Nas - Magic ALBUM REVIEW

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This album is why I wait to do my album of the year lists officially until 2022.


It goes without question that Nas is one of the best to ever do it, and after a little bit of a lull in his discography, he’s had a comeback of sorts. 2018’s NASIR wasn’t all that great, but 2020’s Grammy-winning King’s Disease and its 2021 sequel are great showings that are all aging incredibly well. His new partnership with producer Hit-Boy has been instrumental in the later stages of his career and it’s been pretty great to listen to. On Christmas Eve, we got a surprise release from Nas titled Magic. Once again, it’s entirely produced by Hit-Boy and has a feature from A$AP Rocky, along with scratches and extra production from DJ Premier. Let’s get into Magic, which has been an odd theme so far this week.

I don’t remember the last time a rap album made me this mad. Like, how is Nas this good this late in his career? I enjoy that this is short too, only 9 songs and less than a half-hour. It’s almost like an EP, similar to Pusha-T’s DAYTONA. Like the two King’s Disease albums, Nas sounds hungry as hell. Honestly, he hasn’t sounded this good since he started back in ‘94. Hit-Boy’s production is also out of this world, and at times, it really made me question if this really was all Hit-Boy production at times. It’s that good. Honestly, if King’s Disease III is as good as Nas’s latest output, the Nas/Hit-Boy duo will be up there with MF DOOM and Madlib for how great it is. Overall, dare I say that Magic is Nas’s best album since Illmatic. Spectacular on nearly every level, Nas drops one of the best albums of his decades-long career.


10/10


Listen here

YouTube Music




Magic is a Mass Appeal release.

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