If niggaz could look inside my mind, youвЂ™ll find What you base your happiness around material, women, and large paper ItвЂ™s never what you do, but how itвЂ™s done вЂњNo ideaвЂ™s original, thereвЂ™s nothin new under the sun And speaking of diamonds, beat maestro Alchemist produces two stellar tracks: вЂњMy WayвЂќ and the Primo-esque вЂњNo IdeaвЂ™s OriginalвЂќ: Even if you have copies of these tracks, the ones on this CD are cleaned up and digitally mastered вЂ“ changing rough cut gems that were valuable to begin with to gleaming diamonds. вЂњBlaze a 50вЂќ, вЂњDrunk By MyselfвЂќ, вЂњPoppa Was a PlayerвЂќ and the bonus cut вЂњFetusвЂќ are all from the infamous вЂњI Am NasвЂќ recording sessions that were scrapped due to heavy bootlegging. If youвЂ™ve been checking for the underground tracks from Nas for a while now, youвЂ™ll know a lot of these songs already. The hood love you but behind your back they pray for the dayДЄ bullet hit your heart and ambulances take you awayвЂќ Trustin your judgment, quick to put it down, they deadly You got a bunch of thugs witchu even now thatвЂ™s ready You a survivor, knowin all the beef is ill Still standin, still roamin through the streets, thatвЂ™s real Think of how many dudes died tryin to be down with youД®verybodyвЂ™s under six feet of ground but you Writing, across the stomach spell GOD son Hate it or love it, like it bump it or dump it Why itвЂ™s mentioned in my rhymes? Fuck it, itвЂ™s just an intro Both of those aspects find pen to paper like stylus to vinyl on the song вЂњPurpleвЂќ: At his best Nas is not just a great flowing rapper with smooth vocal tones, heвЂ™s also a gifted and occasionally controversial lyricist. ItвЂ™s hard to even fathom why these previously recorded songs werenвЂ™t officially released before now. The 12 tracks (11 and one bonus) that make up this time though are among the best work NasвЂ™ has done. In fact due to a lack of fraudulent material, this album actually clocks in at a relatively short 43 minutes. вЂњNo cameos, no hype, no bullshit.вЂќ ThatвЂ™s the slogan for NasвЂ™ new LP вЂњThe Lost Tapes,вЂќ an album which compiles a lot of classics with almost no filler. Now imagine that it has no DJ Clue shoutouts, no skits, no freestyle filler from twenty herb thugs you never heard of. Imagine if a street vendor offered you a tape of all the best Nas joints from bootleg tapes (often floating the net as MP3вЂ™s) and New York mixtapes (like вЂњNo IdeaвЂ™s OriginalвЂќ).

Nas the lost tapes vinyl