit for that, but not every album in that catalog is strong. Nastradamus is pretty weak as albums from good artists go. And I personally think Double CDs are a bad decision in general, but even in the context of measure Street's Disciple against other Double CDs, it's one of the weaker ones. Compare that to someone like Pac. Sure, Illmatic is arguably better than any of Pac's albums, but all of Pac's studio albums are good. I don't believe he has the low points that Nas had which is why I gave him a 5.

2 bad albums out of 11 isn't a bad record. And Street Disciple wasn't as bad as Gift and a Curse. He had a lot of bangers on it too. Theif Theme, These are our heroes, Street Disciple, Disciples, Rest of my life, Moment in time, Nazereth Savage, U.B.R, War, Getting Married. I don't think it was that bad. I like it. And Nas have whole albums with themes. Hip-Hop is dead had a theme. Untitled, and God son had a theme and so did Life is good. There are not too many rappers with 9 really great albums mix with at least 4-6 classic or critical acclaimed albums in their discography.

But 4 isn't a bad score though. 4 means that he stands out even among good to great rappers. And if he truly had 2 bad albums, 6 great albums, and 4 classics, he'd definitely get a 5. But objectively speaking, even as a Nas fan, I don't think his discography breaks down that favorably. I Am is actually one of my favorite Nas albums, but it's not even close to classic. The same goes for God's Son. He's got 2 or 3 classics, 2 or 3 subpar albums, and the rest are just good. That's more like a 4 than a 5.

Illmatic, Iww, Stillmatic, Untitled,Life is Good and Lost tapes were all either called classics or critical acclaimed. I think God Son was a classic and their are others that agree. But lets say it's really great. Hip-Hop is dead was great. I am was good. SD was decent. and Nastradumas was bad. I see one good album, one decent album, one bad album and the rest great or better.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

"- His record sales are not exceptional for a good rapper"



8 Platinum albums (Counting the Firm album) and 2 Gold albums. Besides Jay, Pac and Em who has more?

If we only measured by 90s standards, you'd have a point. However, when you got cats coming out now going Platinum in less than a month, suddenly a Platinum album is no longer the standard for good sales. I mean T.I. doesn't have as many albums as Nas and he's got 5 Plats and 2 Golds.

Who going plat in a month besides Em, Jay, and maybe Drake?

A month or 6 months a platinum plaque is a platinum plaque.

 

[The Lonious Monk]

Nas is pretty close to the perfect MC, but he doesn't deserve a perfect score.

Take Catalog for instance. He's got a big catalog and that is due to his longevity, so he deserves credit for that, but not every album in that catalog is strong. Nastradamus is pretty weak as albums from good artists go. And I personally think Double CDs are a bad decision in general, but even in the context of measure Street's Disciple against other Double CDs, it's one of the weaker ones. Compare that to someone like Pac. Sure, Illmatic is arguably better than any of Pac's albums, but all of Pac's studio albums are good. I don't believe he has the low points that Nas had which is why I gave him a 5.

2 bad albums out of 11 isn't a bad record. And Street Disciple wasn't as bad as Gift and a Curse. He had a lot of bangers on it too. Theif Theme, These are our heroes, Street Disciple, Disciples, Rest of my life, Moment in time, Nazereth Savage, U.B.R, War, Getting Married. I don't think it was that bad. I like it. And Nas have whole albums with themes. Hip-Hop is dead had a theme. Untitled, and God son had a theme and so did Life is good. There are not too many rappers with 9 really great albums mix with at least 4-6 classic or critical acclaimed albums in their discography.

But 4 isn't a bad score though. 4 means that he stands out even among good to great rappers. And if he truly had 2 bad albums, 6 great albums, and 4 classics, he'd definitely get a 5. But objectively speaking, even as a Nas fan, I don't think his discography breaks down that favorably. I Am is actually one of my favorite Nas albums, but it's not even close to classic. The same goes for God's Son. He's got 2 or 3 classics, 2 or 3 subpar albums, and the rest are just good. That's more like a 4 than a 5.

Illmatic, Iww, Stillmatic, Untitled,Life is Good and Lost tapes were all either called classics or critical acclaimed. I think God Son was a classic and their are others that agree. But lets say it's really great. Hip-Hop is dead was great. I am was good. SD was decent. and Nastradumas was bad. I see one good album, one decent album, one bad album and the rest great or better.

Ok, but can you admit that you are a little biased with your assessments?

SD is typically spoken about nearly as badly as Nastradamus, so that's two that are bad.

And who calls all those albums classics? Mostly Nas fans right? What average Hip Hop fan is running around talking about the Lost Tapes or God's Son are classics? Hell, I'm a Nas fan and I don't even believe that. I think the majority of his albums are good to great, but he has some that aren't all that. As a result, I'd say a 5 is high for his Catalog, but what about a 4.5. That would mean that he for sure has a Top 10 Catalog. Would you agree with that?

 

[Soloman_The_Wise]

same shit new thread...

 

[The Lonious Monk]

"- His record sales are not exceptional for a good rapper"



8 Platinum albums (Counting the Firm album) and 2 Gold albums. Besides Jay, Pac and Em who has more?

If we only measured by 90s standards, you'd have a point. However, when you got cats coming out now going Platinum in less than a month, suddenly a Platinum album is no longer the standard for good sales. I mean T.I. doesn't have as many albums as Nas and he's got 5 Plats and 2 Golds.

Who going plat in a month besides Em, Jay, and maybe Drake?

A month or 6 months a platinum plaque is a platinum plaque.

The point wasn't necessarily the time. It was the fact that platinum plaques aren't as hard to come by now. In the early 90s a platinum plaque was much rarer. People back then bragged about Gold. Nowadays, rappers clown other rappers for only going gold. Average ass rappers like Rick Ross have platinum albums.

Anyways, I'm putting the option of raising Catalog to 4.5 and Impact to 4 out there. The desire for Nas fans to see all 5s aside, can people get behind those changes?

 

[The Lonious Monk]

same shit new thread...

Yep, so feel free not to participate since you don't like them.

 

[power_wisdom]

Nas is pretty close to the perfect MC, but he doesn't deserve a perfect score.

Take Catalog for instance. He's got a big catalog and that is due to his longevity, so he deserves credit for that, but not every album in that catalog is strong. Nastradamus is pretty weak as albums from good artists go. And I personally think Double CDs are a bad decision in general, but even in the context of measure Street's Disciple against other Double CDs, it's one of the weaker ones. Compare that to someone like Pac. Sure, Illmatic is arguably better than any of Pac's albums, but all of Pac's studio albums are good. I don't believe he has the low points that Nas had which is why I gave him a 5.

2 bad albums out of 11 isn't a bad record. And Street Disciple wasn't as bad as Gift and a Curse. He had a lot of bangers on it too. Theif Theme, These are our heroes, Street Disciple, Disciples, Rest of my life, Moment in time, Nazereth Savage, U.B.R, War, Getting Married. I don't think it was that bad. I like it. And Nas have whole albums with themes. Hip-Hop is dead had a theme. Untitled, and God son had a theme and so did Life is good. There are not too many rappers with 9 really great albums mix with at least 4-6 classic or critical acclaimed albums in their discography.

But 4 isn't a bad score though. 4 means that he stands out even among good to great rappers. And if he truly had 2 bad albums, 6 great albums, and 4 classics, he'd definitely get a 5. But objectively speaking, even as a Nas fan, I don't think his discography breaks down that favorably. I Am is actually one of my favorite Nas albums, but it's not even close to classic. The same goes for God's Son. He's got 2 or 3 classics, 2 or 3 subpar albums, and the rest are just good. That's more like a 4 than a 5.

Illmatic, Iww, Stillmatic, Untitled,Life is Good and Lost tapes were all either called classics or critical acclaimed. I think God Son was a classic and their are others that agree. But lets say it's really great. Hip-Hop is dead was great. I am was good. SD was decent. and Nastradumas was bad. I see one good album, one decent album, one bad album and the rest great or better.

Ok, but can you admit that you are a little biased with your assessments?

SD is typically spoken about nearly as badly as Nastradamus, so that's two that are bad.

And who calls all those albums classics? Mostly Nas fans right? What average Hip Hop fan is running around talking about the Lost Tapes or God's Son are classics? Hell, I'm a Nas fan and I don't even believe that. I think the majority of his albums are good to great, but he has some that aren't all that. As a result, I'd say a 5 is high for his Catalog, but what about a 4.5. That would mean that he for sure has a Top 10 Catalog. Would you agree with that?

When talking about classic, I'm going by what other people and the media are saying. When those album i named came out, people said they were critically acclaimed. The 6 I named.

 

[achewon87]

"...I got this locked since 9-1, I am the truest

Name a rapper that I ain't influenced..."

 

[enbo]

nas is the goat on paper