The QB rapper creates new work in a time we’re looking for something different.
Capping off the trilogy, ‘King’s Disease III’ delivers an album providing listeners and newcomers alike with a sound that is more than about cementing his legend.
There is always something timeless in Nas’ work. Nothing ever sounds rushed, copied or for the sake of it. On ‘KD III’ Queens’ finest demonstrates insane skill nearly 30 years on from his debut, spitting jewels such as “no one is recession proof”, though Nas is, in fact, proving the opposite through an assertion of vocals that are as natural as they come. Without robotic and tired autotune lexicons, Nasty Nas is leading the way in originality by sticking to his strengths, adding additions of spice to taste, but still evolving.
His work rate of late is unparalleled, with a continuous folly of relatable and in-tune content. If extraterrestrials were to land tomorrow and ask me to show them Hip-Hop, any Nas albums will do, but ‘King’s Disease III’ would be the addendum.
Keeping in tune with his most hardcore of listeners, Nas also curates music for newbies without necessarily targeting them. The artist is not a product of his time, he is a product of music and the Hip-Hop community, with a purism to put out what he himself finds decent, and of course what suits him.
Club beats and auto-tune; Nas has been there, done that and has essentially put it behind him knowing it’s something that can only be done once or twice. On ‘King’s Disease III’, Nas puts on his finest garbs with effortless fluidity to put down an album that will put fear in his challengers evident on ‘Beef’ where Nas steps into his battle boots with lyrics such as: “I am your nemesis, parents of every slain rapper wish I didn’t exist” and “all that internet beef, that sh*t a virgin to me.”
What maybe difficult for the artist is recognition amongst music’s elite, which, seems to reward those who compose based upon their alliance with the fringes of pop music. Nas isn’t here to please anyone, just himself and that’s what makes him brilliant.
Full of incredible music with ethereal sampling, his comrade in music ‘Hit-Boy’ launched an offensive of criminally underrated production through a formidable partnership with Hip-Hop’s best. Nas delivered an album that is void of features, choosing to fill the entire record with only himself – now that’s what you call dope.
King’s Disease III tracklist:
01 – Ghetto Reporter
02 – Legit
03 – Thun
04 – Michael & Quincy
05 – 30
06 – Hood2Hood
07 – Recession Proof
08 – Reminisce
09 – Serious Interlude
10 – I’m on Fire
11 – WTF SMH
12 – Once a Man, Twice a Child
13 – Get Light
14 – First Time
15 – Beef
16 – Don’t Shoot
17 – Til My Last Breath (Bonus Track)
Stanisland Magazine 