REVIEW: NAS - MAGIC

4/5

The Magic Hour. 

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Queensbridge area. Not a rapper was stirring, except Nasty Nas causing mass hysteria. A surprise at midnight from a carriage, all the way under your tree. Pure fire. Smokin' like a chimney. Sweeping everything up and away with its presence. To infinity and beyond with no buzz. After suffering from a 'Kings Disease' for over a year quarantined in the studio, the LeBron James of New York and the rap game, like 'Bron the NBA, is back with some true 'Magic' for the purists. All as he and sole producer Hit Boy on an album with no features (save standout 'Wave Gods' featuring A$AP Rocky and legendary 'Nas Is Like' producer DJ Premier) like J. Cole not wanting to 'Let Nas Down', create rabbit out the hat magic like Orlando. So much so the Yankee big hitter and his new producing partner forming a dynamic duo in Gotham have rocked the 90's black Orlando Magic pin stripes for a photo-op back in the studio. Big Nas rocking the 32 of the notorious B.I.G. Shaquille O'Neal, whilst Hit Boy hits up the number one and only, Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway. This O.G. back for the "trapped in the 90's" crowd (hands up) is not retiring to Florida. Like Jadakiss losing weight said about "getting chubby and (moving) to Miami, defying death". Instead he's taking it back to the 'Illmatic' days like the vibe of the timeless, young don, sepia album artwork photo. Because 'Magic' is 9 tracks like that and instant classic ready for your vintage vinyl. After August's second disease, Nas' third album inside a calendar is less than a half hour like the illest. All killer. No filler. It's time for some magic. 

'Speechless'? You will be after you've heard the first track that goes harder than an express L train. Have you ever heard a mic drop on the opening track? Well, you have now with lyrics from Nas like,"I’m twenty-one years past the 27 Club/It’s like I went back into my past and then I sped it up/Robert Johnson, Winehouse and Morrison found where Heaven was/Heaven on Earth, this s### is magic with no fairy dust/Home of the gully, gangsta, the gruesomе and the scary stuff." Scary hours indeed. Nuanced nostalgia like all he needs is 'One Mic'. That's all he needs. Then Nas gets ready to 'Meet Joe Black' like Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins meeting fellow Academy member, Brad Pitt once upon a time in Hollywood. Fathering the game slaying, "Why would I ever have to cop a chain again/When the QB chain birthed most the chains in the game?/No post office was stampin' time/Took out a slice out of the Big Apple, made apple pies, family sized/Leather bombers and Nike Sacais/Dangerous corners, you better pray that tomorrow arrives/Rap Sugar Ray Robinson, nothin' sweet/Y'all too out of shape to even box with me/Heavyweight, I know my way around the ring/Just like shawty know her way around the store/Makin' hits with Hit-Boy, all he gotta do is hit record." Hitting from all corners like Pitt's pre-angel getting hit hilariously by all those cars (I'm not sick...Google it). Yeah this is 'Ugly' like taking it bloody, but this is gully. And in this beautiful art form of street poetry how else would you even want it? 'Nasir' hasn't had it like this since a Kanye only produced seven track also in black and white. It's a good look. 

Halftime is upon us as Nas tennement takes us to '40-16 Building' for the best track of the stack, chugging like carriages. "I got that feeling, Lionel Richie, Dancing on the Ceiling/Hope it resemble a Van Gogh when you paint me the villain/The hate is real but you should know that the love is way realer/Crafty with a pen way before I could pack 'em in/Nasty with dreads, a slim teen, young, I was passionate/A brand new book cracklin' sound when you open, I'm writin' gems/I make gospel in thе booth it might sound like I'm writin' hymns." Giving us the ghetto gospel this Christmas. He, the God's Son is painting a perfect picture with "these hip-hop scriptures" (word to The Game) from the QB apartment block view of the city that belongs to him. This is what makes the 'Hollywood Gangster' one of the most famous faces alive when it comes to real hip-hop he pronounced dead on that albums arrival. Giving it a revival and that very note an interlude nod before keeping our heads doing the same in time and kind on 'Wu For The Children' that for the Tang-Clan, pays tribute to Shaolin's finest. Nas truly is 'The Truth' like "Beanie's first LP", or like fellow concrete jungle, streets of New Yorker and constant collaborator Alicia with her own 'KEYS' and Pusha T, reopening Sigel doors 'Plentiful'. But it's the warrior song closing cut 'Dedicated' that shows Nas is exactly that with his big-three LP's since 2020."When Carlito was dying/He see the shadow of his girl dancing with the baby/Like, "F### it, it's my time", but if God save me/Maybe I'll erase any vice that could potentially bring harm to me/Before I make a move, I think about it karmically/Everything come back like a boomerang/I'm black as Paul Mooney slang." Giving us more magic after catching lightening in the bottle twice with 'Kings Disease' and its sequel. Sure we loved watching the throne, but there's 'Blueprint 3' Jay-Z and then there's 'Blueprint' Jay-Z. All brawling like a "white tiger out the cage, Mike Tyson in '88". The heavyweight with the tile belt after another bout out the hole like Foxx playing iron. In the same season we get fellow New Yorker Norah Jones 'I Dream Of Christmas' first festive LP and Marvel's 'Hawkeye' coming home for the holidays in the Big Apple, Nas gives us something we've been waiting for like the unauthorised biography of KRS One for his second book after 'Street's Disciple' Rakim, paid in full. And you know the man who "takes Summers off because (he) loves Winter beef" always delivers like the big guy. See the Kingpin's 'Lost Tapes 2'. Only another Jones in Norah puts more down for the record. Radio may be going nowhere in this streaming age that sees albums swiftly Taylor made for surprise releases, from 'Donda' to 'Drake'. But with this album of the year that takes us back, titled the same as a new age Springsteen classic, just as short, but anything but sweet. Everything else gets split in two. Now you see Nas. Now you don't anything else but, 'Magic'. How'd he do it? TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Meet Joe Black', '40-16 Building', 'Wu For The Children'.