01 - get down - 8.5

i'm liking this beat, its got a lot of feeling in it. nas's flow is above par on this, you can tell he had a good time recording this, probably aided in his vocals. the beat gives you that upbeat type of fealing that makes you wanna spit your best and jus chill and ride the beat. nice and smooth. the beat switch ups are nice and interesting, taking it back to some old school classics. the only thing i can find to complain about this track is the chorus. it's tight, but the exact same sample was used in clipse's song with the neptunes, scratched almost exactly the same as well. i like it, but that kind of unoriginality is sickening. it doesn't sound like a neptunes beat either, so i don't think they are just recycling things on poeple. bittersweat victory.

02 - the cross - 8

beat sounds devilish/holy/religious-strugle off the bat, which fits the lyrics like a glove. speaking of lyrics, the concept of this track is lovely, putting himself in hip hop's Jesus's shoes. nas takes advantage of a nice tactic used in underground, use and average beat that fits the concept, and rock the shit out of it. alone the beat would be boring as hell, as well as the vocals, but combined the track is nice. chorus isn't as catchy as "get down" but i like it, it's on topic and flows well. not bad.

03 - made you look - 10

beat is grimey as hell, alone it probably wouldn't sound that good, but it fits the track perfectly. the chants, stabs, and tom toms all work together flawlessly to give it this real street anthem vibe that gives me this "i'm unfuckwitable" feeling. the lyrics are nice as well, usual type of stuff you'll hear from nas, as well as some punchlines and wordplay here and there. a definate banger.

04 - last real nigga alive - 6

flow is nasty on this track, nas pulls of the story telling concept well while exposing all the dirt on jay-z and other rappers he claimed ate off his style. the beat is laidback, nothing special, rather boring by 3:30 through the track actually. that's this tracks downfall, its length. the beat doesn't change up enough or get hype enough to keep my interest, the lryics get more interesting towards the end which saves it though.average track overall.

05 - zone out - 2

i'm usually open to many different kinds of beats, and even tolerant of the wackest one's as long as the lyrics are proper. but beats like this make me wonder why you make the track in the first place. there's no way someone can conciously go into the studio thinking "this beat is dope, lets rip it". i don't see why nas couldn't empty out some change for a nice beat for his group track, i've herd mp3.com beats better than this going for $120. another thing is the bravehearts, they remind me of people like junior mafia and d-12. they wouldn't be anywhere without nas, given, proof from d-12 is decent and maybe one of the other bravehearts is the same, its not enough to make me enjoy a whole track of them all. the hook is similar to "get down" almost scratched exactly the same, which is boring. its catchy, but has overstayed its welcome seeing its similarity to "get down" and how it's only 3 tracks away from it. this track gives me the fealing like this was going to be cut from the album but was thrown on just to have a group track and keep you people happy. bad move in my opinion. absolute garbage.

06 - hey nas - 7.5

nas exhibits his story-telling skills here, as well as virsitility, always keeping the ladies interested. something for everyone i guess. i can't complain, it's nice and laidback, something to blaze and L or sip a 40 to. whichever you prefer. once again, the beat is nothing special it's decent, but compined with the vocals it enhances it somewhat. the piano definately makes the beat. some of the lyrics on there are above par for nas, pulling off some nice multis and imagry. not bad, i think my brain still needs to be recovered by some ill shit after hearing "zone out".

07 - i can - 3

begining drums are exactly same as benefits "so sick", they are aranged differently of course, but that fact disturbs me, i'm starting to question the "similarities" on the album. apart from that, they are simple, 1980's simple, these are usually the loops you find on old records to take drum samples from to make your own sequences, but he just kept the plain loop, boring and blah. nas's delivery on this track is almost fake, like on "destroy and rebuilt" off of stillmatic. the piano is sampled from mozart's "moonlight sinata", you can tell, becuase it's not chopped very well at all, and instead of adding the desired effect of deepness to the beat, it jus makes u feel like your listening to classical beats with a cheap drum scheme over it and some guy spitting lyrics. it's clear he's trying to put out a good message and still make a dope track at the same time and it just isn't working here. the girl's chorus is sub par, not catchy at all, the message is good, but the weak beat, mixed with the wack delivery, and the mediocre chorus make this track a miss. he should have thought it out more first, cause this track seems like it would have been dope, had it been planned out and done right. the beat finally picks up towards the end, but it's too late. flop.

08 - book of rhymes - 4

supposive alchemist production, hence the shout-out. the beat sounds nothing like alchemist production though, and it's not to my liking at all. i wouldn't have tainted alchemist's name like that if i were nas, giving him credit for this wack beat. the whole "wait lemme spit something else thing" screws up the flow incredibly. jumping from topic to topic, stoping in mid bar. the concept once again, is nice, had it been carried out right. i think he had a bunch of rhymes left over, and spit them, and called it a concept, to be honest. because anyone who could take 15 min would think this out better. delivery lacked, as he almost sounds like he's reading it strait out of his book testing to see if anyone is feeling his shit, then flipping a few pages when he realizes no one's interested in hearing his off topic verses with a wack beat and shit delivery. another swing and a miss, and it's not looking good for "god's son". i had high expectations for this cd, but now it's looking like he had a gold pile in his hands and he rushed on it to keep in the running with jay-z. i can't think of anything else, if i don't hear some bangers soon, i might give up on him.

09 - thugz mansion - 5.5

i herd the 2pac version of this, it was ok, i'm not the hugest pac fan. i have respect for him and i enjoy his music on ocasions, the whole "bootleg collabo after i'm dead with someone i probably didn't know or like" thing bothers me a little though. the would have been banging, except there's on little thing missing. DRUMS. no bassline, no snare, no hats, no kicks, wat the fuck is this. how can you even keep a rhythm to this? i think this was done purely so that you wouldn't notice pac's vocals weren't on beat, seeing as his vocals weren't recorded to this beat, or wrote to it, or for it, for that matter. when pacs vocals come in, they are loud as hell, giving away the cut and paste collabo off the bat. the chorus is pretty nice, smooth. it's starting to piss me off how he's taking songs that could be amazing and half-assing them one piece short of a masterpiece. another dissapointment

10 - mastermind - 6.5

beat sounds strait outta 1980. usually that's a good thing, seeing as that was the "golden era", but this sounds more like a bad techno/pop song from back in the day that never made it. chorus is pretty catchy, it's nice, but has no beat to back it up, so it lacks. the lyrics are the usual nas shit, nothing to make your jaw drop though. with a doper beat this could have been a good track, but it strikes me as decent. at least it's not another missed-masterpiece though.

11 - warrior song - 8

drums are raw, please tell me the rest drops right, please. bittersweat, once again. this beat could have been so fucking raw, but it's almost to choppy to nod your head to. the intro drums with the pianos just laid over them with those 2 hard kicks you hear in the middle of the intro would have made a grimey banger like "made you look". amazingly dissapointing. the beat isn't absolute garbage though, it's still rather nice actually, so all isn't lost. you can't even tell it's alicia keys on the hook, i think there should have been more of her, she's got a nice soulfull, jazzy sound. lryics and delivery are good on this track, and towards the end when alicia gets more into the verse, the track pics up more. not a complete loss, could have been a banger though, once again.

12 - revolutionary warfare - 8

beat is nice, vocal samples, piano and drums mesh well on this, although the vocal samples could have been lowered a bit, at times they almost overpower nas's voice. chorus is ok, nothing too amazing. there's a nice laidback vibe coming off of this one. the second mc, "lake", serves no purpose on the track, with his boring delivery, wack voice, and sub par lyrics. makes me think nas is trying to get his group shine by collabing, again. this time he made sure the beat and hook were on point though. doesn't help it in my opinion. a more deserving mc like eminem or 50 cent, rakim, az, and dozens of others could have been placed in this song, making it even tighter, but nas throws on his bretheren, supporting the "get some shine off of me" theory even more. it doesnt destroy the track, but nas needs to make some better descisions next time around.

13 - dance - 3

the soft voice, wispering shit, nears gay-dome. and the 2pac concept rip-off, is blah. it's just unoriginal, i'm all for paying respects to past relatives. but c'mon, do you hear this hook? jesus, i couldn't chorus more homo if i hired enreque eglacious (s?). the delivery gets gayer throughout the song...and the instruments that come in later in the song are wack as fuck. not like the one's already in it weren't enough. sooooo dissapointing. how you could dedicate something like this to your mom is beyond me. flop

14 - heaven - 7

ok...ok...now drop...beat...drop........drop.......drop God damnit. (sighs) another beat inches away from being dope as hell. nas uses the "rap real fast to a slow beat" type thing here, reminds me of the one off jigga's new cd, which is tempting to put in right about now. the chorus is ok, nothing great, speed rap is good, but speed singing is iffy. i duno about it. this is ok i guess, it bores me, the speed rap and semi-dope beat saves it from complete crap.

15 - thugz mirror - 3

do you hear that snare? just making sure i'm not tripping off mushrooms or something. the drums sound like they went through el-p's sequencer or something. the kicks and snares sound like they were made underwater or something. it's obvious it's not a freestyle, but an old acapella never used and thrown over a beat, when the 2nd "verse" comes on, it comes on all sudden and loud like how cut and paste collabos are. his flow never falls off and follows his usual pattern almost perfectly, while telling a story. i've got faith in the man's skills, but c'mon, no one's buying that shit. this whole written freestyle shit is getting way to well acepted by the mainstream.

16 - pussy killz - 6

if you've ever listened to the first killa beaz album, this beat should be fimilar to you. he sampled the same diana ross song. and sad to say, i've also sampled it, and neither KB or nas's are done well. the verse sequence is just a single violin hit over and over and over and OVER again. with the piano coming in every once in a while. if you listen long enough, to just the violin, its the same note, same pitch, back to back, and it will drive you insaine, it never changes. the concept isn't anything special either, but the lyrics are executed well. unoriginality shown, not for the first time, beat and concept. whoever is producing this album is making me question there credibility as a producer, as they are completely fucking up what could have been a solid album. the beat doesn't totally destroy this song though, as it gets away with mediocre, for me.

17 - the god - 7.5

chorus pretty nice, woh...singing had to go though. beat is on some abstract shit, grimey, i'm feeling it. concept is your usual, "i'm the shit" stuff, a few of these per cd are aiight. i finall figured out he's saying "god's son across the belly" at the begining of the last verse, as he's said it on ether as well. both times he says it, he spits it fast as hell, almost like he doesnt want anyone to understand wat he's saying. wierd. short track, not bad.

if you add up all the individual scores (lowest 1, highest 10) and divide them by how many tracks, you get an average of about 6.

overall, the album as a whole is a gigantic miss. it's still not a bad listen for the tracks that do hit you, but you can tell it was magerly rushed and had it had some time of thinking and planning spent on it, it could have most definately been a pure gem. i get the same feeling when i listen to BP2. which makes me think both jay and nas are so in competition with eachother, they are pushing themselves to their peeks, but then rushing everything and missing what they attempted. it's dissapointing both albums weren't what i expected, seeing they are the top people in the game right now, and both albums were highly anticipated, and after hearing BP2, and then hearing "made you look" i was sure nas was gunna be the one to make at least one of the cd's dope. i was wrong. i'm liking the direction nas is taking himself, but he needs to seriously thouroughly think and plan out his shit first, make sure his beat fits the track, flows well, and, well, isn't wack as hell. then, i think the next cd will be perfection.

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i love this album actually...

i think dance is a lot better than you make it out to be too, as well with a few other tracks...
but yea made you look best song on the cd by far...

but weerd props on da review...

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thnx u very much but i had this a long time ago anyways.....

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lol I got this album you underated SOO Many songs.Heaven deserves like a 10000
and I can is dope.So is thugs mansion lol thanks got the review tho.

god's son was a crazy ass album

yea of course it was dope and i dont think i underrated them that much......

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Yeah...I actually liked this album of his, this was a good review pen...pretty much hit everything ..

^^i agree a bit, it was a good review, but i dont think "i can" is that bad as bad as you made it out to be. good review though newayz

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you underrated a lot of tracks.. you only gave two songs scores hogher than 8
i think its a dope album

^^^ word das wussup .. but God's SOn is not as hot as like Illmatic or stillmatic .. or even it was written ..
still a hot album though .. stayed real .. stayed raw ..

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Aye But I loved God's son Its one Of those albums you can get into each one of the songs Plus the beats aint all sound the same

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FREE LIL' LAN

yea thnx for the props on the review......1

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that whole album was good I can listen to it over and over again.he has good wordplay in all his songs.but overall all his albums are good I give it to nas he knows how to flow and he has knowledge