Avg Rating: 
4.8 ( 31 total votes )
Hip-hop legend Nas further cements his legacy in the music industry with the release of his new album, Life is Good, featuring singles The Don, Daughters, and Accidental Murderers. Guest features on the release include the late Amy Winehouse, Anthony Hamilton, Large Professor, Mary J. Blige, Miguel, Rick Ross and more. ...Read the full album review
Fans can also check out Nas's previous albums: Nas & Damian Marley - Distant Relatives | Nas - Untitled | Nas - Hip-Hop Is Dead
Featured Songs From This Album
Nas ft. Amy Winehouse - Cherry Wine
Nas may not have found his soulmate just yet, but the rap icon isn’t giving up just yet. On freshly-released album standout Cherry Wine, the Queensbridge veteran spits an exhaustive description of his ideal woman,...Read More
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Nas - Bye Baby
Since Nas is on record saying that his Life is Good album, and certainly the cover, is directly inspired by his acrimonious divorce with Kelis, we can just go ahead and assume that Bye Baby and its music video is pretty damn...Read More
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Nas ft. Large Professor - Loco-Motive
In the hands of nearly anyone else, a track titled Loco-Motive featuring some very locomotive-ish production would have come off corny, but in the hands of God’s Son, it’s nothing short of pure dopeness. As he continues...Read More
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Nas ft. Rick Ross - Accidental Murderers
Nearly two decades ago Nas broke onto the hip-hop scene with New York State of Mind, one of the best storytelling raps the game had ever heard. Fast forward to 2012 and Nasir is returning to his roots with new single...Read More
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Nas - The Don
Life Is Good when you’re The Don, but don’t get it twisted: while Nas is most definitely enjoying the view from the top, high-rollerdom hasn’t dulled his edge in the slightest. More than nine months after...Read More
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Nas - Daughters
There are literally thousands of rap songs about dealing drugs, strippers and drug dealing strippers. But you’d be hard pressed to find more than a handful of songs dedicated to a rapper’s children, and even fewer...Read More
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DJBooth Album Review
In a way, it’s a compliment to say that a rapper’s fallen off. To have fallen, you must have once been at the top, and very few people can legitimately claim to have been the best in their profession, even if only for a moment. It also means that the world has high expectations for you, expectations you must have set via some previous work (or works) of genius. For example, it wouldn’t really be accurate to say that….let’s go with Jibbs…fell off. Like so many, he simply appeared, and then disappeared.
But Nas? Nasir Jones? Nasty Nas? God’s Son? Escobar? Yes, you could say that Nas had fallen off, or at least tripped. While his talent has remained a constant over the nearly two decades since he dropped his classic debut album Illmatic, his focus has sometimes strayed. I don’t think there’s any question that while his last two albums, Hip-Hop is Dead and Untitled, have been nothing to take lightly, both featured moments where he appeared to be coasting on talent alone, when we knew we weren’t getting Nas at his best. As Nas said in a Complex interview, “I toned it [his lyricism] down at times…I wanted to be relatable. And that was part of my mistake, because I toned it down a lot.”
There were nights when Michael Jordan knew that even at 90% he was better than everyone else on the court, and he was content to coast on that 90% and walk away with the win. But then there were nights when he was fully locked in, nights when he truly gave the game everything he had – and to see what Jordan’s 100% really looked like was awe-inspiring.
On his new album, Life Is Good, we’re hearing the most locked-in Nas has been in years, and the results are awe-inspiring. To return to that Complex interview, “With this album I’m saying what I’ve got to say, and that’s what it is.” I don’t know if it took a painful divorce or he has simply hit the point in his life when he’s thinking about his legacy, but goddamn then Nas, keep saying what you’ve got to say.
I rarely move through an album chronologically, but the first five tracks of Life is Good are so dope, so perfectly sequenced that I really feel like I have no choice. Perhaps Nas titled the album opener No Introduction because it’s far more than an introduction. Instead, it’s more of a manifesto, a warning shot, an announcement that God’s Son is back and he’s bringing his cinematic storytelling skills with him. Loco-Motive follows a similar powerful narrative arc, giving way to the gripping A Queen’s Story (sweet baby jesus the last minute of that song is incredible), shifting seamlessly into Accident Murderers (shame about that off-concept Ross verse though) and closing with the eminently personal Daughters. Straight up, I’ll put that five song stretch against any 30 straight minutes from any album since…well…ever.
Of course that doesn’t mean that it’s downhill from Daughters. I should acknowledge Summer on Smash, which isn’t so much a fail as it is a weak link, but Smash is only a small speedbump on the road compared to even the album’s other brighter offerings, the Mary J. Blige assisted Reach Out, the deeply 90s R&B influenced Bye Baby and the now historic collaboration with Amy Winehouse, Cherry Wine. And those are really only breathers in between the solid walls of dopeness that are cuts like Back When and the supremely soulful World’s An Addiction. To bring back the comparison that’s been made for over a decade now, Jay-Z never let us this close to his real life, never showed us all his weaknesses alongside his strengths, his mistakes alongside his victories. In that sense Nas is at the very least one of the bravest rappers alive. He’s come a long way from, “PS 111, free lunch / embarrassed but managed to get a plate / we was kids hungry, moms was workin I was famished, she getting home late.”
For a moment forget about buzz, album sales, cultural impact and every other factor we consider during “who’s the best rapper alive?” debates. Instead, let’s say every emcee alive took part in a March Madness rap tournament, illest verse advances to the next round. Before Life Is Good, I don’t know if I would have put my money on Nas to win it all, now he’d be by number one pick. Everyone eventually falls, but only the truly great ones get back up.
Listen to More: Nas Written by Nathan S.
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Member Reviews and Ratings
Average Member Rating: Total Ratings: 31
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 4267 |
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Ever since I first seriously got into listening to hip-hop, I've always been a fan of Nas. I must have been about 16 when I first heard the "Illmatic" back in 2005, and there began my love for all things Nas. I guess everyone has their Illmatic moment, thats the impact Nas had, and still have on music today. No matter how old he is today, on some songs he still sound and spits raps like he's sitting out on a bench in projects, fresh out of school; the kid who hung around in the cold streets of Queensbridge.
A legend still at the top of his game is both comforting and immensly satisfying to hear. Can never be accused of not being himself, all the while evolving as an artist and growing as a better person, yet staying true to the elements which made people fall in love with his street poetry in the first place, but avoiding any feeling of repetitiveness or having become stale, Nas has delivered, and he has delivered in spades. Album is clearly a statement of intent. Though never lyrically aggressive towards Kelis, but filled with the raw emotion of having to cope with love leaving, and of course, the essence of the classic Queensbridge rap style that fans know & love is present - powerful street wisdom. Clearly influenced by a break-up of a relationship, but this album is altogether a more profound listen. I know, it’s tempting to read more into the back story of this record than is perhaps pertinent, but nowhere this is only a "break-up" album. Its overriding sentiment is instead one of temperate defiance and musical uplift. Its this conflict that instead of destroying "Life Is Good" adds true depth, sad and subtle sub-text, that allows listeners to relate to all of the songs on what is one of Nas' most personal album to date. Something for the fellas, something for the women to grasp in the errors of their ways and it is for the streets. Both "Daughters" and "Bye Baby" are two of the best songs he's written and reminders of just how great a songwriter Nas is. For all the turmoil on these songs, they end where Nas seeks to assure his listeners that everything's going to be okay. There’s a distinct lack of bitterness on album or any need to pull through the pain. It is what it is... Life IS Good. I understand the inclusion of "Summer On Smash", something on the level that appeals to wide range of audiences. A well intentioned song, but other than that, no song feels sub-par or out of place, and in tracks like "Stay" and "Cherry Wine" there is a feeling that nothing but the best would ever have sufficed. One other minor complaint comes from the fact that Nas is making some pretty important statements on individual songs, and overall the album does feel like it’s saying something. Still, there’s a bit of a lack of cohesiveness with the actual flow of the songs, even though the rich vein of consistency run through pretty effortlessly. Plus the album is full of beautiful cinematic instrumentation, perfectly chosen samples, able variations of pace and laser sharp delivery as well as well-chosen guest appearances. It's a Nas record that leaves you feeling satisfied on every front. One very weak aspect of some of the Nas' past albums is the production. But here, the real story is the rap veteran who's never been known for his choice of beats, I guess took "Life Is Good" as a challenge and steps up his game. Nas has not only fashioned a terrific album from less than ideal circumstances, but one that feels like contains arguably the best collection of instrumentals on a Nas album since "Illmatic". And Nas does it by inhabiting his older styles, making songs that could've conceivably come out in 1996 as well as giving us great songs that sounds nothing like any of the great songs he's already given us. To me that's an even greater achievement. Sometimes hitting a smooth jazz-drive, then a straighter hip-hop feel, you can tell that this time around Nas, along with Salaam Remi and No ID took the long time needed into selecting and deciding the final arrangements & instrumentals of these songs, nothing more, nothing less. It has been 18 years since Nas released “Illamtic” and with his latest release he proves that while he’s not immune to tribulations, he’s in this for the journey. One of the most criticized MC in the game, and he still doesn't bend, break or fold. And now as I frantically collect the whole Nas’ back catalog, I do so knowing that my brain will need a defrag to the hard reset on a regular basis, but Nas' music is pretty much all I’ll be playing for the next few weeks. My Top Picks: 1. Bye Baby 2. Daughters 3. Nasty 4. Stay 5. The Don 6. Cherry Wine 7. World's An Addiction 8. No Introduction |
| Posted on Jul 16, 2012 |
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I really enjoyed this album from Nas
Best album since Gods son |
| Posted on Jul 17, 2012 |
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I've been listening to the album for a couple days (via a leak-I will be buying it today). It's a very good album, perhaps one of Nas' top 3. He gets really deep and personal on a number of tracks (Bye Baby, Daughters), which produced some of his most impressive lyricism in years. Tracks like Reach Out and World's Addiction-both of which have been getting heavy plays on my iPod) are very well done, with his flow and lyrics on it to a point, perfect features, and strong head-nodding beats. Songs like Loco-Motive, The Don, Accident Murderers, and Nasty are all great listens as well. The production, particularly the work from No ID, is some of the best ever on a Nas album. God's Son brings that multi-syllabic rhyming and street flow that makes him so good.-Black Bond is a great example of this with lines like "Pick the right wine, a Chianti to wash it/
Lifestyle encompasses top notch watches/ Rolexes, synonymous shit I’m coppin." Nas only misses at a couple points. The Swizz Beats song, Stay, and Cherry Wine, while not necessarily bad songs, seem out of place on the album. As has been mentioned, Life is Good seems to lack consistency or flow at times, but for me, that just means I tend to put the album on shuffle rather than play it in order. |
| Posted on Jul 17, 2012 |
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Ya, it's alright I guess.....
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| Posted on Jul 17, 2012 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 8 |
This is one of Nas's best albums in a minute, glad to see he's focused again. No body can say that he didn't pick good beats this time good album through and through, no fast forwarding on at all. Whoever says different needs their ears check or they just into all that bullshit that ruining the game today. Salute Nas real music again thank you for that!!
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| Posted on Jul 17, 2012 |
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| Posted on Jul 17, 2012 |
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This is more than an album, his best work since Stillmatic.
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| Posted on Jul 18, 2012 |
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| Posted on Jul 19, 2012 |
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| Posted on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Read my Nas Life is Good Full Review and BreakDown Here on my blog :http://bit.ly/LsnLag Track by Track by a serious hip hop fan. Thanks Guys.-LifeDefined.weebly.com
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| Posted on Jul 19, 2012 |
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DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 63 |
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GOOD CD
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| Posted on Jul 19, 2012 |
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| Posted on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Youtube Lil Neek/Spend the Night. Dis sounds like something Nas woulda been on back in the day.
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| Posted on Jul 19, 2012 |
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DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 410 |
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^ No it doesn't
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| Posted on Jul 19, 2012 |
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DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 1 |
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I've listened to the album over and over again and I must admit that it is his best work since Stillmatic and God's Son. Summer on Smash is the weakest point on the album but even that is better than some of the weak music out there. World's an addiction is the dopest track though!
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| Posted on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Ain't no MC better than Nasty NAS right now ! word ! this album definitely deserves 5 stars
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| Posted on Jul 19, 2012 |
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to be honest, i didn't have no such things as high expectations to this album.. it's been a while since i heard that dope NASTY Nas flow, but w/ the leaked singtle "Nasty" he right got my attention... i anticipated another "good" album, since it's been a while since his last real good LP.. after playin this rec. for like 7 times now, i gotta admit: "LIFE IS GOOD" got me, it turned out Nas can still make dope rcords, if he wants to..
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| Posted on Jul 20, 2012 |
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Simply Amazing
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| Posted on Jul 20, 2012 |
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| Posted on Jul 21, 2012 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 53 |
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Hip-Hop's had me sleeping for months until I heard this album. Nas is still the king, he just took a break.
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| Posted on Jul 21, 2012 |
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| Posted on Jul 21, 2012 |
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One word...CLASSIC!
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| Posted on Jul 22, 2012 |
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DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 1 |
This is his best album since Illmatic, hands down! God's Son comes in 3rd now. Follow me on Twitter: @A2ThaR if you agree or say different.
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| Posted on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Fire...
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| Posted on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Sometimes I sit on the bench just to watch the game
Feet on cement, there ain't a mobster living I could name Who made it out rich, in his absence I do not proclaim To not have a heart like wild animals not tamed Maybe just a typical thug nigga was my rank 'Cept I had a vision above niggas, what I think It's crazy how many brothers come from where I come from Some made it out big, some dead, some unsung Shots for soldiers on 23 hours lock-up Younger generation, they want to mimic and mock us Laughing, separating themselves like they not us, like "Cops'll look at you like they look at me? That's preposterous" Ain't it gangsta how your man made it? I'm humble One gun, one crazy ass nigga, that's Jungle Now we having babies, cause growing up it was just us No uncles or cousins to fight with us, we was @*#$! up But still it was beautiful, the love is mutual Even though me and Jung ain't show up to your funeral I hold your son hand, tell him he the man, we love you Your pops was king, you have a whole lot to live up to The G is in your genes, already you tuck Inherit your dad's swag, it's George Jefferson's strut Stay flyest, they gon' want to know what in your diet Don't be surprised if they want to check your shit and your vomit Tell them you let it marinate, they swear you made them a promise No matter what they do, you just stay a man of honor I'm a street corner nigga, New York Knicks loyalist Corona sipper, pass it out, might blow it with you It ain't the Truman show; it's the human show Ask the F.B.I. agent at his cubicle Chews on his pencil eraser with intents to erase you Young brother go and get your paper, I got love |
| Posted on Jul 26, 2012 |
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great album!
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| Posted on Jul 29, 2012 |
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Another classic from Escobar!!!
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| Posted on Aug 01, 2012 |
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DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 2 |
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one the best albums of 2012
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| Posted on Aug 03, 2012 |
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| Posted on Aug 12, 2012 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 3 |
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Get the full Nas "Life is Good" DJ MaC AlbuMixx (full album mixtape style, mixed by DJ MaC) here:
http://www.djmacmusic.com/#!2012MIXES/c11v1 Only on DJMaCMusic.com |
| Posted on Aug 16, 2012 |
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| Posted on Sep 10, 2012 |
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DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 22 |
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solid lp,not a really a classic but definitely some of nas's best work since still matic,the album has that cinematic fell to it,you really feel like ya part of the scenes from each song.you can really imagine everything that goes on as nas tells his elaborate stories.i also liked how he mastefully connected the story of his life with the stories of the streets,it was a great combination,completed by a finnese of lyrical dexterity behind every track
a very good lp my pick 1 the done 2 stay 3 accidental murderes 4 black bonds. 5 loco motive 6 wheres the love its 4.4 for me,solid stuff |
| Posted on Sep 30, 2012 |
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I don't want a Illmatic and quite honestly anyone still searching for its a fool. That was then this album is now. Nas hasn't lost his lyrical ability since then and reminds us why he should be considered a classic. No I.D. and Salem Remi contribute the perfect musical landscape for Nas to do what he does best.
Overall: Is this album perfect? No, but its pretty damn good if you actually listen to the whole thing. |
| Posted on May 22, 2013 |
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DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 3 |
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meh
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| Posted on Jun 09, 2013 |
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