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Life & Arts

New tracks heard from legend Nas

Hip Hop Update

Eli Jabbe

New Nas tracks surface: Fans of hip-hop legend Nas were glad to finally hear some new material. His latest album Hip-Hop is Dead … The ‘N’ is highly anticipated. It is also his first album after switching from Columbia Records to Def Jam Records. 

First up is "Hip-Hop Is Dead." This track features a live-band backdrop feeling that has a lot of energy. Fans will also find the content interesting, as Nas is analyzing the current state of the hip-hop world: "Everybody sounds the same, commercialized the game / Reminiscing when it wasn’t all business / It forgot where it started / So we all gather here for the dearly departed." 

The other, shorter new track is titled "The N." It sounds like it’s possibly an intro for his album. Nas explains, "Since hip-hop is dead, this is the ‘N’ / Congratulations is in order because we did it again." It’ll be interesting to see how the entire album turns out when it’s released on Dec. 19.

The Game’s album leaked: Earlier this week, The Doctor’s Advocate, The Game’s sophomore effort, was leaked in its entirety on the Internet. In the days before, a handful of his tracks slowly appeared, but soon the whole work was leaked. It’s a little astonishing considering that the album drops Nov. 14. 

Before the leak, Game mentioned Jay-Z’s comeback album Kingdom Come being released on Nov. 21, saying it’s a good thing that they weren’t coming out the same day because he would outsell the veteran. Jay recently responded by threatening to push back his release date to Nov. 14, the same day as Game’s release.

Jay responds: As some might remember, Jim Jones recently dissed Jay-Z on a new song. This is not the first time this has happened, as Jones has talked about Jay in the last few years on other occasions. 

In an interview with DJ Funkmaster Flex, Jay finally responded to Jones with some humorous comments: "We need a ‘hip-hop board’ to approve certain things. Who is Jim Jones to be saying something about me? If we’re looking at it as far as career accomplishments or … as far as lyrical skill … who is he to talk?" 

Eminem preparing for comeback: Eminem, another legendary veteran, is set to return with a new mix tape with Clinton Sparks. The mix tape will precede his latest album, The Re-Up, which will be his first album since 2004’s Encore.
 

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