Everybody is speaking about DJ Premier and Nas’s new album, Light-Years. And rightfully so. We love Nas. We love DJ Premier. We have been ready a long time for this second.

Shout out to Jerry Barrow, the previous editor-in-chief of Scratch journal. Jerry was one of many early architects of this complete concept. He famously put Nas and DJ Premier on the quilt of Scratch almost 20 years in the past, planting a seed that Hip-Hop heads have carried ever since. That cowl symbolized an unfinished dialog between two giants who formed the sound and soul of Hip-Hop.

Now that the album is lastly right here, the response has been swift, loud…and divided. Some listeners are disillusioned. Others are confused. A vocal group is saying DJ Premier “dropped the ball.” Did he actually? That feels questionable at greatest.

What saddens me greater than any critique is the fact that we now really feel obligated to problem closing judgments seconds after an album drops. There isn’t any digestion. No reflection. No residing with the music. Just immediate opinions thrown into the web void as if artwork expires inside 24 hours.

Nas has remained principally quiet. DJ Premier, too, till he briefly addressed the criticism. His message was easy. This album is just not for everyone. It is for Hip-Hop purists. If you lived it, you’ll really feel it. If you didn’t, it’s possible you’ll not perceive it.

Personally, I feel he ought to have stated completely nothing.

He owes no clarification. This is his artwork, and artwork is subjective. If somebody thinks it’s weak, that opinion is legitimate. If somebody loves it, that opinion can also be legitimate. Being a Hip-Hop purist doesn’t routinely imply you’ll love this album, and never being one doesn’t disqualify your critique.

Some of the critics are purists and nonetheless don’t just like the undertaking. That is ok.

As for me, I prefer it. More importantly, I feel it’s going to age nicely. This appears like a slow-burn album that reveals itself over time. It is a deliberate nod to Hip-Hop tradition, not rap-for-the-moment or occasion music. The subject material leans into girls, graffiti, tapes, reminiscence, and nuance. This is just not about chasing developments. It is about honoring the muse.

This is Hip-Hop, not simply rap music.

DJ Premier and Nas symbolize two pillars of Hip-Hop historical past whose affect stretches again to the style’s golden period. Premier’s work with Gang Starr helped outline the sound of East Coast Hip-Hop by means of dusty drums, jazz-infused samples, and uncooked lyricism. Nas, starting with Illmatic in 1994, set a lyrical normal that also shapes emcees at this time. While they collaborated prior to now, a full-length undertaking all the time felt like unfinished enterprise. This album is much less about reinvention and extra about preservation. It paperwork a cultural lineage that predates algorithms, streaming metrics, and immediate reactions.

Tell us what you suppose within the feedback. Do you hear the lengthy sport on this album, or are you underwhelmed?

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