’12 Best Albums: #2 Nas Life Is Good

life is good-cover

Prior to 2012, life wasn’t always so good for Nasir. After the lackluster work on his previous release, Nas shocked the world with his formidable tenth album. As if one is needed, Esco re-introduces himself on the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League-assisted “No Introduction”. Nas can’t pick good beats? On this go-round, the quality behind the boards took a giant leap forward. Nas’ go-to producer Salaam Remi provides the foundation behind the boards on the well-narrated tale of his borough (“Queens Story“), the farewell bid to the ex-wife (“Bye Baby”) and the street buzzer (“Nasty”). No ID tries his hand on the reminiscing track (“Back When”), his parental misstep guide (“Daughters”) and the hard-driven “Loco-Motive” with Large Pro. To “Reach Out” on this joyous ride, Mary J. Blige lends her soulful voice on the DJ Hot Day-inspired track and Rozay vigorously empties his clip on the menacing “Accident Murderers”. From obsessions (“World’s An Addiction”) to lustful fantasies (“Cherry Wine”), and the struggles one goes through (“You Wouldn’t Understand”), Nas eloquently tells his stories and receives redemption in the end. If his life is truly as good as this album, he’s winning.

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  1. CaliSteppin says:

    GKMC was 1A for me Life Is Good was 1B both are amazing albums

  2. Stillatit says:

    ahh very interesting GKMC made it to #1 both albums were very good though

  3. S My D says:

    Habits & Contradictions?

  4. INSITE says:

    this is my nr 1 but kendricks lp was dope to

  5. Joshua T. says:

    Wow. Was really expecting this album to be number one. Guess that means Kendrick Lamar gets the high honors. Still, to see Nas this high up on the list this late into his career is nothing but amazing. Congrats, Esco.

  6. K.dot says:

    Life is good should’ve been number one. GKMC was good but Nas had more standout tracks on Life Is Good than kendrick.

  7. Ten Macaroni Necklaces says:

    Can’t argue with this. Album was too nice. Hope he gets the Grammy too, but i dunno.

    What if they gave Mackelmore #1 just to fuck with us?

  8. Vintage Soul says:

    Can’t argue this…what this means of course is that GKMC is #1…and well deserved indeed…but what’s disturbing is that what was absolutely one of the year’s best, and my pick for AOTY, Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music was snubbed…it’s made all the more worst because that audio liquid crap Slaughter House album is somehow on the list…disgusting

  9. Schoolboys Bucket Hat says:

    Why they do my mans Q like this?

  10. ... says:

    Take care should take it for this year also!!

  11. p. dom says:

    World’s Not Enough?….you mean “World’s An Addiction”. Proofreading is everything. LOL!!!

  12. TAS says:

    I definitely agree with that! My top 10 album list http://rap-critic.blogspot.co.uk/

  13. Tbones says:

    This album or GKMC can easily swap places but knowing fully well how YN and his cohorts “stay tight” on Nas nuts, no way it will top a list on their website hence Kendric automatically gets d nod. Maybe all will change when Nas starts to acknowledge these internet bloggers from Queens.

    Lol @Bighomie calling Cherrywine lustful fantasies when love or relationship would have been more suitable words. Step your vocabulary game up BigHomie.

  14. jobie says:

    yea the slaughterhouse album sucked. an Hour of weak punchlines isn’t fun to listen to. GKMC was definitely the best of the year. Life is good was solid, not really a great album overall as far as concepts and cohesiveness. But I guess that’s the problem with pop music. Making a standout album is about creating and experience. Not many guys do that today. Kanye, Ross, and Kendrick can do that, oh and game with Jesus piece. We need more albums, not just a bunch of hot songs on a disc. I can put on Frank ocean or weeknd or Miguel and listen for an hour and seems like one piece of music. can do the same with a kanye album. not so much with most popular rappers today. Its becoming a problem. And people wonder why album sales are so low? The art of making an album are gone. Some rappers might as well just sell EPs of singles instead of garbage albums strung together with fillers and no cohesiveness. Done ranting

  15. Jackson says:

    GKMC deserved the number 1 spot, LIG was good but GKMC is on all another level, best album since 2010

  16. JustMyOpinion says:

    Nice.

    Whoa…..what’s #1?

  17. ECU says:

    Would LMAO if GMC wasn’t #1

  18. epinz says:

    “stay” is by far the best song on this album…fuckin classic track

  19. Notagain says:

    LIG was my favorite this year but…..

    Jesus piece is #1

    lol haha but defiantly think it was better then a couple of the albums mentioned he had some really good songs on there i would put it at a #7 or 8 spot not that MMG bullshit

  20. Tbones says:

    First of all, cos ur stomach is to weak to digest the Nigger album dont make it lackluster. SMH

    By the way how can you be taken seriously to review albums if u cant even get a simple title right? its world is an addiction BigHomie.

  21. swerve says:

    yea this was extra dope… man this here is something else … http://bit.ly/10j6PQa

  22. Nathaniel says:

    so… was there not a lupe fiasco album (food and liquor 2) in 2012? or did i miss that on a different list?

  23. people!!! My Rap Radar brothers & sisters (any females post here?) don’t you know that Rap Radar and their crew HATE NAS???

    YN is ALWAYS talking slick about Nas. He was suggesting the album could be weak when the first songs leaked. B. Dot got angry recently on Twitter when someone big on Twitter suggested that Nas was the greatest lyricist co-signing CNN’s story on Nas as a great lyricist. Right away B. DOT had to write “jay z is the greatest period” (or something like that, his twitter bores me but I read that in a RT).

    Nas told XXL in their own magazine he didn’t care about the Source /XXL beef a few years back.
    He said ‘Let them both burn”.
    YN feelings were hurt and any chance to mention a bad move on Nas is something Rap Radar love to do. What does that old Damian Marley/Nas album have to do with this release? It a collaboration of a different kind than the same old boring rapper/R&B ting like oh I don’t know “BEST OF BOTH WORLDS”?

    Nas put out an amazing album that did not hold back on his present life speaking to an audience that has grown up with him. Nas also spoke to “the young black youth” by giving out the information on his own bad losses. Trying to show you all how to win & better yet, that money/fame doesn’t guarantee a successful life. Divorce, raising children, the endless cycle of young minorities making bad decisions that will ruin their lives!

    “You 16, you could do 20, come home young
    Catch 20 years when you 40? Holmes, you’re done”

    YN, B. Dot could never appreciate a line like that. It’s boring. No fireworks. No talk of cars (maybachs), hoes and the same old cliches they took from watching “Scarface” too many times

    Your loss.

    @p0is0nedkoola
    Lester Bangs of hip hop
    I’ll always black out over the legends getting disrespected on this site

  24. Alph says:

    GKMC #1 best album in a couple of years, congratz kendrick

  25. Nathaniel says:

    @p0is0nedkoola

    so, what’s your gripe? i mean… he’s #2. a weighty argument could be made that kendrick had the best album in 2012. if you disagree, it’s not like it isn’t debatable. it’s not a travesty that anyone would dare think gkmc is better than life is good… is it? you seem to be an artistic minded fellow. so, that’s not a problem is it? i mean… it was his debut, and hip hop has never heard anything like gkmc. and it had/is having commercial success. this generation needed that short film album. hip hop wins either way.

    i still wanna know where the lupe album at. shit. lol

  26. JazzyJeff says:

    So Lupe’s album is grammy nominated but not top 10

  27. Nathaniel says:

    @JazzyJeff

    it was definitely better than that slaughterhouse bullshit. and meek mill’s album.

  28. Marko V says:

    I got the album just to add it to my Nas collection however truthfully, I never listen to it anymore. It bores me to tears. Only song I can listen to on repeat is Daughters and sometimes Accident Murderer. Other than that tho it’s the same old story wit beats. I think this album is over rated based solely on the fact he opened up more and dealt with the turmoil of his family and finances. Salute the great emcee but naw Life Is Good was an average Nas album.

    @remarkoble1

  29. bronx says:

    THIS SHOULD BEEN NUMBER ONE BUT WHAT EVER….

  30. whoa!!!! says:

    Albums that deserve to 10
    Good kids maad city
    Life is good
    Habits and contradictions
    Jesus
    Trouble man
    R.A.P. Music
    Vicious Lies and Dangerous
    Rumors
    Food and liquor 2
    This site is a joke

  31. Tbones says:

    @Nathaniel, if u read his post well, u would see that his gripe is with the unnecessary slick talk abt Nas; lackluster previous release even though he the reviewer most likely didnt listen to the said album as evident in his inability to get a simple title right, rather than Kendrick getting the top spot. Every hiphop head knows and appreciates that GKMC was needed in the game and a breath of fresh air. Even Nas chose it as his favorite album.

  32. bronx says:

    I meant that GKMC was the best album, GKMC > all

  33. Nathaniel says:

    @Tbones

    i guess… but RR has been championing nas ever since his first LIG record dropped this year. now, prior to that, i agree. especially with all the kelis business… they did seem overly invested in clowning him every time she hit him in the pockets.

    but B. Dot was also like the only naysayer with kendrick’s album. he was stuck on that macklemore shit. etc etc.. point taken though. i would think if they hated nas that much, they woulda threw LIG behind RIck Ross’s album. THIS just seemed like an odd post to bring up nas dislike on. shrug.

  34. tucq says:

    My choice also.

    But where is Jesus Piece on this list? It’s better than Cruel Summer And God Forgives.

  35. Tbones says:

    @Nathaniel, the reason that dude brought it up is cos of the slick talk. Without that slick talk, dude’s post would probably be like, LIG is a personal favorite but GKMC deserves it as well. Nah mean.

  36. zeerax says:

    GKMC was on another level, if you don’t have GKMC at #1 in your list then it means you have no objectivity.

    GKMC best album in a couples of years and that’s all.

  37. JazzyJeff says:

    I think FNL2 > GKMC I guess I have no objectivity

  38. krugge says:

    He’s right, Good Kid Maad City was one of the best albums since 2004

  39. Nathaniel says:

    lmao @jazzyjeff

    yeah your objectivity might be a lil compromised. just a lil.

    @tbones

    understood

  40. M.T says:

    Def the second best album of the year. “Worlds an Addiction” was simply amazing and my favorite rap song of the year. My second fav Nas album behind God’s Son.

  41. quese says:

    Tips album was much better in my oppion

  42. TdE says:

    Fuk Bdot and this list they robed that nigga Game

  43. ss says:

    wow .. this should have been #1!!!

  44. TheUnit says:

    Not a Game fan since 06 but he killed that album

  45. lou says:

    one mic is nas best song

  46. interscope says:

    nas and game have the best albums

  47. How was NIGGER lackluster? Why do critics always have something slick to say about Nas? And this is the number one album.

  48. Meek&RayJ look like Frogs says:

    Fuck gkmc shit was overrated and super trash nas is the number 1 album shit even game has a nice lp and i dnt like him all that much

  49. Mga-Czar says:

    LIG > GKMC but not by that much ….. Sect.80 is actually better than both

  50. MISSEDGYC says:

    Shoulda been NUMBER ONE.

  51. the ripper says:

    @ Meek&RayJ look like Frogs

    you stated, “Fuck gkmc shit was overrated and super trash nas is the number 1 album shit even game has a nice lp and i dnt like him all that much”…. Mane, go slap yo self talking about Kendrick’s album being super trash!!! Nas is illmatic no doubt but Kendrick pumped life back into Hiphop. kendrick’s album caught me by surprise. It was hella dope.

  52. […]  #4 Rick Ross God Forgives, I Don’t l #3 T.I. Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head l #2 Nas Life Is Good  l #1 Kendrick Lamar good kid m.A.A.d […]

  53. eliase says:

    Distant Relatives was near classic

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