Album Review: Nas’s King’s Disease III
posted by Darrell McIver | November 23, 2022 | In Arts and CultureNasir bin Olu Dara Jones, better known as Nas, is considered by many to be a pioneer of the hip-hop world. The prominence and success of his early albums such as Illmatic and It Was Written which to many, has garnered him the status as one of the greatest rappers of all time.
In recent years, Nas seems to have mostly relinquished the limelight. However, he has still been putting out music and even collaborating with newer artists.
Nas’s most recent album, King’s Disease III, was released November 11. The album marks Nas’s sixteenth studio album and the fourth album in which he collaborates with rapper-producer Hit Boy. The album features no artists other than Nas himself. The album contains 17 tracks, which combined last for about 52 minutes.
King’s Disease III acts as the end to a trilogy of albums by the same name. Throughout the album, Nas seems to both reminisce about the life he has lived and celebrate that he can tell stories about it today.
Most of the album seems to focus on stories of his youth as a Queens, NY native and his rise to stardom. There are also songs on this album which express his wisdom on certain issues he dealt with as a youth that are still relevant to this day, including gang violence.
Due to him being the only voice on the album, Nas has free rein to showcase his skills as an artist that he has developed over the years. Possibly the most notable are his lyrical abilities such as intricate rhyme schemes, wordplay, and his seemingly endless vocabulary.
Nas seems to have mastered each one of these skills as he displays them throughout the album while also flexing his storytelling abilities. This is what garnered his fame and respected status in the first place.
One may imagine that after nearly 30 decades of rapping, Nas would struggle to find anything interesting to rap about. This does not seem to be the case at all. To be fair, some songs on the album such as “Don’t Shoot” and “Beef” seem to bear resemblances to songs he has released before in terms of their message, but he found different stories to get these messages across.
Hit-Boy’s production on the album deserves recognition too, as it also contributes to each song on the album sounding new, yet connected to one another.
With a strong theme, interesting stories, timeless messages, and memorable production there is not much to complain about this album. To any fan of Nas or the 90’s era of hip hop, this album should bring excitement and delight to their ears. To those who prefer the sound of newer artists, this album may not be of as much interest to them, but is unlikely to be outright displeasing to them either.
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