NasBest Nas Albums Ranked

King's Disease III

nme

10

“hip-hop great delivers compelling conclusion to his album trilogy”

King's Disease

nme

10

“rapper embraces his status as a genre great”

Illmatic

pitchfork

10

“The 1994 hip-hop landmark is reissued in a box set with vinyl, a gold CD, an ersatz cherry wood case, and a 48-page book. Almost 20 years later, it remains a sterling example of how great rap can be.”

Stillmatic

pitchfork

9.1

“Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we revisit the 2001 resurrection of Nas, a canonical comeback album that came out swinging and never backed down.”

God's Son

pitchfork

8.6

“Unlike other MCs who rose to prominence in the early 90s, Nasir Jones (aka Nas) had the artistic misfortune to survive that decade. It may be a grotesque thing to say, but if Nas had fallen after releasing a slew of classic singles and his startling debut *Illmatic*, he'd be every bit as revered as Biggie, 2Pac, Big Pun and Big L. Instead, Nas has broken our hearts with a series of decent-to-medio”

Life Is Good

pitchfork

8.3

“Nas' 10th studio album, featuring production work from NO I.D., Buckwild, Salaam Remi, the late Heavy D, and Swizz Beatz, is his strongest in a few presidential administrations.”

Illmatic

auggy

9.3

“New York. A perfect representation of life as a teenager in Queens. The storytelling on this album will put you in ‘94 Nas’s shoes. Vivid imagery with slick flows. Listen to any rap album before this release and you’ll learn how far ahead of the game Nas’s groove is. Nobody came close. I’m not even sure who could’ve influenced his style. He claims Slick Rick but his flow is miles ahead of him. DJ Premier’s beats all over this project are incredible. Classic sampling. If you’re not used to listening to 90’s hip hop albums, it may come across as muddy. I can see this sounding dated to some people. Please stick with it and appreciate the clever bars and genius production.”

It Was Written

Miguel

8.6

“Solid album but just not as good as ‘Illmatic’ although it was always going to be hard for Nas to release anything as good as it. Some solid rapping from Nas as always. Top songs for me are ‘The Set Up’ ft Havoc ‘Suspect’ ‘Shootouts’ ‘Live Ni**a Rap’ ft Mobb Deep”

Illmatic

Miguel

10

“Probably the perfect rap album for a debut album too which is insane. I think there’s definitely better albums than this but for rapping alone this clears everything. The writing from Nas is amazing on this album and the way he flows effortlessly over that old school New York, boom bap beat is perfect. Not much more to say, just an incredible album. Top songs off the album are “N.Y. State Of Mind” “The World Is Yours” “Halftime” “Represent” “One Love” ft Q-Tip “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da park)””

Illmatic

Torres

9.9

“I’m not even a huge fan of old school hiphop but this is easily a 10/10… there’s like 3 contenders for top 100 songs oat. If you haven’t listened to the world is yours yet then WHAT ARE YOU DOING. Actually just listen to the whole album it’s only like 10 tracks.”

Illmatic

knowyourself

10

“true rap. nas has always been critically acclaimed for his rapping ability and compared to others like biggie and tupac etc, but this album clearly shows why he stands out among other rappers lyrically. ”

Illmatic

yesits2inches

10

“shout out to my dad for recommending me this album years ago”