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Hip Hop Is Dead - Nas
  • Band Name: Nas
  • Record Label: Def Jam
  • Release Date: Dec 19, 2006
Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
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  1. RapReviews.com
    100
    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.
  2. MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
    91
    The fun comes easier when he fools around with the title conceit, and even sometimes when he thinks about it.
  3. The A.V. Club
    91
    It contains a smart, tight, cohesive analysis of where rap went astray, but also the seeds of the genre's rebirth and renewal.
  4. Dot Music
    90
    Nas's insight, erudition and poetic intensity override all other concerns.
  5. Mojo
    90
    It is Nas's poetic erudition that makes it a stone cold classic. [Mar 2007, p.100]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. Village Voice
    90
    A Dante-channeling journey through the many diverse facets of hip-hop.
  7. Prefix Magazine
    85
    Hip-Hop Is Dead... brings out the best in the emcee, who might have produced his strongest lyrical performance since Illmatic.
  8. Rolling Stone
    80
    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.
  9. The Guardian
    80
    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.
  10. Vibe
    80
    Disorienting and sometimes brilliant. [Jan 2007, p.109]
    All this publication's reviews
  11. The New York Times
    80
    Here's the thing about Nas's old-fashioned approach to hip-hop: It still works.
  12. PopMatters
    80
    Nas pushes lyricism and technical virtuosity to the forefront here, stretching both his own boundaries and those around him.
  13. Pitchfork
    78
    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.
  14. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    Hip Hop Is Dead is a lot like Nas himself: impossible not to admire, but hard to love.
  15. Los Angeles Times
    75
    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.
  16. All Music Guide
    70
    Hip Hop Is Dead is not Illmatic.
  17. Hartford Courant
    70
    "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.
  18. Blender
    60
    Nas can still dazzle on the mic. [Jan/Feb 2007, p.87]
    All this publication's reviews
  19. NOW Magazine
    60
    A few flashes of brilliance, but no sustained heat.
  20. cokemachineglow
    50
    Hip Hop Is Dead's fruitless and one-dimensional rhetoric is sure to depress the Nas fan more than any of his didactics.
  21. Stylus Magazine
    50
    Nas caps a year of NYC-based disappointments with quite possibly the most crushing one yet.
  22. Austin Chronicle
    40
    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.
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User Reviews

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User Score
9.0 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 97 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 70
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 70
  3. Negative: 4 out of 70
  1. lovemusic
    8
    good solid record had a few good songs on here. i liked it. it was descent. i respect this guy when he puts out a record he puts his heart and soul into his songs.… Full Review »
  2. sosa
    10
    Nas does well tackling the subject of Hip Hops death in modern days. A wonderful follow-up to his massive Street's Disciple album. Production has greatly improved for Nas on this album… Full Review »
  3. groundfisher
    8
    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...… Full Review »
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