God's Son

However the two-disc God's Son is a return to form. The first single, "Made You Look" is a barnstorming collaboration with Fat Joe. "The Book of Rhymes" is Nas back to his lyrical best, once again showing himself as the real inheritor to Rakim's MC crown. Nas goes deep into the funk on "Get Down", which features a heavy chunk of James Brown, another echo of Rakim's work to which Nas has openly aspired to. There are unsavoury moments. Nas's referral to sleeping with hookers on "Pussy Killz" veers between a sexual-health warning and a tongue lashing of women in general. He also advocates the creationist theory on "Dance". Perhaps he's trying to get the Texas Christian vote? However, such lyrical theorising will probably pass most by--those who just want to hear the beats. On this, God's Son delivers particularly well, especially with the Alicia Keys-enhanced tribalist "Warrior's Song".

God's Son suffered heavy bootlegging prior to release and the track listing changed radically. Plenty of (good) material wasn't officially released--undoubtedly there's another Lost Tapes album on the way. Tupac's appearance on "Thugz Mansion" is proof positive that the Tupac impersonator out there is doing very good business. Why didn't they work the same trick with Elvis? --Jake Barnes