The Lost Tapes
Encyclopedia
The Lost Tapes is a compilation album
by American rapper Nas
, released September 23, 2002, on Ill Will Records
and Columbia Records
. It follows his artistic comeback in 2001, which led to his record label's release of the album. The album compiles previously unreleased tracks that were discarded from recording sessions for Nas' previous studio albums, I Am... (1999) and Stillmatic
(2001). The songs feature production by L.E.S.
, The Alchemist
, Poke and Tone
, Precision, and Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, among others. The Lost Tapes features a low-key, sparse sound and themes regarding sociology and urban life. Music writers have noted the album for its nostalgic tone, austere production, and Nas' detailed narratives.
Released with little promotion, the album debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200
chart, selling over 70,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, The Lost Tapes received general acclaim from music critics, who praised its songs, production, and Nas' lyricism. Although some critics viewed that it lacks a cohesiveness as an album, others called it Nas' best album since his 1994 debut album Illmatic
. As of July 2008, The Lost Tapes has sold 340,000 copies in the United States. A follow-up compilation album was expected to be released by Nas in 2010, but was delayed due to issues with his record label.
and his highly-publicized fued with rapper Jay-Z
. Both revitalized his image in hip hop music
at the time, following a string of commercially successful but critically subpar albums. Nas' record label, Columbia Records
, capitalized on his comeback with a promotional campaign that included the release of two archival albums, the extended play From Illmatic to Stillmatic: The Remixes and The Lost Tapes, while leading up to the release of his 2002 studio album God's Son
.
The liner notes for The Lost Tapes display the slogan "No cameos. No hype. No bullsh*t", alluding to the nature of the compilation's recordings. The album's booklet features artwork by Chris "C-Money" Feldman and photography by Kareem Black.
prior to its release and leaked
to the Internet
through MP3
technology, which led to their exclusion from I Am.... Most of the compiled songs first became available as bootlegs on underground
mixtape
s before being selected and mastered
for The Lost Tapes.
Songs on The Lost Tapes were recorded in several recording studios in New York, including Right Track Studios, The Hit Factory Studios
, and Sony Studios in New York City, Lobo Studios in Long Island, and Music Palace in West Hempstead, as well as South Beach Studios in Miami, Florida and Westlake Studios
in Santa Monica, California. Production was handled by The Alchemist
, L.E.S.
, Poke and Tone
, Precision, Rockwilder
, Al West, Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, and Hill, Inc.
The Lost Tapes features introspective lyrics and themes of urban life
, sociology
, and despair. Its music is characterized by low-key beats, sparse production, subtle string
flourishes, mellow piano work, and subdued soul music
loops. Stylus Magazine
's Brett Berliner views that songs such as "Doo Rags" and "No Idea's Original" incorporates classical
melodies, while songs such as "Purple" and "Fetus" feature neo-classical
theme
s. Music critic Nathan Rabin
perceives "an undercurrent of pain and desperation" in Nas' lyricism and notes "melancholy production that places an emphasis on Nas' ferocious flow and incisive lyrics." John Bush of Allmusic writes that the songs "have more in common with his early recordings; there's more of a back-in-the-day, wasn't-it-all-so-simple-then sound to 'Doo Rags' and 'Poppa Was a Playa,' two tracks that definitely wouldn't have fit on the raging Stillmatic."
Music writer Craig Seymour
notes "spare beats" and few boasts in Nas' rapping. Chris Conti of the Boston Phoenix
characterizes its music as "straight-ahead beats [that] counteract Nas's complex bar
s of braggadocio
and street-life storytelling." David Samuels of Slate
interprets "a message that begins with a rejection of the materialism of his [...] rival Jay-Z" and "the home truth about how most kids in the projects feel about the real-life gangstas who live in their neighborhoods", citing "No Idea's Original" as an example. New York Daily News writer Jim Farber comments on his lyrical observations, "Nas focuses on linear scenarios and on human motivations", and asserts that "unlike many hard rappers, Nas' tales of ghetto horror are not covert boasts but expressions of true fear", noting "a cinematic tale of self-destruction in 'Drunk by Myself,' and a compelling autobiography narrated from the womb in 'Fetus.' "
tones. Richard Hazell of HipHopDX describes the song as "a piano propelled painting of time and space as seen through the third eye
of Nas, which can easily be envisioned by any New York City
dweller." On "My Way", he meditates over his rise out of poverty to the "life of a rich thug", recalls the death of his childhood friend Ill Will
, and concedes that he "still feels broke with millions in the bank." "U Gotta Love It" contains a deep, swirling groove and a sample
of the 1973 song "Love Song" by funk
band Mandrill
. Nas makes reference to the "'86 crack blitz" and discusses his own significance: "This thug life you claimed it, I make millions from entertainment / Now back in the hood, certain cats they wanna kill me / They ice-grill me, but on the low, niggas feel me." "Nothing Lasts Forever" advises to appreciate life's small epiphanies
and be optimistic about the future. On "No Idea's Original", Nas notes the similarities of people in life and views other rappers as creatively derivative, while distinguishing himself from them: "No idea's original, there's nothin new under the sun / It's never what you do, but how it's done / What you base your happiness around material, women, and large paper / That means you inferior, not major." He references the line "there's nothing new under the sun" from the Book of Ecclesiastes
in the song's chorus. "No Idea's Original" samples Barry White
's 1973 song "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby
", a frequently sampled recording in hip hop music.
"Blaze a 50" features a violin-based instrumental and a complex narrative
that follows a tale of murder, sex, and betrayal. Nas narrates the tale in conventional fashion until the ending, at which the track rewinds to an earlier point and he revises his original ending. "Everybody's Crazy" features complex rhymes and braggadocio rap by Nas: "Gangsta see, gangsta do / A Langston Hughes
predecessor / Gun in my dresser, slang I use." On "Purple", he lights up a blunt
and expresses his thoughts, including criticism of hoodlums and their effect on their neighborhoods: "The 'hood love you, but behind your back they pray for the day / A bullet hit your heart and ambulance take you away / That ain't love it's hate / Think of all the mothers at wakes / Whose sons you've killed and you ain't got a cut on your face?" "Drunk by Myself" has lyrics concerning alcohol and self-medication
. "Black Zombie" is an impassioned, self-reflective critique of problems afflicting the African-American community, including prejudice ("You believe when they say we ain't shit, we can't grow / All we are is dope dealers and gangstas and hoes"), economic insolvency ("What do we own? The skin on our backs / We rent and we ask for reparations, then they hit us with tax"), and dependency ("I'ma Colombia record slave / So get paid / Control your own destiny, you are a genius / Don't let it happen to you like it did to me, I was a black zombie"). The song's socially-conscious lyrics also deride media stereotypes of African Americans, inequality in the educational system, and black-on-black violence
. According to writer Dax-Devlon Ross, "Black Zombie" foreshadowed the themes and "world view
" by Nas on his albums following Stillmatic.
"Poppa Was a Playa" features uncredited co-production by Kanye West
, and discusses Nas' complicated relationship with his father, jazz musician Olu Dara
, addressing his lusty, itinerant lifestyle throughout Nas' youth. Gabriel Alvarez of Complex calls it an "honest dedication to his old man: a jazz player, a rolling stone
" and writes of the song, "The love is there despite the man's faults. Nas crafts a full picture of the past, looking at the infidelity and fights from both parents' perspectives." An untitled hidden track
follows "Poppa Was a Playa" and has Nas rapping from the perspective of his prenatal self
. It was originally recorded for I Am... and had planned titles "Fetus" and "Belly Button Window". The track opens with solemn guitar chords and the sound of bubbling liquid before being overlaid with a beat and a piano riff. An introductory verse is delivered by Nas in a spoken word tone: "Yeah. I want all my niggas to come journey with me / My name is Nas, and the year is 1973 / The beginning of me / Therefore I can see / Through my belly button window / Who I am." The narrative follows the time before his birth, covering subject matter such as his parents fighting and his expectations for life. In Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop
(2009), writer Adam Bradley denotes the track's lyrical narrative of an MC's story of birth as "one of the core narratives in rap", having its roots in a similar autobiographical convention found in African-American slave narrative
s. Of Nas' narrative, Bradley states, "By endowing the insensible with voice, he aspires to an expressive level that transcends speaking for oneself, or of oneself, to one that self-consciously constructs itself as an artist giving shape to that which lacks coherence."
and Columbia Records, distributed through Sony Music Entertainment
, and had little promotion. It was released on September 23 in the United Kingdom, September 24 in the United States, October 9 in Japan, where it was issued with three bonus tracks, and January 20, 2003, in Australia. The Lost Tapes debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200
chart, with first-week sales of over 70,000 copies in the United States. It spent eight weeks on the chart. It also entered at number three on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
. As of July 2008, The Lost Tapes has sold 340,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan
.
In France, the album reached number 104 on the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique
's albums chart, on which it remained for two weeks. In Switzerland, it peaked at number 50 and spent three weeks on the Swiss Albums Top 100
.
s. At Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted mean
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 82, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". Craig Seymour
of Entertainment Weekly
complimented Nas' lyrics and stated, "His gritty, yet hopeful, reflections make Lost Tapes a real find." Rolling Stone
writer Jon Caramanica dubbed it "the real Stillmatic" and wrote that it "displays Nas' gifts for tightly stitched narrative and stunningly precise detail." Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe
stated, "These discarded songs are filled with the elements that made Nas such a promising artist in the beginning. Internal rhyme
s, blade-sharp narrative, a smooth sly flow without being beholden to ridiculous hooks." Boston Phoenix
writer Chris Conti praised Nas' "trademark street-crime-rhyme" as "rival[ing] that of Ice-T
, G.Rap
, and the late Big L
", and cited The Lost Tapes as "his most impressive album since his phenomenal 1994 debut, Illmatic
." Nathan Rabin
of The A.V. Club
found it superior to Nas' God's Son and stated, "Though essentially a collection of odds and ends, the disc sounds as cohesive and consistent as any of Nas' proper studio albums." Rabin called it "a filler
-free tour de force" and concluded that it "confirms Nas' status as rap music's poet laureate of urban despair."
Despite calling the songs' lyrics and production "fantastic", Brett Berliner of Stylus Magazine
noted a lack of cohesiveness as an album and stated, "Separate, the songs all sound great, but together, they don’t make a real album. [...] It sounds like a superb mixtape." Pitchfork Media
's Sam Chennault criticized its production and noted "moral contradictions" in Nas' lyrics, but ultimately stated, "Despite its flaws, though, The Lost Tapes is nice." In his consumer guide for The Village Voice
, critic Robert Christgau
gave the album a B+ rating, indicating "remarkable one way or another, yet also flirts with the humdrum or the half-assed." Christgau viewed that the tracks eschew the thug persona of his previous work for "sensitivity" and stated, "Surrounding outtakes that were just outtakes is back-in-the-day recommended to Tim
and Missy
(even has some pronunciation in it) and four autobiographical pieces." Dubbing Nas "the real king of rap", David Samuels of Slate
described its recordings as "quasi-legendary" and called The Lost Tapes "a long-awaited step forward from an artist who was uniquely burdened by the success of his first record", writing that it "isn't as good as Illmatic. But it's close enough."
Rashaun Hall of Billboard
wrote that the album "showcases Nas' incredible talent as a lyricist and social commentator" and stated, "While the production on some tracks is clearly dated, Nas' lyrics are as crisp and vivid as ever." Chris Ryan of Spin
praised its "brutal, honest, politically charged" content and viewed the album as a hip hop Basement Tapes
, adding that "As a whole, the album lacks pace and cohesion. But as a raw document, Lost Tapes still proves that Nas had it all along." Steve Juon of RapReviews wrote that "all the music is quality, and Nas spits the purest verbals", and commended the album's digital mastering for "changing rough cut gems that were valuable to begin with to gleaming diamonds." Marc L. Hill of PopMatters
called The Lost Tapes "a necessary addition to the collection of any hip-hop fan" and found it to be "masterfully arranged", writing that it "maintains a cohesiveness that almost makes you forget that you are not listening to a studio album." Hill concluded in his review, "Although this album is not as fiery as Stillmatic or as brilliant as Illmatic, this album will provide many hours of listening satisfaction."
's Henry Adaso called it "noteworthy because of its superiority to half the stuff in Nas' catalog." In its 2007 issue, XXL
included The Lost Tapes in its list of "classic" albums to be given the publication's maximum "XXL" rating.
s tracks. However, its release was delayed, and Nas subsequently signed to Def Jam Recordings
in 2006. In a June 2010 interview for Hot 97.5 KVEG
, he said of following-up The Lost Tapes, "I do got a lot of songs that really didn't make no album, that's just sittin' around [or] got lost. So I've got enough actually, for a Lost Tapes 2 and 3 by now. So I've just got to set it up, put them together – 12 songs for one album, 12 songs for another album, and figure it out. That's all it takes." In September, he announced plans to release The Lost Tapes 2 on December 14. However, its release was further delayed by Def Jam, whom Nas accused of mishandling the project and its budget in a personal e-mail sent to label executives. Reports of the project's delay incited fans to create an online petition
in December asking for Def Jam to release the album. After losing time to the project's delay, Nas began recording for a new studio album and put plans for The Lost Tapes 2 on hold. In a May 2011 interview for MTV News
, he discussed the situation with the sequel and Def Jam, stating:
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
by American rapper Nas
Nas
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
, released September 23, 2002, on Ill Will Records
Ill Will Records
Ill Will Records was an American vanity record label founded by Nasir "Nas" Jones. The label was named after Willie Graham, Nas' childhood neighbor and best friend, was shot dead on May 23, 1992 when both were teenagers...
and Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. It follows his artistic comeback in 2001, which led to his record label's release of the album. The album compiles previously unreleased tracks that were discarded from recording sessions for Nas' previous studio albums, I Am... (1999) and Stillmatic
Stillmatic
Stillmatic received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews"...
(2001). The songs feature production by L.E.S.
L.E.S. (producer)
Leshan David Lewis, better known as L.E.S., is a hip hop producer commonly associated with Nas. His first production credit was for Nas' popular song "Life's a Bitch" from the Illmatic album in 1994. He soon produced a single, "Sugar Hill", for AZ's album Doe Or Die...
, The Alchemist
The Alchemist (producer)
Alan Daniel Maman , better known as The Alchemist, is an American hip hop producer, DJ and rapper. He hails from Beverly Hills, California...
, Poke and Tone
Trackmasters
The Trackmasters are the successful production duo of Poke and Tone , sometimes credited as Poke & Tone, best known for their commercial hit records in the late 90s and early 2000s. Throughout their career they have worked with various hip-hop and R&B artists including R...
, Precision, and Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, among others. The Lost Tapes features a low-key, sparse sound and themes regarding sociology and urban life. Music writers have noted the album for its nostalgic tone, austere production, and Nas' detailed narratives.
Released with little promotion, the album debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, selling over 70,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, The Lost Tapes received general acclaim from music critics, who praised its songs, production, and Nas' lyricism. Although some critics viewed that it lacks a cohesiveness as an album, others called it Nas' best album since his 1994 debut album Illmatic
Illmatic
Illmatic is the debut album of American rapper Nas, released April 19, 1994, on Columbia Records. Following his signing to Columbia with the help of MC Serch, recording sessions for the album took place during 1992 to 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording...
. As of July 2008, The Lost Tapes has sold 340,000 copies in the United States. A follow-up compilation album was expected to be released by Nas in 2010, but was delayed due to issues with his record label.
Background
In 2001, Nas made an artistic comeback with his fifth album StillmaticStillmatic
Stillmatic received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews"...
and his highly-publicized fued with rapper Jay-Z
Jay-Z vs. Nas feud
The Jay-Z–Nas feud was a hip hop rivalry during the early-2000s and one of the most high-profile feuds in the history of hip hop music. It was characterized by comments between Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Nasir "Nas" Jones from 2001 until resolved in 2005...
. Both revitalized his image in hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
at the time, following a string of commercially successful but critically subpar albums. Nas' record label, Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, capitalized on his comeback with a promotional campaign that included the release of two archival albums, the extended play From Illmatic to Stillmatic: The Remixes and The Lost Tapes, while leading up to the release of his 2002 studio album God's Son
God's Son
God's Son is the sixth studio album by American rapper Nas, released December 13, 2002 on Columbia-imprint Ill Will Records. Production for the album took place during 2001 to 2002 and was handled by several hip hop producers, including Salaam Remi, Chucky Thompson, Ron Browz, and The Alchemist...
.
The liner notes for The Lost Tapes display the slogan "No cameos. No hype. No bullsh*t", alluding to the nature of the compilation's recordings. The album's booklet features artwork by Chris "C-Money" Feldman and photography by Kareem Black.
Recording
The Lost Tapes compiles previously unreleased tracks recorded during 1998 to 2001 in the sessions for both Nas' 1999 albums I Am... and Stillmatic. Several songs from the sessions for the former album, including "Blaze a 50", "Drunk by Myself", and "Poppa Was a Playa", were bootleggedBootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
prior to its release and leaked
Internet leak
An Internet leak occurs when a party's confidential information is released to the public on the Internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, and artistic works such...
to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
through MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
technology, which led to their exclusion from I Am.... Most of the compiled songs first became available as bootlegs on underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
mixtape
Mixtape
A Mix Tape or Mixed Tape is a compilation of songs recorded in a specific order, traditionally onto an audio Compact Cassette.A Mix Tape, which usually reflects the musical tastes of its compiler, can range from a casually selected list of favorite songs, to a conceptual mix of songs linked by a...
s before being selected and mastered
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
for The Lost Tapes.
Songs on The Lost Tapes were recorded in several recording studios in New York, including Right Track Studios, The Hit Factory Studios
The Hit Factory
The Hit Factory was a recording studio in New York City famous for its clientele. It was officially closed for business April 1, 2005 whereas other Hit Factory studio locations remained open, such as in Miami, Florida.-History:...
, and Sony Studios in New York City, Lobo Studios in Long Island, and Music Palace in West Hempstead, as well as South Beach Studios in Miami, Florida and Westlake Studios
Westlake Recording Studios
Westlake Recording Studios is a well-known music recording studio in West Hollywood, CA.-History:The studio was founded as Westlake Audio in the early 1970s by Tom Hidley, and is credited as "one of the first big commercial efforts to produce acoustically standardised 'interchangeable' rooms"...
in Santa Monica, California. Production was handled by The Alchemist
The Alchemist (producer)
Alan Daniel Maman , better known as The Alchemist, is an American hip hop producer, DJ and rapper. He hails from Beverly Hills, California...
, L.E.S.
L.E.S. (producer)
Leshan David Lewis, better known as L.E.S., is a hip hop producer commonly associated with Nas. His first production credit was for Nas' popular song "Life's a Bitch" from the Illmatic album in 1994. He soon produced a single, "Sugar Hill", for AZ's album Doe Or Die...
, Poke and Tone
Trackmasters
The Trackmasters are the successful production duo of Poke and Tone , sometimes credited as Poke & Tone, best known for their commercial hit records in the late 90s and early 2000s. Throughout their career they have worked with various hip-hop and R&B artists including R...
, Precision, Rockwilder
Rockwilder
Rockwilder is an American hip hop and R&B record producer, rapper, and R&B Singer. A long term friend of Def Jam rapper Redman, Rockwilder got his start producing for East Coast Hip Hop artists in the mid 1990s. In 1999 Rockwilder produced Method Man & Redman's hit single "Da Rockwilder"...
, Al West, Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, and Hill, Inc.
Music and lyrics
Urban culture
Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. In the United States, Urban culture may also sometimes be used as a euphemistic reference to contemporary African American culture.- African American culture :...
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, and despair. Its music is characterized by low-key beats, sparse production, subtle string
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
flourishes, mellow piano work, and subdued soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
loops. Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
's Brett Berliner views that songs such as "Doo Rags" and "No Idea's Original" incorporates classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
melodies, while songs such as "Purple" and "Fetus" feature neo-classical
Neoclassicism (music)
Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
theme
Theme (music)
In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...
s. Music critic Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin is an American film and music critic. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Rabin was the first head writer for The A.V. Club, a position he continues to hold today....
perceives "an undercurrent of pain and desperation" in Nas' lyricism and notes "melancholy production that places an emphasis on Nas' ferocious flow and incisive lyrics." John Bush of Allmusic writes that the songs "have more in common with his early recordings; there's more of a back-in-the-day, wasn't-it-all-so-simple-then sound to 'Doo Rags' and 'Poppa Was a Playa,' two tracks that definitely wouldn't have fit on the raging Stillmatic."
Music writer Craig Seymour
Craig Seymour
Craig Seymour is an American writer, photographer, celebrity interviewer, music critic and former stripper. He was born in Washington, D.C.. He has written for The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Vibe, and Spin, among other publications, and has served as pop music critic for The Buffalo...
notes "spare beats" and few boasts in Nas' rapping. Chris Conti of the Boston Phoenix
The Phoenix (newspaper)
The Phoenix is the name of several alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts including the Boston Phoenix, the Providence Phoenix, the Portland Phoenix and the now-defunct Worcester Phoenix...
characterizes its music as "straight-ahead beats [that] counteract Nas's complex bar
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...
s of braggadocio
Braggadocio (rap)
Braggadocio is a type of rapping where the MC is "bragging and boasting" and can include subjects such as physicality, fighting ability, sexual prowess, or coolness...
and street-life storytelling." David Samuels of Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
interprets "a message that begins with a rejection of the materialism of his [...] rival Jay-Z" and "the home truth about how most kids in the projects feel about the real-life gangstas who live in their neighborhoods", citing "No Idea's Original" as an example. New York Daily News writer Jim Farber comments on his lyrical observations, "Nas focuses on linear scenarios and on human motivations", and asserts that "unlike many hard rappers, Nas' tales of ghetto horror are not covert boasts but expressions of true fear", noting "a cinematic tale of self-destruction in 'Drunk by Myself,' and a compelling autobiography narrated from the womb in 'Fetus.' "
Content
The album's opening track, "Doo Rags", is a nostalgic, old school remembrance that contemplates Nas' youth, society's cyclical nature, and existence. It features a contemporary piano loop and jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
tones. Richard Hazell of HipHopDX describes the song as "a piano propelled painting of time and space as seen through the third eye
Third eye
The third eye is a mystical and esoteric concept referring in part to the ajna chakra in certain spiritual traditions. It is also spoken of as the gate that leads within to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness...
of Nas, which can easily be envisioned by any New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
dweller." On "My Way", he meditates over his rise out of poverty to the "life of a rich thug", recalls the death of his childhood friend Ill Will
Ill Will Records
Ill Will Records was an American vanity record label founded by Nasir "Nas" Jones. The label was named after Willie Graham, Nas' childhood neighbor and best friend, was shot dead on May 23, 1992 when both were teenagers...
, and concedes that he "still feels broke with millions in the bank." "U Gotta Love It" contains a deep, swirling groove and a sample
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
of the 1973 song "Love Song" by funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
band Mandrill
Mandrill (band)
Mandrill is an American funk band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1968. The band was formed by three brothers: Carlos Wilson , Lou Wilson and Ric Wilson . The brothers were born in Panama and grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn...
. Nas makes reference to the "'86 crack blitz" and discusses his own significance: "This thug life you claimed it, I make millions from entertainment / Now back in the hood, certain cats they wanna kill me / They ice-grill me, but on the low, niggas feel me." "Nothing Lasts Forever" advises to appreciate life's small epiphanies
Epiphany (feeling)
An epiphany is the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something...
and be optimistic about the future. On "No Idea's Original", Nas notes the similarities of people in life and views other rappers as creatively derivative, while distinguishing himself from them: "No idea's original, there's nothin new under the sun / It's never what you do, but how it's done / What you base your happiness around material, women, and large paper / That means you inferior, not major." He references the line "there's nothing new under the sun" from the Book of Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes
The Book of Ecclesiastes, called , is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The English name derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title.The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title Qoheleth , introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem." The work consists of personal...
in the song's chorus. "No Idea's Original" samples Barry White
Barry White
Barry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...
's 1973 song "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby
I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby
"I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby" is a song written, produced and recorded by Barry White. Considering how successful it would end up being, it would probably come as a surprise that, for many years, White had little to no interest in a recording career...
", a frequently sampled recording in hip hop music.
"Blaze a 50" features a violin-based instrumental and a complex narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
that follows a tale of murder, sex, and betrayal. Nas narrates the tale in conventional fashion until the ending, at which the track rewinds to an earlier point and he revises his original ending. "Everybody's Crazy" features complex rhymes and braggadocio rap by Nas: "Gangsta see, gangsta do / A Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
predecessor / Gun in my dresser, slang I use." On "Purple", he lights up a blunt
Blunt (marijuana cigar)
Blunt is a slang term for cannabis rolled with the tobacco-leaf "wrapper" from an inexpensive cigar. Blunts take their name from Phillies Blunt brand cigars, although any commonly available inexpensive cigar or cigarillo is likely to be used by cannabis users, due to suitability and availability...
and expresses his thoughts, including criticism of hoodlums and their effect on their neighborhoods: "The 'hood love you, but behind your back they pray for the day / A bullet hit your heart and ambulance take you away / That ain't love it's hate / Think of all the mothers at wakes / Whose sons you've killed and you ain't got a cut on your face?" "Drunk by Myself" has lyrics concerning alcohol and self-medication
Self-medication
Self-medication is a term used to describe the use of drugs or other self-soothing forms of behavior to treat untreated and often undiagnosed mental distress, stress and anxiety, including mental illnesses and/or psychological trauma...
. "Black Zombie" is an impassioned, self-reflective critique of problems afflicting the African-American community, including prejudice ("You believe when they say we ain't shit, we can't grow / All we are is dope dealers and gangstas and hoes"), economic insolvency ("What do we own? The skin on our backs / We rent and we ask for reparations, then they hit us with tax"), and dependency ("I'ma Colombia record slave / So get paid / Control your own destiny, you are a genius / Don't let it happen to you like it did to me, I was a black zombie"). The song's socially-conscious lyrics also deride media stereotypes of African Americans, inequality in the educational system, and black-on-black violence
Race and crime in the United States
The relationship between race and crime in the United States has been a topic of public controversy and scholarly debate for more than a century...
. According to writer Dax-Devlon Ross, "Black Zombie" foreshadowed the themes and "world view
World view
A comprehensive world view is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point-of-view, including natural philosophy; fundamental, existential, and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and...
" by Nas on his albums following Stillmatic.
"Poppa Was a Playa" features uncredited co-production by Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
, and discusses Nas' complicated relationship with his father, jazz musician Olu Dara
Olu Dara
Olu Dara Jones is an American cornetist, guitarist and singer.-History:...
, addressing his lusty, itinerant lifestyle throughout Nas' youth. Gabriel Alvarez of Complex calls it an "honest dedication to his old man: a jazz player, a rolling stone
A rolling stone gathers no moss
A rolling stone gathers no moss is an old proverb, credited to Publius Syrus, who in his Sententiae states, People who are always moving, with no roots in one place, avoid responsibilities and cares. As such, the proverb is often interpreted as referring to figurative nomads who avoid taking on...
" and writes of the song, "The love is there despite the man's faults. Nas crafts a full picture of the past, looking at the infidelity and fights from both parents' perspectives." An untitled hidden track
Hidden track
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...
follows "Poppa Was a Playa" and has Nas rapping from the perspective of his prenatal self
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
. It was originally recorded for I Am... and had planned titles "Fetus" and "Belly Button Window". The track opens with solemn guitar chords and the sound of bubbling liquid before being overlaid with a beat and a piano riff. An introductory verse is delivered by Nas in a spoken word tone: "Yeah. I want all my niggas to come journey with me / My name is Nas, and the year is 1973 / The beginning of me / Therefore I can see / Through my belly button window / Who I am." The narrative follows the time before his birth, covering subject matter such as his parents fighting and his expectations for life. In Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop
Book of Rhymes
Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop is a book by literary scholar Adam Bradley that looks at hip hop music’s literary techniques and argues “that we must understand rap as poetry or miss the vanguard of poetry today.” The Dallas Morning News described it by saying, “You'll find Yeats and Frost...
(2009), writer Adam Bradley denotes the track's lyrical narrative of an MC's story of birth as "one of the core narratives in rap", having its roots in a similar autobiographical convention found in African-American slave narrative
Slave narrative
The slave narrative is a literary form which grew out of the written accounts of enslaved Africans in Britain and its colonies, including the later United States, Canada and Caribbean nations...
s. Of Nas' narrative, Bradley states, "By endowing the insensible with voice, he aspires to an expressive level that transcends speaking for oneself, or of oneself, to one that self-consciously constructs itself as an artist giving shape to that which lacks coherence."
Commercial performance
The album was released by Ill Will RecordsIll Will Records
Ill Will Records was an American vanity record label founded by Nasir "Nas" Jones. The label was named after Willie Graham, Nas' childhood neighbor and best friend, was shot dead on May 23, 1992 when both were teenagers...
and Columbia Records, distributed through Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
, and had little promotion. It was released on September 23 in the United Kingdom, September 24 in the United States, October 9 in Japan, where it was issued with three bonus tracks, and January 20, 2003, in Australia. The Lost Tapes debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, with first-week sales of over 70,000 copies in the United States. It spent eight weeks on the chart. It also entered at number three on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
. As of July 2008, The Lost Tapes has sold 340,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
.
In France, the album reached number 104 on the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...
's albums chart, on which it remained for two weeks. In Switzerland, it peaked at number 50 and spent three weeks on the Swiss Albums Top 100
Swiss Music Charts
The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...
.
Critical response
The Lost Tapes received general acclaim from music criticMusic criticism
See also Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media.The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this...
s. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted mean
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 82, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". Craig Seymour
Craig Seymour
Craig Seymour is an American writer, photographer, celebrity interviewer, music critic and former stripper. He was born in Washington, D.C.. He has written for The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Vibe, and Spin, among other publications, and has served as pop music critic for The Buffalo...
of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
complimented Nas' lyrics and stated, "His gritty, yet hopeful, reflections make Lost Tapes a real find." Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
writer Jon Caramanica dubbed it "the real Stillmatic" and wrote that it "displays Nas' gifts for tightly stitched narrative and stunningly precise detail." Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
stated, "These discarded songs are filled with the elements that made Nas such a promising artist in the beginning. Internal rhyme
Internal rhyme
In poetry, internal rhyme, or middle rhyme, is rhyme that occurs in a single line of verse.Internal rhyme occurs in the middle of a line, as exemplified by Coleridge, "In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud" or "Whiles all the night through fog-smoke white," in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." ...
s, blade-sharp narrative, a smooth sly flow without being beholden to ridiculous hooks." Boston Phoenix
The Phoenix (newspaper)
The Phoenix is the name of several alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts including the Boston Phoenix, the Providence Phoenix, the Portland Phoenix and the now-defunct Worcester Phoenix...
writer Chris Conti praised Nas' "trademark street-crime-rhyme" as "rival[ing] that of Ice-T
ICE-T
* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...
, G.Rap
Kool G Rap
Nathaniel Thomas Wilson , better known by his stage names Kool G Rap , Kool G. Rap, and Giancana , is an American rapper, from the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Crew...
, and the late Big L
Big L
Big L may refer to:* Lamont Coleman , better know by Big L, American hip-hop artist.Or a number of British radio stations:*Big L 1395, a British radio station.*Radio Luxembourg's English-language progammes ....
", and cited The Lost Tapes as "his most impressive album since his phenomenal 1994 debut, Illmatic
Illmatic
Illmatic is the debut album of American rapper Nas, released April 19, 1994, on Columbia Records. Following his signing to Columbia with the help of MC Serch, recording sessions for the album took place during 1992 to 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording...
." Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin is an American film and music critic. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Rabin was the first head writer for The A.V. Club, a position he continues to hold today....
of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
found it superior to Nas' God's Son and stated, "Though essentially a collection of odds and ends, the disc sounds as cohesive and consistent as any of Nas' proper studio albums." Rabin called it "a filler
Filler (media)
In media, filler is material that is combined with material of greater relevance or quality to "fill out" a certain volume.-Early television:...
-free tour de force" and concluded that it "confirms Nas' status as rap music's poet laureate of urban despair."
Despite calling the songs' lyrics and production "fantastic", Brett Berliner of Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
noted a lack of cohesiveness as an album and stated, "Separate, the songs all sound great, but together, they don’t make a real album. [...] It sounds like a superb mixtape." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Sam Chennault criticized its production and noted "moral contradictions" in Nas' lyrics, but ultimately stated, "Despite its flaws, though, The Lost Tapes is nice." In his consumer guide for The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave the album a B+ rating, indicating "remarkable one way or another, yet also flirts with the humdrum or the half-assed." Christgau viewed that the tracks eschew the thug persona of his previous work for "sensitivity" and stated, "Surrounding outtakes that were just outtakes is back-in-the-day recommended to Tim
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....
and Missy
Missy Elliott
Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott , is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actressA five-time Grammy Award winner, Elliott, with record sales of over seven million in the United States, is the only female rapper to have five albums certified platinum by the RIAA, including one...
(even has some pronunciation in it) and four autobiographical pieces." Dubbing Nas "the real king of rap", David Samuels of Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
described its recordings as "quasi-legendary" and called The Lost Tapes "a long-awaited step forward from an artist who was uniquely burdened by the success of his first record", writing that it "isn't as good as Illmatic. But it's close enough."
Rashaun Hall of Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
wrote that the album "showcases Nas' incredible talent as a lyricist and social commentator" and stated, "While the production on some tracks is clearly dated, Nas' lyrics are as crisp and vivid as ever." Chris Ryan of Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
praised its "brutal, honest, politically charged" content and viewed the album as a hip hop Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes is a 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and The Band. The songs featuring Dylan's vocals were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, at houses in and around Woodstock, New York, where Dylan and the Band lived...
, adding that "As a whole, the album lacks pace and cohesion. But as a raw document, Lost Tapes still proves that Nas had it all along." Steve Juon of RapReviews wrote that "all the music is quality, and Nas spits the purest verbals", and commended the album's digital mastering for "changing rough cut gems that were valuable to begin with to gleaming diamonds." Marc L. Hill of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
called The Lost Tapes "a necessary addition to the collection of any hip-hop fan" and found it to be "masterfully arranged", writing that it "maintains a cohesiveness that almost makes you forget that you are not listening to a studio album." Hill concluded in his review, "Although this album is not as fiery as Stillmatic or as brilliant as Illmatic, this album will provide many hours of listening satisfaction."
Retrospect
In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Chris Ryan gave the album three-and-a-half out of five stars and stated, "While somewhat inconsistent, and certainly too scattered to be considered an album per se, it contains some classics, such as the nostalgic 'Doo Rags,' that are not to be missed." In a retrospective review, Allmusic editor John Bush recommended it to "hip-hop fans who want to hear some great rhyming with no added features" and commented that tracks such as "Doo Rags", "No Idea's Original", and "Black Zombie" "stand up to anything Nas has recorded since the original Illmatic." Jesal Padania of RapReviews commented that the album "proved remarkably consistent throughout, and was a superb listening experience" and considered it a studio release, stating "this was a short sharp shock of awesome lyricism, and many, unofficially, consider this to be the closest cousin we will ever get to Illmatic II." Pitchfork Media's Ryan Dombal cited the album as one of Nas' "finest moments". About.comAbout.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
's Henry Adaso called it "noteworthy because of its superiority to half the stuff in Nas' catalog." In its 2007 issue, XXL
XXL (magazine)
XXL is a Hip-Hop magazine, published by Harris Publications.In 1997, XXL was founded by former Source staffers as well as other Harris Publication employees, who wanted to create their own magazine about the hip-hop music and culture using the model developed by the founders of The Source...
included The Lost Tapes in its list of "classic" albums to be given the publication's maximum "XXL" rating.
Sequel
A follow-up compilation, The Lost Tapes 2, was originally intended to be released on December 16, 2003, and include unreleased recordings, remixes, and freestyleFreestyle rap
Freestyle rap commonly refers to rap lyrics which are improvised through a acapella or with instrumental beats, i.e. performed with no previously composed lyrics, or "off the top of the head"...
s tracks. However, its release was delayed, and Nas subsequently signed to Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
in 2006. In a June 2010 interview for Hot 97.5 KVEG
KVEG
KVEG is a Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio station serving the Las Vegas area. The Kemp Broadcasting outlet operates at 97.5 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW and is licensed to Mesquite, Nevada.-History:...
, he said of following-up The Lost Tapes, "I do got a lot of songs that really didn't make no album, that's just sittin' around [or] got lost. So I've got enough actually, for a Lost Tapes 2 and 3 by now. So I've just got to set it up, put them together – 12 songs for one album, 12 songs for another album, and figure it out. That's all it takes." In September, he announced plans to release The Lost Tapes 2 on December 14. However, its release was further delayed by Def Jam, whom Nas accused of mishandling the project and its budget in a personal e-mail sent to label executives. Reports of the project's delay incited fans to create an online petition
Internet petition
An Internet petition is a form of petition posted on a website. Visitors to the website in question can add their email addresses or names, and after enough "signatures" have been collected, the resulting letter may be delivered to the subject of the petition, usually via e-mail.-Pros and cons:The...
in December asking for Def Jam to release the album. After losing time to the project's delay, Nas began recording for a new studio album and put plans for The Lost Tapes 2 on hold. In a May 2011 interview for MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
, he discussed the situation with the sequel and Def Jam, stating:
Track listing
Notes- "U Gotta Love It" contains excerpts from the composition "Love Song" performed by MandrillMandrill (band)Mandrill is an American funk band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1968. The band was formed by three brothers: Carlos Wilson , Lou Wilson and Ric Wilson . The brothers were born in Panama and grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn...
, written by Carlos Wilson, Louis Wilson, and Ricardo Wilson. - "No Idea's Original" contains excerpts from "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More BabyI'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby"I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby" is a song written, produced and recorded by Barry White. Considering how successful it would end up being, it would probably come as a surprise that, for many years, White had little to no interest in a recording career...
" written and performed by Barry White. - "Poppa Was a Playa" contains excerpts from the composition "The Newness Is Gone" written by Allan Wayne Felder and Norman Ray HarrisNorman HarrisNorman Harris was an American guitarist, producer, arranger and songwriter associated with Philly soul. He was a founding member of MFSB and one-third of the production trio of Baker-Harris-Young...
, performed by Eddie KendricksEddie KendricksEddie Kendricks was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group The Temptations, and was one of their lead singers from 1960 until 1971. His was the lead voice on such famous songs as "The Way You Do The Things...
. - A hidden trackHidden trackIn the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...
begins at 3:49 of track 11.
Personnel
Credits for The Lost Tapes adapted from liner notes.- The AlchemistThe Alchemist (producer)Alan Daniel Maman , better known as The Alchemist, is an American hip hop producer, DJ and rapper. He hails from Beverly Hills, California...
– producer - Julian Alexander – artwork
- Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie – producer
- Pablo Arraya – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
- Kareem Black – photography
- Kevin Crouse – engineer, mixing
- Chris "C-Money" Feldman – artwork
- Bryan Golder – engineer
- Paul Gregory – assistant engineer
- Hill, Inc. – producer
- Ken "Duro" IfillKen Duro IfillKen "Duro" Ifill is the CEO of Desert Storm Records and a six-time Grammy Award-winning mix engineer.-Desert Storm Records:In 1997, Duro, DJ Clue, and Skane developed Desert Storm Records. The labels first major artist is rapper, Fabolous. In September 2001, Fabolous released his debut album Ghetto...
– engineer - L.E.S.L.E.S. (producer)Leshan David Lewis, better known as L.E.S., is a hip hop producer commonly associated with Nas. His first production credit was for Nas' popular song "Life's a Bitch" from the Illmatic album in 1994. He soon produced a single, "Sugar Hill", for AZ's album Doe Or Die...
– producer
- Nikki Martin – coordination
- Jonathan Merritt – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
- NasNasNasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
– composer, executive producer - Lenny "Linen" Nicholson – A&R
- Jake Ninan – assistant engineer
- Poke and ToneTrackmastersThe Trackmasters are the successful production duo of Poke and Tone , sometimes credited as Poke & Tone, best known for their commercial hit records in the late 90s and early 2000s. Throughout their career they have worked with various hip-hop and R&B artists including R...
– producer - Precision – producer
- RockwilderRockwilderRockwilder is an American hip hop and R&B record producer, rapper, and R&B Singer. A long term friend of Def Jam rapper Redman, Rockwilder got his start producing for East Coast Hip Hop artists in the mid 1990s. In 1999 Rockwilder produced Method Man & Redman's hit single "Da Rockwilder"...
– producer - John Shriver – engineer
- Grayson Sumby – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
- Richard Travali – mixing
- Al West – producer
Charts
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
104 |
| Swiss Albums Charts Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
50 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
10 |
| US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
3 |
External links
- The Lost Tapes at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- The Lost Tapes at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...