Nas has been waiting for his moment. After the heavy criticism of his last album produced by Kanye West, Nasir, he has needed to honour his status as an American rap legend. This time around, he has recruited another producer, a protege of Kanye West: Hit-Boy, known of course for his work with his boss, but also with Jay-Z, A$AP Rocky and Beyonce. On King’s Disease, his thirteenth album, Nas has returned to something fundamentally more down-to-earth, almost as if he has something to excuse himself for. At 46 years old, the Queensbridge native has released 13 tracks that raise questions of what steps need to be taken, life’s low points and past mistakes. It is never too late.
Nas has sometimes been reproached for being bogged down with a dated sound, for being musically stubborn. This criticism is no longer valid on his last several albums, including this one. We can hear, for example, the fusion of his deep voice with that of the prince of drill Lil Durk (on Til The War Is Won), or experimentation with trap beats (27 Summers). But Nas is also a product of the 1990s, and continues to remind us of this time, notably by reuniting the members of his old group The Firm (AZ and Foxy Brown) as well as his great childhood friend Cormega on the track Full Circle. Such an event, reuniting the four rappers should bring with it a monumental storm, but it is ultimately the cold atmosphere which comes out on top. King’s Disease is not pretentious: it’s real and true. True in its intention which can be summarised as the denunciation of a capitalist downward spiral and its impact on the individual. It is also true in terms of its balance between eras and the album’s protagonists. It’s the return of a very good Nas to the great delight of rap aesthetes. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz