Nas is like…the mainstream answer to people that love lyrics, but if they really loved lyrics like that, they’d dig deeper. Nas ain’t the first rapper to say that hip-hop was dying; as far as I’m concerned he’s more of the Grim Reaper.

People put Nas on this pedestal like he’s the savior or leader of some kind of conscious movement, but I find that people can be kind of pretentious with their selection of artists–most especially if those artists get airplay on MTV or a dedicated battle verse from Jay-Z. Nas is the first thing that comes to people’s minds when I say I tend to like the more conscious rap out there. It’s either him, or like Immortal Technique, or Aesop Rock…all three of which are apparently from completely different sub-categories of hip-hop.

Anyway, so Nas’ untitled album is out and people are all over it like black on darkness. The messed up part is, a lot of these same people are ‘starving‘ for some good hip-hop, let them tell it. Folks–Nas isn’t the only answer. I admit, he’s a dope artist and has a deep track record, but come ON. There’s plenty of acts out there with actual JAMS (if you would take the time to peep them) that make a lot of the tracks on “Untitled...nigger” sound like nothing new, but watch people be enchanted by these singles.

If hip-hop is dead, then we need to dig up the bones and re-animate the shit. But the funny part is, when you start digging, you’ll realize that hip-hop was buried alive on life-support. So stop complaining that rap isn’t good anymore, and start asking around to find the quality stuff. There are plenty of cats out there that are itching to give you a laundry list of emcees/groups to peep out. If you knock, the door shall be opened.