For much of the record, Nas sounds like he’s trying too hard. And there are indeed some highlights: The Swizz Beatz-produced “No Bad Energy,” a moody slow-burner washed in atmospheric background vocals that suits his wistful nostalgia, the crunchy lo-fi wizardry of RZA’s “Highly Favored,” or the vintage Queens boom-bap of Pete Rock’s standout “Queensbridge Politics,” in which Nas plays the wise old uncle, at his most comfortable and confident.īut it’s tragic to hear what he’s done with some of these productions.
The credits for The Lost Tapes 2 reads like a hip-hop all-star team: Swizz Beatz, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, No I.D., RZA, Hit-Boy, Eric Hudson, DJ Dahi, Pete Rock, and the Alchemist are all featured. Miles away from the leaked gems on The Lost Tapes-considered some of Nas’ best work-this sequel comprises detritus from the last decade or so of Nas’ storied career.Įven if the lows of Nas’ post-millennium output have been plagued by corny hooks and questionable beat selection, his failures were often in the service of experimentation-or in the case of Nastradamus, a rushed production process-and he’s never lacked access to the game’s premier production talents. Originally meant for a 2003 release, the project was delayed by his signing with Def Jam and their subsequent disagreements, and it’s unlikely this compilation is the same as the one he intended to release back then. When they finally saw an official release in 2002 as The Lost Tapes, it solidified the resurgence sparked by 2001’s Stillmatic and the legendary beef with JAY-Z.īut The Lost Tapes 2 is a sequel in name only. Some would be released as part of the career nadir that was late ’99’s Nastradamus, but the rest circulated for years in varying fidelity, creating an aura of mystique around these “lost” tracks. The leak blew up that grand scheme, and the album was officially released as the haphazardly assembled single-disc I Am, without most of the leaked songs. I Am.The Autobiography was intended as a concept double-album, with one disc recounting his life from birth to death by suicide and the second dedicated to his afterlife.
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