On Sept. 11, 2011, Hit-Boy put it into the universe that he was going to provide a Rihanna single and three songs on a Nas album. What he initially manifested 12 years in the past has developed right into a legit musical bond unseen earlier than from a younger, hotshot producer and a grizzled, legendary rapper. In simply three years, Hit-Boy and Nas have created six albums and two trilogies, totaling 80 songs. Magic 3 is the ultimate album between the 2, launched on Nas’ fiftieth birthday, as an emblem of getting old gracefully with no time restrict to his success.
It’s unlucky that Hip Hop and longevity don’t have extra constructive connotations, creating this concept that when you attain a sure age, your rapping expertise diminish. Granted, most of the greats don’t exit on high (for each 4:44 there’s a Crown Royal). However Nas, who we’ve been listening to for nearly 30 years, has re-written that narrative by releasing each his King’s Illness and Magic collection congruently. The pocket he’s in with Hit-Boy is like Killer Mike meets El-P, two spiritually related souls who develop into higher variations of themselves each time they work on music collectively. It’s why followers didn’t appear shocked when Nas mentioned he was midway by his subsequent one on “Abracadabra” from Magic 2, as their spark continues to provide a few of Nas’ greatest materials in years.
Magic 3 is the ultimate parting reward for followers, as Nas says goodbye (for now) to this producer-rapper pairing. The album represents a milestone for Nas reaching 50 throughout 50 years of Hip Hop, an audio journal of his accomplishments, his reflections on surviving life and classes realized, reveling in Black excellence, and his dedication to the artwork kind by bucking the developments. However except for a number of confessions and a track that acts as an acknowledgment part, Magic 3 principally simply feels like one other stable Nas and Hit-Boy collab, however unquestionably their least fascinating materials of the collection. This album lacks new route and appears like leftover tracks of Magic 2 packaged collectively as an add on. For a franchise coming to an finish, the songs chosen for Magic 3 don’t fulfill sufficient to consider they’re hanging their jerseys up within the rafters for good.
That doesn’t imply it’s not a top quality challenge, and the throughline of Nas reflecting on turning 50 does add somewhat little bit of differentiation between the opposite entries. Hit-Boy nonetheless offers Nas with a compelling arsenal of cinematic samples, chopping up with beat breaks for him to circulate seamlessly from one topic to the subsequent. His signature knock on these beats (“Superhero Standing,” “Blue Bentley,” “By no means Die” that includes Lil Wayne, “Jodeci Member”) are far more front-facing, like he was saving them for this second. Hit has clearly established probably probably the most belief any producer ever has with Nas, resulting in the Queensbridge rapper being snug with revealing untold ideas and emotions that he might have as soon as saved off file, evidenced by his confessions on “I Love This Feeling.” “They askin’ if I’m ever gon’ be over rap / However I left a number of occasions, simply by no means advised you that,” he admits, one of many many new revelations he places on wax. Hit-Boy pushes Nas to unpack the which means behind turning 50, utilizing ingenious pattern loops and beat switches like on “Japanese Soul Bar” to spill his coronary heart out.
By this level, the worlds of Hit-Boy and Nas have merged to create their very own universe. Their histories and backstories have been closely documented in Hip Hop, throwing in references to “Symbolize” from Illmatic on “Fever” (named after the nightclub Nas carried out at in 1993), unearthing Nas’ first interview with Video Music Field on “Japanese Soul Bar,” or utilizing one among Hit-Boy’s producer tags with Nipsey Hussle’s voice on “Sitting With My Ideas.” Nas is in competitors with himself on the subject of his love for Rap, reinforcing his knack for road storytelling on the two-part “Primarily based on the True Occasions,” that may very well be reimagined as a mini-movie.
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It’s laborious to supply constructive criticism to an artist comparable to Nas, who explicitly addresses keyboard warriors and Rap critics on “TSK,” threatening violence to those that speak recklessly. However after this a lot materials, it’s getting simpler to poke holes within the Nas and Hit components. Traces like calling himself “Chief Keef Cozart blended with Mozart” sound like he’s rhyming simply because he’s good at it, placing his pursuits first and stretching the creativeness of what followers need to hear from him versus what they will tolerate. On “Fairly Younger Woman,” he outlines his refined pursuits in a lady he’s pursuing, but it surely comes off extra “Licensed Lover Nasir” than “Cherry Wine.” On “Speechless, Pt. 2,” Nas raps about synthetic intelligence, which is fairly dangerous. “A.I. is just right here to duplicate and management / Imitatin’ the unique then grabbed them a mildew / Of the binary code, it’s your patterns they stole / This my tactical circulate, the one they will’t redesign / You’ll be able to redo the voice however you’ll be able to by no means learn my thoughts,” he raps. Once you declare you’re each “previous NY” and “new NY” like on the Lil Wayne-assisted “By no means Die,” it affords an opportunity to replace your lyrical content material. Nevertheless, Nas ought to know his viewers sufficient that they need to hear him carry rap justice and rap the identical manner as he was on the block, not these half-baked bars concerning the bleak way forward for the music trade.
On the nearer “1-800-Nas&Hit,” Nas compares the King’s Illness and Magic collection to the boxed units of the Star Wars and Quick & Livid franchises. The quantity is on an “infomercial” for followers to name them and depart a message, letting them know when they need to return. It’s a celebratory track in nature, a victory lap to permit credit to roll. Because the track closes out, he thanks everybody concerned within the making of those albums, just like J. Cole’s “Be aware to Self” and Kanye West’s “Final Name.”
Magic 3 is one other chapter that doesn’t fairly surpass the unique, but it surely’s the swan track earlier than his resolution to retire. It’s not precisely the blockbuster conclusion Nas followers had been on the lookout for. As a substitute, it’s the cliffhanger ending that gives the possibility for a reunion sooner or later. However for an artist who was written off a number of occasions in his profession, and even himself wrote off the style he helped popularize fully, Magic 3 places the stamp on one of the crucial fascinating late-career collection in Hip Hop historical past, a feat which will by no means be duplicated.
