Nas - N.Y. State Of Mind
Options
Antwuan89
Members Posts: 936 ✭✭✭✭✭
in The Reason
http://youtu.be/UKjj4hk0pV4Comments
-
It drops deep as it does in my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
I think of crime when I'm in a New York state of mind -
Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
Still one of the most beautiful bars i've ever heard. ? couldn't even buy alcohol when he wrote it. -
Do you know what hidden meaning that bar has? -
-
One of the best hip hop tracks ever made, Nas was ? like no other and Premo made one of his greatest beats, a true masterpiece.
-
This track is ? in the school zone
Verbal Intercourse is also up there like a rooftop -
Hearing this song performed live>>>>
-
Beat was crazy and Nas was going in with his bars.
-
Obviously, an instant classic on the most acclaimed rap album of all time.
And, it was written and recorded by a teenager in one take.
-
Here's the sample. It comes in @ 1:08
Mind Rain - Joe Chambers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_GskCCFBnI -
My favourite track of all time.
-
This song still slaps. As a West coast man I gotta say this is one of my favorite east coast albums
-
Intelligence is connected to conscious mind or the logic mind(chattering surface mind,ego mind),the illusion..intelligence ends once No more information is there to feed it...Beyond that lies the subconscious mind which is connected to your true self and the cosmos(which is all encompassing)...This the deeper mind you connect to during deep concentrated meditation or dreams or drug use that shuts up the monkey mind|ego keeping your soul grounded here on earth..From a occult perspective that bar was very deep...Nas was "out his body" during the illmatic era..he was like a blunted out project Buddha monk
He was rhyming about smoking with medusa in hell and all kinds of out the box ? -
I remember one time cruising around listening to hot97 and they were comparing Nas "NYSOM" & Jigga's "Empire State of Mind." Hot97 had people calling the station to see which one they preferred. The ones that selected "NYSOM" seem like some rap heads and the ones that selected "ESOM" seem like some immature kids that just started listening to rap.
I like the different versions he made. NYSOM part 2 is the perfect sequel to the original. Alicia Key's "Streets of New York" with Nas and Rakim was ok. When Nas said "I'm like Saddam Hussein still alive looking at his dead children's burnt remains".... ? was like, oh ? because Nas said that particular line about Saddam sons before it actually happened
Another forgotten NYC anthem i like by Nas is "Talk of New York." I think it was suppose to be on Street's Disciple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myU2Fu0_C3o
yo
the trains are New York veins
the city's a ?
people are the blood stream
mean and ice cold
That line right there is iLL. Besides that line Nas was referencing ? in that song only old heads would know about like the Bronx's "Skate Key" and Manhattan's "Rooftop." Then son mentioned "Yo baby yo baby yo t-shirts." mannn.... That's vintage right there. I also like when he spit:
"Glocks in your Benzy box
Stash and we move fast
Dropped off Miss Pretty
Shakes her ass to the building
Knowing I just killed it
Dudes in front of her door
blocks her entrance
Asking her "who she been with?"
She laughs
"mind ya business"
very vivid
Sometimes i can't decide who the better storyteller between ghostface and nas -
I remember one time cruising around listening to hot97 and they were comparing Nas "NYSOM" & Jigga's "Empire State of Mind." Hot97 had people calling the station to see which one they preferred. The ones that selected "NYSOM" seem like some rap heads and the ones that selected "ESOM" seem like some immature kids that just started listening to rap.
I like the different versions he made. NYSOM part 2 is the perfect sequel to the original. Alicia Key's "Streets of New York" with Nas and Rakim was ok. When Nas said "I'm like Saddam Hussein still alive looking at his dead children's burnt remains".... ? was like, oh ? because Nas said that particular line about Saddam sons before it actually happened
Yeah I remember when that song was floating around on mix tapes. I thought that was one of the illest punchlines I'd ever heard.
It loses its shock value now when you hear it. -
Here's the sample. It comes in @ 1:08
Mind Rain - Joe Chambershttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_GskCCFBnI
that ? is dope
take any other part of that sample u would have a totally different vibe -
Nas: "I don't know how to start this"
^^Then goes directly into a goat verse/song
Preme was talking about how they almost cut the track when he said that but wanted to give him a shot and more time. Greatest decision ever. -
Here's the sample. It comes in @ 1:08
Mind Rain - Joe Chambershttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_GskCCFBnI
I would love to see how Premo flipped this -
Good Ol New York ?
-
He blacked the ? out on this
-
-
EyeofAsaru wrote: »
Intelligence is connected to conscious mind or the logic mind(chattering surface mind,ego mind),the illusion..intelligence ends once No more information is there to feed it...Beyond that lies the subconscious mind which is connected to your true self and the cosmos(which is all encompassing)...This the deeper mind you connect to during deep concentrated meditation or dreams or drug use that shuts up the monkey mind|ego keeping your soul grounded here on earth..From a occult perspective that bar was very deep...Nas was "out his body" during the illmatic era..he was like a blunted out project Buddha monk
He was rhyming about smoking with medusa in hell and all kinds of out the box ?
Interesting interpretation. The way I interpreted the line was a bit different. I think you're right that there is a limit to the conscious mind, what can be known, but I read the line as a little darker and more pessimistic. In the context of the verse, the line immediately follows "I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death" and immediately precedes "I think of crime when I'm in a New York state of mind." This suggests to me that he's saying that his socioeconomic situation is patently absurd. It's like something out of a Kafka novel. Life is not understood in terms of the rational, the intelligible, or in terms of civilization. The hood isn't civilized. The hood is the jungle, and the suffering, violence, and despair and the condition of man that allows this situation is in some ways inscrutable. What explains it? You might have different answers - psychological, biological, religious.
At some level, the explanation probably bottoms out in cosmological thinking about the meaning of life and what our purpose is. But this is exactly the thing that Nas says we can't know. Life is defined beyond the walls of intelligence. So instead, Nas thinks of crime. Nas' annotation of this line on Genius seems consistent with this interpretation, although he didn't play up the sociopolitical stuff, but I think this is probably what he had in mind when he wrote the line given its context in the verse, and that the verse, on the whole, is a rather stark account of desperate circumstances.
Ultimately, my interpretation is more pessimistic than your reading, but I also think there's a humility in it that allows for a space of mystery, possibility, and potentially, hope. For all we know, there is something better out there. It's just not something that can be known to us or understood in our present situation or condition (from the perspective of Illmatic-era Nas). -
This album will play forever.
I never really think about it as one of my favourite albums but this ? is the definition of timeless.
I'll never get bored of it.
