Rating: NNN
If nothing else, last year’s battle for the title of king of New York between Nas and arch-enemy Jay-Z finally brought out the best in the Queensbridge MC. Moments of the ludicrously named God’s Son are the closest Nas has got in years to the loose-limbed flow of his Illmatic debut. Over back-to-breaks beats, Nas channels Rakim, getting deliriously abstract on Get Down and the thundering Made You Look, offering a nod to Slick Rick on I Can and a tribute to his mom on Warrior Song. Sadly, between these moments Nas loses focus in his Tupac duets and history-of-hiphop rhymes, only to regain it in spectacular fashion on the closing track, featuring Toronto’s Jully Black, Saukrates and Agile. The inconsistencies are infuriating, in part because the rest of the record shows what Nas is capable of, but at this stage, we take what we can get.
