A few months ago, Swizz Beatz revealed he has an entire album he produced for Nas. Today, we heard a glimpse of how good that album potentially is with “Echo.” Over bluesy guitar licks and dreamy crooning, Nasir executes what he does better than almost anyone in history — capturing isolated, vivid hood stories and weave them into a larger, cohesive narrative that takes you from ISIS to the Egyptian goddess of the same name.
Rhymes like below blow away most of what we heard on Nasir:
We was Times Square pioneers, 40 deuce, 40-below boots
40 ounce brew the true Bishop from Juice
Runnin’ wild, loose, me and my 40 troops were stupid
Style, it was snorkel coats, Polo gooses, ruthless
Goons and wolves, bail-jumpers
Everybody from everywhere
They was tryin’ to jump us for pumpin’
True story, my youngins, I’m a deadly thuggish Fredrick Douglas
Military persona, yeah, I’m livin’ with honor
To my niqqas who servin’ 40 while I’m in my 40s
I’m a walkin’ observatory, a murder story since a shorty
You can add that Nas/Swizz album to my Christmas wish list. “Echo” is available today on Swizz Beatz’s new album Poison.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 