Nas’s 16th studio album, King’s Disease III, is unapologetically out of step with the times. That isn’t to say that the album’s production, helmed by longtime collaborator Hit-Boy, sounds dated, or that Nas’s dexterous rapping or proficient pen game have weakened with age, but that the project’s entire ethos could be charitably characterized as a bit old-fashioned. By adhering to a creative formula typically associated with many foundational Golden Era classics, King’s Disease III often feels like a spartan exercise in pure technical ability.
This straightforward, no-frills approach sidesteps some of the more obvious pitfalls that plagued the trilogy’s previous two King’s Disease installments. For starters, there are zero millennial guest stars for Nas to try and strike an artificial rapport with this time around, and any attempts at broad genre crossovers are absent as well. In their place, we get 100% pure, raw, unfiltered Nas spitting over a variety of velvety soul samples and invigorating instrumentation, which is, more often than not, a pretty good thing.
If you can get past the foreboding first part of “WTF SMH,” during which Nas liberally slings a lot of forced internet-based acronyms, then you’ll be rewarded with one of the rapper’s more purely confident performances in recent memory (he completely owns the ridiculousness of a line like “I’m L-M-F-A-O, Esco heavy in the streets”). And not all of the text lingo lines register as purely cringe-worthy inclusions, like when he phonetically spells out the word “lie” in order to cram in an extra two syllables to fit the accompanying rhyme scheme.
As is the case with every Nas album, this one comes loaded with a relatively equal amount of bold truths and flagrant contradictions. He tries to act humble and claim that he hasn’t forgotten about the “roaches and mice” from the projects, as he does during the closing moments of the fervid “Legit,” but then, on the very next song, admits that he hasn’t ridden on a subway in “decades.” Obviously this fact doesn’t negate the totality of Nas’s past lived experience, but one should interpret what he says with a healthy amount of skepticism.
The album’s most egregious moment, though, comes when Nas addresses a long-standing—and untrue—claim that he’s a bad beat picker on “First Time.” His non-response is just as heedless: “You probably heard somebody say that I pick bad beats/But I pick bad freaks.” He also couldn’t have picked a more substandard beat from which to try and launch a counterattack.
On the rousing, if self-aggrandizing, “Michael & Quincy,” Nas likens his collaborative dynamic with Hit-Boy to that of Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, a clever way to pay homage to the duo and himself at the same time. “Like Quincy on the trumpet, Hit-Boy on a drum kit,” goes one congratulatory line, followed by an obligatory backing horn. “Nasty like Mike on the vocals, I overdub it,” goes the next. The track is less concerned with crafting a unified artistic statement and more interested in providing a low-stakes showcase for its veteran MC. Like the majority of this nostalgia-tinted effort, King’s Disease III finds Nas operating at his myth-making merriest.
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
Smh people like you make me never want to click on these links. You sound like a culture vulture who’s writing about zoo animals. It’s uncomfortable. Also, when Nas said “I pick bad freaks,” he was….JOKING! He was essentially saying, “I don’t give AF! I’m living life.” If you want the pretense of self-seriousness and pseudo-intellectual babble bullsh*t, listen to Billy Woods. I promise you, he’ll never tell a joke. His [very serious} discursive ostentatiousness (something he would say), would transport itself into your ego, resulting in a super, already inflated sense of self; therefore, making you feel at home 🙂 But please, if you’re going to talk about rap from the vantage point of a zoologist, on a National Geographic documentary, discussing the mating habits of wild animals, keep that ish to yourself, bruh. 3 1/2 stars? SMD
Myth making merriest, author of story kinda disqualified his own review with that line, seems like you’re unfamiliar with Nas an should stick to Pop Reviews, Nas is one of hip-hop greatest storytellers, some song from his vantage point, some from others so to characterize it as Myth Making is absurd
I’m not gonna spend more than a minute or two on this because I just wasted my time reading the trash above. The writer is clearly not qualified to review hip-hop.
Album of the year!
On Legit Nas says he didnt forget about the roaches and rats. When he says on Thun, “I havent rode the train in decades but I can still hear the wheels in the tracks” is not a contradiction of th Legit line. He is literally saying the same thing! What are you talking about?
First Time is a dope beat! You need to study the album and the themes within the music instead if looking at one liners. Do you understand that Legit was about dudes in the street going Legit? Recession Proof about investing in yourself? First Time being a clever way to honor hip hop artists? Dont Shoot being about putting down the guns? Hood2Hood delivering the same message? Reminisce about loving the past but moving forward? Did you listen enough to really digest the album?
Wow. You tried dude. You tried I mean are people actually getting paid to discredit Nas?
Man, gotta love it when incels freak out and start insulting a reviewer because they didn’t give it the score they thought it deserved. Go listen to Fantano or something to cope, Slant stay winning.
Bullshit. Who says you can’t review a reviewer. His review is trash. Not sure he digested the album well enough. 31/2 for this album tells you all you need about the magazine.
What the fuck is wrong with you music critics? You know this is rap music right? You guys rank albums like your reading someone’s thesis for their masters degree. Only thing is your a teacher’s aide that’s not suitable to even judge the work.