'Who Are You' is a rather ironic track, talking about a college-educated man trying to better his people and telling them to stop selling drugs, with our narrator Nas responding with "Who are you, tryna tell me who I am?". Woke Nas makes a strong appearance on this project, with songs like 'War Against Love' flexing his worldview to its fullest. Fresher Sounds – The best new music – 13/08/19.The only real storytelling song that has an identifiable message, and stays with the story throughout, is 'Queens Wolf' - a gritty, metaphor-laced street tale. 'Tanasia' is a stereotype-filled corny tale of an Asian woman Nas seems to take a fancy to and achieves little beyond making listeners feel awkward. 'Royalty' starts out as a story, with Nas' first verse, of a man having phone sex and cheating on his partner, but then Nas gives up and just starts feeding us some grimy street bars. The issue with this album is that he seems to be telling stories for no reason other than to tell a story. One of Nas’ best assets is his ability to paint a picture. With legendary producers on every track, the consistency in instrumental quality should come as no surprise Pharrel Williams, Statik Selektah, No I.D., Swizz Beatz, RZA and more make appearances. Instrumentation tends to be sparser, giving Nas the space he needs to dazzle with flows and lyricism. The production on this project is far more fitting for Nas than what was shown on Nasir. Coming out a year after Stillmatic, just as The Lost Tapes 2 has been released a year after Nasir, the album was touted to be Nas' mainstream comeback. The original Lost Tapes was a compilation album of a bunch of unreleased Nas tracks that were recorded between his 1999 album I Am. A disappointing Kanye West-produced record later, and fans were still left wanting.Ī year later, along comes The Lost Tapes 2. When DJ Khaled came out with ‘Nas Album Done’ on his 2016 release Major Key, a track that showed Nas at his best, fans of hip hop rejoiced and began their wait for some nasty Nas excellence.
![nas the lost tapes nas the lost tapes](https://merchbar.imgix.net/product/crop/1616/1514010/6UVQG0-1574913443-1000x1000-1574913437-LostTapes2_CD_Front_1024x1024.png)
Getting two Nas albums in the space of a year is a strange proposition for fans of the New York rapper, who have been used to waiting for four or five years between releases. After the anticlimax of Nasir, Nas finally delivers the goods on his latest release.