I like the album "Distant Relatives" a lot, but when I listen to it, I can't help but feel that Damian Marley outshines Nas on just about every song. Not only that, but there seems to be a degree of pettiness in some of the verses that weigh some of the songs down heavily.
A huge example of this is on the song "Strong will continue" where his first verse goes perfect with the song, but then a 2nd verse is tacked on at the end of song, making the song somewhat longer then necessary, as well as making the song a little too self-centered (if that makes sense). There are also other verses in other songs where it seems like he is taking jabs at other artists (friends).
I can imagine that writing for the album was hard enough because of the stylistic change to both the music and to the verses and content he had to put down for the album, but I'm sure that the stress with his divorce had more influence on the album then anything. His verses on some of his songs seem to be a bit unfocused. No artist is perfect, but I believe that this album, though it is good, could have been great (imho).
I'm a huge Nas fan, and I'm just curious to see what other people think.
A huge example of this is on the song "Strong will continue" where his first verse goes perfect with the song, but then a 2nd verse is tacked on at the end of song, making the song somewhat longer then necessary, as well as making the song a little too self-centered (if that makes sense). There are also other verses in other songs where it seems like he is taking jabs at other artists (friends).
I can imagine that writing for the album was hard enough because of the stylistic change to both the music and to the verses and content he had to put down for the album, but I'm sure that the stress with his divorce had more influence on the album then anything. His verses on some of his songs seem to be a bit unfocused. No artist is perfect, but I believe that this album, though it is good, could have been great (imho).
I'm a huge Nas fan, and I'm just curious to see what other people think.