Nas: A Conscious Hip Hop Artist??

I recently had a couple discussions with friends about the quality of music that the self-proclaimed "Queensbridge's Finest" creates. Nas emerged as a hip hop prodigy in 1994 with the critically acclaimed Illmatic. Nas' first album earned 5 Mics from The Source--a rating that only 43 albums have earned since Run-D.M.C. in 1989.


Illmatic is often appreciated for Nas' honest, image-filled, and fresh lyrics. With production from some of Hip Hop's greatest, including the Large Professor, Pete Rock, and Q-Tip this freshman album received acclaim as the best album of '94 by Toure, who then wrote for Rolling Stone. He writes,

"On Broadway, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) remains as hot as August concrete and Doggystyle as cold as ice – meaning that Dre and Snoop will not be returning as the Man. But the race ain't over, as a horde of major albums have recently been released or are slated for the last half of '94: Ice Cube and Dr. Dre's Helter Skelter, Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth's The Main Ingredients, Coolio's It Takes a Thief and Shyheim's AKA the Rugged Child, as well as albums from Smif n' Wessun, Redman, 2Pac, the Lady of Rage, the Method Man, Rakim and a solo album by A Tribe Called Quest's Phife. But they'll all be chasing the MC with a street buzz so loud it's threatening to silence the Death Row bass thump on Broadway: Nas."

I don't disagree with most of this. Illmatic is a great album and Nas added something very new to hip hop and paved the way for many. What does often bother me is the subsequent acclaim and reverence with which many hip hop listeners treat the post-Ill Nas.


To many, Nas is considered a provocative thinker, social commentator, contemporary philosopher--in sum, a "conscious rapper". Nas' most recent album, Hip Hop Is Dead, 2006, held more punch in the title than it did in the actual tracks. The concept of the album, did not carry throughout the entire album. For quality concept albums, I look to Little Brother's The Minstrel Show and Lupe Fiasco, who did it masterfully on his sophomore album, The Cool.

Hip Hop Is Dead was a valiant attempt to reinvigorate the artistry of hip hop in a dry spell, and I think it may have actually been successful. However, the album itself did not stand as an standard by which hip hop and social awareness, consciousness, and artistry should be measured.

Nas has definitely contributed greatly to hip hop music and I commend and admire artists for stepping out of their comfort zones, continually pushing the art. After missed attempts, however, one cannot make the same attempts. To me, Nas just hasn't proven himself worthy of the hype about being a "conscious rapper" that has surrounded his music. Hopefully, his upcoming attempt Nigger, due out in 2008, will not mimic the disappointment of Hip Hop. I think I'll have to download that one before I actually buy it.

Better yet, hopefully I'll be wrong.

Hip Hop Vs. Rap

I have always had a keen interest in the intersections of hip hop music and culture. Further, I believe that the impact that hip hop has on the national and global levels (this pic was taken in Venice) is immeasurable and should be studied with diligence and appreciated as art, not merely as a commodity. I use the phrase "hip hop," rather than rap in order to create a distinction between the two.

To me, hip hop is an art; it necessitates the holistic involvement of an artist to produce. Furthermore, it engages its audience in a similarly holistic manner, involving mind, body, and spirit. Rap, on the other hand, is the uninspired, run of the mill Easter egg to hip hop's Faberge. Rap is devoid of passion, consideration for true aesthetic value, and the impact it has on its audience and is thus susceptible to commercialization, exploitation, and a contributor to negative portrayals of young African American culture. 

Through my writing, I hope to infuse this sense of reverence for hip-hop as an art on a wide scale to achieve two main goals: to get audiences and critics of hip hop to understand the distinction between hip hop and rap and attain a deeper respect and appreciation for hip hop and to challenge hip hop artists to continue to produce their art and deter individuals from aspiring to become impassioned rappers. 

KRS-One once said that "hip hop is something you live, rap is something you do." Many, however, have understood this to mean that hip hop encompasses break dancing, deejaying, graff artists, and MC's. While all this encompasses hip hop culture, the music produced out of this culture, I believe, is hip hop music--something that I have lived since buying Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life in 7th grade. 

With this distinction in mind, I am pleased with the direction that hip hop has had throughout its history, but I remain distraught by the path that rap has taken. Often times, though, the lines are blurred. With each post, I hope to make this issue clearer. 

"Act Won...Things Fall Apart"--The Roots