Just a brief pause, ‘cuz I’m about to get back onto some UK shit for the rest of today, it’s about time, and am aiming to have 3-4 posts lined up, for slow release over the next week or so.
Anyway…
I am not a huge Nas fan. Like most serious hip-hop fans in general, I was all over Illmatic like a tramp on chips when I first heard it (and still am, occasionally), but I’ve never paid the rest of his catalogue much attention.
Yeah, It Was Written has its moments, as does The Lost Tapes and God’s Son. Shit, even I Am… has at least two listenable joints. But this track, “What Goes Around” is lifted from Stillmatic, an album which – in my opinion – consists of five or six above average tracks and, for the most part, half decent production.
Ultimately, Stillmatic is a forgettable album, notable only because it was an okay record released at the height of the Nas/Jay-Z “beef”, and just two years after what is undoubtedly the worst Nas album of all time, Nastradamus.
Tucked away at the end of this album, in a spot usually reserved for album filler, is this standout track, “What Goes Around”. Laced with twangy Salaam Remi production, Nasir spits some karmic, prophesising truths.
The point of these posts ain’t to give the game away and present a full critical breakdown of tracks, but is to encourage listeners to peep and appreciate music that I’m feeling. So if you haven’t already, give “What Goes Around” five minutes of your time via the YouTube link up above.
