Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
62
50 Cent
70
AFI
65
Air
70
Alice In Chains
53
Kris Allen
78
Amerie
79
Annie
76
Anti-Pop Consortium
86
The Antlers
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound
77
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
59
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
71
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan
72
Beak>
72
Brendan Benson
84
Biffy Clyro
72
The Big Pink
95
Big Star
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
72
The Black Heart Procession
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
53
Bon Jovi
76
A.A. Bondy
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
83
Brother Ali
72
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
77
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
78
Califone
69
Mariah Carey
81
Brandi Carlile
72
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash
71
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
82
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
64
Exene Cervenka
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System
67
The Clean
84
The Clientele
72
Cold Cave
85
Converge
71
Eric Copeland
76
The Cribs
79
Cymbals Eat Guitars
62
Dashboard Confessional
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
77
Del The Funky Homosapien & Tame One
88
Destroyer
73
Do Make Say Think
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
67
Bob Dylan
58
Echo & The Bunnymen
61
Electric Six
44
The Entrance Band
69
Fanfarlo
71
Jay Farrar And Benjamin Gibbard
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
66
Orenda Fink
79
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
83
Fuck Buttons
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
65
Calvin Harris
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
67
Hockey
67
Whitney Houston
80
Hudson Mohawke
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
74
Jamie T
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
68
Daniel Johnston
76
Norah Jones
77
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
75
Kid Sister
66
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
63
Mark Knopfler
73
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
85
Miranda Lambert
72
Ledisi
71
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
62
Leona Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt
74
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
83
Patty Loveless
73
Lyle Lovett
79
Lucero
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna
85
Manic Street Preachers
61
Maps
73
Mario
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
62
John Mayer
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
75
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
75
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
66
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie
76
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
82
Nirvana
96
Nirvana
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
64
OneRepublic
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
78
Osso
67
Alec Ounsworth
81
Owen
73
Paramore
78
Pastels And Tenniscoats
54
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
69
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
72
Port O'Brien
79
Q-Tip
79
R.E.M.
88
Raekwon
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
74
The Raveonettes
79
Real Estate
76
Jay Reatard
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
66
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
78
Russian Circles
69
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
78
Say Anything
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
55
Steel Panther
75
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
68
Joss Stone
83
Barbra Streisand
77
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
79
The Swell Season
80
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees
80
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
78
The Dutchess & The Duke
71
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
74
Them Crooked Vultures
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
73
Frank Turner
71
The Twilight Sad
60
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
69
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
70
Kurt Vile
65
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
73
Rufus Wainwright
78
Wale
57
Weezer
81
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
69
Robbie Williams
59
Andrew W.K.
65
Wolfmother
84
The xx
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
52
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Hip Hop Is Dead
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 91 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Def Jam
Release Date: 19 December 2006
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rap
Summary
Dr. Dre, Kanye West and will.i.am are among the producers for the rapper's follow-up to 'Street's Disciple,' which marks his first release for Def Jam.
Also By This Artist: God's Son Stillmatic Street's Disciple The Lost Tapes Untitled
Also On The Web: Nas @ Def Jam
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
RapReviews.com
Nas has made a passionate album to reawaken your love of the art and if your heart isn't thumping in your chest by the end then it's not hip-hop that's dead, it's you.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
It contains a smart, tight, cohesive analysis of where rap went astray, but also the seeds of the genre's rebirth and renewal.
Read Full Review >MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
The fun comes easier when he fools around with the title conceit, and even sometimes when he thinks about it.
Read Full Review >Mojo
It is Nas's poetic erudition that makes it a stone cold classic. [Mar 2007, p.100]
Dot Music
Nas's insight, erudition and poetic intensity override all other concerns.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
A Dante-channeling journey through the many diverse facets of hip-hop.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
Hip-Hop Is Dead... brings out the best in the emcee, who might have produced his strongest lyrical performance since Illmatic.
Read Full Review >The New York Times
Here’s the thing about Nas’s old-fashioned approach to hip-hop: It still works.
Read Full Review >Vibe
Disorienting and sometimes brilliant. [Jan 2007, p.109]
Rolling Stone
Nas has always sounded older than his years, but there are moments on his eighth album when he sounds like the lead in the hood version of Grumpy Old Men.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
You don't have to agree with the prognosis (even Nas has a change of heart by the end) to relish the furious eloquence with which it's delivered.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Nas pushes lyricism and technical virtuosity to the forefront here, stretching both his own boundaries and those around him.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
More than Illmatic, it represents the real Nas-- not the ideal-- the MC with all the skill, all the rhymes, and all the insight who sabotaged himself with bad decisions.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Hip Hop Is Dead is a lot like Nas himself: impossible not to admire, but hard to love.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times
Like many of his previous efforts, lyrically and conceptually, it's second-to-none. But musically and in terms of execution, it doesn't always hit the mark.
Read Full Review >Hartford Courant
"Hip Hop Is Dead" feels bloated and a little self-indulgent at 16 songs, not all of which are as essential as the first few, but that doesn't change the legitimacy of the point Nas is trying to make, or the guts he shows in making it.
Read Full Review >Blender
Nas can still dazzle on the mic. [Jan/Feb 2007, p.87]
cokemachineglow
Hip Hop Is Dead’s fruitless and one-dimensional rhetoric is sure to depress the Nas fan more than any of his didactics.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Nas caps a year of NYC-based disappointments with quite possibly the most crushing one yet.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
With Dr. Dre, Kanye West, and even Jay-Z on its guest list, Hip Hop Is Dead makes for an ample, yet ultimately morbid, party.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 91 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
groundfisher gave it an8:
This would get a 9 from me if the production was better. "Hip-hop is Dead" is a celebration of hip-hop. It is a strong album from Nas and the album's title and concept is not really something new, but it signifies a change in content from Nas with less 'gangsta rap' and more good, old fashioned hip-hip. Gangsta rap IS commercialised hip-hop and one of the things that has killed true hip-hop; Nas has got rich off gangsta rap and now laments that hip-hop is dead. That irony is not lost on Nas. In fact, there is humour in this album that isn't evident in many previous albums, with Nas attacking the album's concept from many different viewpoints, even those viewpoints which gently mock his own. I don't really want to go into depth but just to mention something that I feel Nas didn't address. Remembering times past can lapse into pure nostalgia and whilst it's fine to remember past hip-hop artists and recall Main Source's "Breaking Atoms", for example, you also have to remember the bad things. We didn't have ridiculous, commericalised gangasta rap clones 15+ years ago on the charts. Instead we had a complete and utter corporate construct called Vanilla Ice at the top of the charts. MC Hammer was there too. This was during the golden age of hip-hop. The golden age is well and truly over and whilst hip-hop isn't dead, it has just about hit rock bottom. Hopefully Nas isn't the only one who changes direction...
Brannon M gave it a9:
Classic
Ricardo O gave it a10:
in a world full of emptyness, finally someone that can inspire us to improve
Vahe K gave it an8:
Good Album. one great song, the rest of album is ok
Josh T gave it an8:
If any One gave this album less than a 7 or an 8 don't know sh@t, and i read some of y'all comits. Like Jamal S(It lacks a single killer BEAT) People like this just listen to hip-hop because of the beats, they don't read between the lines. I beat this N@g@a this dip-set is hot(they don't be talking bout sh@t) Hip-Hop Is Dead is not a classic but it better than Streets Disiple, Nastrudams, I Am, and I think it better then it was written. Nas may not have the best ear for beats; but pound for pound lyrically there is only one person in the history of the game that even come close to nas and that is the greatest MC of all time Pac. Not Jigga, Not Big, not anyone has the lyrical tale as Nas or Pac. Holla
Mahmoud R gave it a10:
Supreme Lyricism. Dope beats. What more could you ask for?
Cool Jones D. gave it a10:
I absolutely love this album. You all should get it.
