While his lyrics may not make complete sense and can be hypocritical at times, Nas is on top of his game with Life Is Good. Album highlight "Reach Out" takes an 80s approach on the beats, but the track would feel at home just as well on a Fugees record (albeit with Mary J Blige on vocals instead). The improvement is obvious on tracks like "Loco-Motive" that find revitalized spitfire rhyming over a gritty beat, truly emulating the experience of a late night train robbery. handles primary duties, instilling a sense of quality control that wasn't really present throughout 2008's Nigg er. Veteran beatsmith (and VP of Def Jam) No I.D. Justice League-produced "No Introduction" immediately demands attention with a sweeping orchestration and a drum heavy breakdown, shining an evident spotlight and introducing Nas better than any extraneous skit could.
Life Is Good fits in as a retrospective piece in the same vein, yet with more impressive production that takes cues from 80s pop almost as much as the Golden Age. While not necessarily redefining or essential listening (except probably The Lost Tapes), each following album has followed this model of using simple beats as a vessel for Nas's nearly unsurpassed lyricism. 2001's Stillmatic was not only retaliation to Jay-Z's classic "Takeover" observational diss on this drop-off, but also succeeded in resuscitating his dying career. To his dedicated acolytes it's no secret the time frame between genre classic Illmatic and the turn of the millennium was not good to Nas, either in terms of quality or record sales. Review Summary: A notable continuation of a late career resurgenceĬontrary to popular critical assessment, Life Is Good is in no way some triumphant return to form for Nas it is merely a continuation of his latter career success story in a consistent sequence of solid records.
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