REVIEW: NAS - KING'S DISEASE III

4/5

The Crown Season 3.

By royal appointment, it's been a regal week. What more could you expect when the fifth and penultimate season of 'The Crown' on Netflix debuts a mere month after Her Royal Highness, The Queen, passed? This weekend in Marvel's 'Wakanda Forever' we also got to see who would take the throne as the new Black Panther after King T'Challa, following the tragic passing of the late, great Chadwick Boseman. Christine and the Queens even released an album. As did Bruce Springsteen (a Boss, but a worKINGman's throne taker in our eyes), paying tribute to Motown royalty. 

It's only right that the "morherf###ing general" and God's Son Nas got in on the action. 'Illmatic' to 'Stillmatic', Nas is like the greatest rapper that ever lived (even when it comes to 'To Pimp A Caterpillar', or 'Mr. Morale' for you big-steppers. He even ethered the God M.C. (him, Jay Hova), joking about it here on the thunderous 'Thun', dun ("No beef or rivals, they playing 'Ether' on TIDAL / Brothers can do anything when they decide to / In a Range Rover, dissecting bars from 'Takeover' / Sometimes I text Hova like, 'N****, this ain't over ... laughing!"). All for the three gold bars (let's face it, there's more than that here) taken as red on 'King's Disease III', to conclude the trilogy that began in 2020. Nasty Nas back in your area, about to cause Mass Appeal for the label, with prolific producer Hit-Boy (in a reflection eternal, this really is a collaborative project like Kweli and Hi-Tek(nology)). All as 'KD3' puts up the numbers like Kevin Durant, as this New Yorker like the Nets looks for the throne Jigga used to watch, like the Lakers James. 

The sequel was no slump, in-between working 'Magic' for two albums a year like his name was the late, legendary DMX. But now in cinematic conclusion, 'King's Disease' in a second (or is that third, or even going fourth) is a critical part of the career of one of the most compelling. A man still killing it post-50, like Keanu Reeves as 'John Wick'. Chapter for chapter of Parabellum. "KD 3 on the way, this just to feed the buzz", the 'Ghetto Reporter' rapped on the good-looking 'Ugly' from the 'Magic' box. And as soon as the 'Just Us' Richard Pryor (still a timeless and now timely statement) sample begins, this stand-up album is no joke like Eric B. and Rakim. Goldfinger bar paid in full for this Goldeneye Bond, who shoots straight like Nintendo 64. 'The Bridge is Over' my d***, thun. 

Thrillers like 'Michael & Quincy' or an 'Unauthorized Biography Of Rakim' for your U.B.R. highlight this street disciple's latest prophecy. Sampling everything from 'Da Butt' on 'Hood2Hood' and his own 'N.Y. State. Of Mind' with DJ Premier, making a hot line, a hot song. That's what 'Beef' is. Channelling a juicy Biggie on 'Get Light' for that 'Party and Bull####' and the haze of a Mary J. 'You Remind Me' on 'Reminisce', time after Blige. 'Legit' until the 'Narco' bonus track ''Till (His) Last Breath' Nas brings more of his best, 'matic work over three discs. And more record that will be sampled themselves, if not quoted like a 'Dead President' too. Representing for more than us, this is '30' for 30 ESPN ready for your album of the year countdown. Only the strong survive, and Nas has been thriving. 'Recession Proof' as this New Yorker like the boss Springsteen writes for his working men, born in his U.S.A. 'I'm On Fire' and he is too. As 'Serious' as an inspired interlude. 

What the f###. Shake my head, he's even down with the kids on 'WTF, SMH'. Even though those who say, "down with the kids", never are. As old-school as O.P.P. Naughty by his Nasty Nas nature, Jones even goes through his '2nd Childhood', 'Stillmatic' call-back with the 'Once A Man, Twice A Child' stand-out. "From Mama’s Boy to preschool to college to now employed/Now you on, got your first crib, she’s having your first born/Went from buying the finer toys with your boys/To buying toys for your boy/It’s crazy how fast he’s growing for sure/Grandpops he told me ‘bout his days of old/One day I’ll be him on the porch, sippin’ on something cold/And it stuck with my soul/I been divided at the road", he raps with inspired introspection for his youth influence. 

Like the 'First Time' of "Like the first time I heard Slick Rick/How did you feel? (First time you heard Nas)/First time hearing Biggie/I'm like, "Who's this kid? Wow" (First time you heard Nas)/When I heard Pac/That was on that song with, uh, Digital Underground like (First time you heard Nas)/Yeah, that was crazy/I really hope that this your first time," for those new to Nas like this man pushing 40 like Ice Cube does weighty rhymes did in college, thanks to his best friend (what's up, G!). 'Don't Shoot' Nas replies as this third hit makes the earth sick and you yourself look. The symptoms of a 'King's Disease' actually include uric acid in the joints (gout basically, to put it plainly), but with these joints, we could see this King go fourth. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Ghetto Reporter', 'Michael & Quincy', 'Once A Man, Twice A Child'.