bigted Posted September 23, 2008 Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 http://thisisscolla.com/cms/content/view/4/2/ Let's Pay Homage to a Real Artist: NAS (and his coded messages) Written by This is Scolla Monday, 18 August 2008 For years hip hop has been getting ****ted on, never being respected for the artform it is. Instead they called it a "fad", they called emcees talentless, the music was meaningless. That may have been the case til 1994, when Nas dropped Illmatic. "I drink Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell From the spliff that I lift and inhale, it ain't hard to tell" The Dr. Seuss, simple rap days were officially over. His lyrics had meaning, the quote above paints a picture of Nas blowing smoke into Medusa's mouth, vivid images. Nas was bringing the art into hip hop, but that was just the beginning. It Was Written back then was considered a sell out album, looking back now we can understand how ahead of his time he was. 'I gave you power' a first in its own right, which was later jacked by Tupac when he made 'me and my girlfriend'. (Pac stans, before you start sending me hate mail just know that i love him too....but the outlawz said he took the concept from Nas in the 'making of makavelli' edition of the Source) Lets fast forward a little. I want to show you some real art that probably went right over your head. We begin in 2001, during the Nas vs. Jayz beef. You probably remember the stillmatic freestyle that sparked the whole beef....but let me shed some new light on it. "My next few albums, instead of projects, There'll be a difficult test inside the cover for the mind's optics" If you recall, Illmatic and It was written had QB in the background. This freestyle dropped before Stillmatic was released, so lets take a look at the covers of the next couple albums and see what he's talking about. Stillmatic 2001 was the bling era. Rocafella and cash money had the game in a choke hold, the art was removed from hip hop. It was all about singles, champagne, and jewlery. Nas has on every single piece of platinum jewlery he every bought, including the infamous QB piece. The New york city skyline is in the background with dark clouds above, looking like theres about to be a bad storm. Pay attention to his right hand, hes got 4 fingers stretched out. These 4 fingers are representing his previous 4 official studio albums (Illmatic, It was Written, Nastradamus, I Am). A pigeon stands next to him, looking right at him. For now, we're still in the dark about what he's trying to say...but going back to the line he specifically said "my next few albums" God's Son Now the message is complete. In 2001 Nas was making a biblical reference with the Stillmatic cover. The dark clouds symbolise a storm is coming, particularly over NYC. That was the bling era when hip hop lost its essence. Jayz and his Crystal raps were coming to an end. It was time for a change. Just as god sent Noah down to earth in desperate times to save Gods creations and start fresh....God's Son was sent down to save hip hop and start fresh. Looking at the God's Son cover, there is a flood in the background. Noah had to build Noah's arch to save the animals during the flood, Nas made this album. All the platinum he was wearing, the fly velour suit, is gone. He is shirtless with 2 pieces of gold jewlery. This symbolises the end of the bling era. Tracks like 'Destroy and Rebuild' show Nas' disgust with the state of hip hop. Written by This is Scolla Monday, 18 August 2008 For years hip hop has been getting ****ted on, never being respected for the artform it is. Instead they called it a "fad", they called emcees talentless, the music was meaningless. That may have been the case til 1994, when Nas dropped Illmatic. "I drink Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell From the spliff that I lift and inhale, it ain't hard to tell" The Dr. Seuss, simple rap days were officially over. His lyrics had meaning, the quote above paints a picture of Nas blowing smoke into Medusa's mouth, vivid images. Nas was bringing the art into hip hop, but that was just the beginning. It Was Written back then was considered a sell out album, looking back now we can understand how ahead of his time he was. 'I gave you power' a first in its own right, which was later jacked by Tupac when he made 'me and my girlfriend'. (Pac stans, before you start sending me hate mail just know that i love him too....but the outlawz said he took the concept from Nas in the 'making of makavelli' edition of the Source) Lets fast forward a little. I want to show you some real art that probably went right over your head. We begin in 2001, during the Nas vs. Jayz beef. You probably remember the stillmatic freestyle that sparked the whole beef....but let me shed some new light on it. listen to the 1:56 mark: Download This Video "My next few albums, instead of projects, There'll be a difficult test inside the cover for the mind's optics" If you recall, Illmatic and It was written had QB in the background. This freestyle dropped before Stillmatic was released, so lets take a look at the covers of the next couple albums and see what he's talking about. Stillmatic 2001 was the bling era. Rocafella and cash money had the game in a choke hold, the art was removed from hip hop. It was all about singles, champagne, and jewlery. Nas has on every single piece of platinum jewlery he every bought, including the infamous QB piece. The New york city skyline is in the background with dark clouds above, looking like theres about to be a bad storm. Pay attention to his right hand, hes got 4 fingers stretched out. These 4 fingers are representing his previous 4 official studio albums (Illmatic, It was Written, Nastradamus, I Am). A pigeon stands next to him, looking right at him. For now, we're still in the dark about what he's trying to say...but going back to the line he specifically said "my next few albums" God's Son Now the message is complete. In 2001 Nas was making a biblical reference with the Stillmatic cover. The dark clouds symbolise a storm is coming, particularly over NYC. That was the bling era when hip hop lost its essence. Jayz and his Crystal raps were coming to an end. It was time for a change. Just as god sent Noah down to earth in desperate times to save Gods creations and start fresh....God's Son was sent down to save hip hop and start fresh. Looking at the God's Son cover, there is a flood in the background. Noah had to build Noah's arch to save the animals during the flood, Nas made this album. All the platinum he was wearing, the fly velour suit, is gone. He is shirtless with 2 pieces of gold jewlery. This symbolises the end of the bling era. Tracks like 'Destroy and Rebuild' show Nas' disgust with the state of hip hop. Looking at the back of the cover, the Moses comparison is confirmed. In the bible Noah was told to save 2 of each animal...Nas holds 2 doves with 2 pieces of gold on. Doves and gold symbolising purity...bringing back the essence of hip hop. Nas representing the leader and the chosen one. This dude goes much deeper than rap. He is too lyrical to spit anything meaningless in any of his songs, if theres something you dont understand then it has a deeper meaning. I took time to write this blog not only for you to appreciate the man, and learn something new...but to open your mind that Hip Hop is definetely an art. The Beatles had codes and messages in their music along with most Rock n Roll artists. Hip hop is no different, just as with poems, and literature...there are deeper meanings that artists like Nas, Jayz, Ras Kass, Tupac and many others incorporate to make their music meaningful. Appreciate bitches. Hope you enjoyed my first blog, there will be much more to come with similar material, videos, music, so bookmark my ****. comments section coming soon...until then drop me a message, PEACE. you know what to do Scolla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted September 23, 2008 Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 crazy. im definatly gonna share this with my friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigted Posted September 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 I found another article on that website about the Street Desciple poster, btw I bought the CD 4 years ago and didn't get no poster.... Nas` Coded Album covers continued - Streets Desciple Written by This is Scolla Tuesday, 19 August 2008 This is a continuation of the certified platinum article dropped earlier about Stillmatic and Gods Son. Before reading this one you should definetely the one prior... Stillmatic and God's Son Covers I should mention that on the previous article i completely forgot to explain the meaning of the pigeon on the Stillmatic cover. The pigeon represents the ghetto dove. For my Christian heads,you know that Noah used a Dove (or some kind of bird) to look for land after the flood. When the dove would return with a branch or leaf it would symbolise that there was land. You will notice that the doves in the Gods son cover and back cover have nothing in their beaks. Continuing on...The streets deciple cover is on another level. If your a fan of Nas then you know hes deep in the books, astrology, and the 5 percenter knowlege. So before reading this, if you have no knowlege on any of the above your gonna be quick to call it a reach...but do you research...listen to tracks such as `Level 7` add it up and it should make sense. Anyways, my knowlege of those topics is very limited but im learning. This article right here was written by a head DEEP in the supreme mathematics, so read carefully. If the picture looks familiar, thats because its a hip hop version of the last supper Finally the Stillmatic, God Son trinity is completed with Streets Disciple... for this, I'm going to refer to the extended cover featuring King Nas and the full 12 Nas disciples... this is the poster that was included in the Street's Disciple CD EDIT: found a link for the poster.. Streets Desciple poster The cover is grand in its scope and implications... we are in the interior of a stone building with vaulted arches... a single light illuminates the room... a cross is above it... (if you don't have the poster take my word, it's there)... this light is the holy father shining down (the cross implies this). Beneath the arches 13 variations on Nas are gathered around a table, some sitting, some standing... One sits enthroned in the center... he is King Nas, the Nas of Street's Disciple... the other 12 are his various alter egos and personas... 12 disciples that all make up Nas. On the table in front of them is food of various kinds and bottles of champagne. The table is adorned with a golden cloth... Candles are on either ends of the table. All of these items are highly symbolic and will be covered. On Street's Disciple it's safe to say the ghetto dove found land and the flood has receeded. For the first time we see firm ground and a strong stable structure (the wall and ceiling above and behind). This represents Nas' realization as an artist (he is most confidant on Street's Disciple) and as a man (he is now married, he's on his 8th studio album, has his own label, and will soon have a 10 million dollar recording contract with Def Jam). The food on the table is further evidence that the dove found land... this is God's reward to Nas... as the dove brought Noah back vegetation and proof of land in the form of an olive branch, the ghetto dove brings Nas back vegetation/land proof in the form of grapes, oranges and bread... there is also a piece of cake... The piece of cake is a generous portion fit for a king... on it are letters... on first examination the letters appear to read "Nas"... but if one looks closer (visible especially on the poster), it's not "N-A-S"... there's no A, and what looked like an N is really the greek lowercase letter Eta "η" and what looked like an S is the greek opercase letter Omega "Ω"... you better believe that ****'s important... (and no that Eta is not an Alpha no matter how you look at it)... take a better look Before delving into the letters, it's important to note that the slice is part of a bigger whole... there is a whole cake that is not seen, that almost certainly contains other letters and perhaps a greater meaning... In astronomy (of which Nas is a student "line it up with the stars - tarro cards - you can see the pharoah Nas") Eta symbolizes the seventh brightest star in a constallation... (it is the seven letter of the Greek alphabet)... now what does that remind you of... the Seventh Level referenced in Nas and Nashawn song Level 7... Note: This song is taking the 7 level concept and breakin it down in common terms applicable to street dudes and everyday people....Nas and Nashawn are translatting the original context...check back for the science on the original on a later date. without going into too much detail, Level 7 represents the highest possible level of consciousness in various spiritual belief systems (Supreme Mathematics, Theosophy, Bhuddism, etc)... stars are of especial importance in Supreme Mathematics (something Nas, Rakim and other rappers subscribe to, aka Nation of Gods and Earths and The 5 Percenters)... stars symbolize man in Supreme Mathematics (monads in Theosophy) and thus man's consciousness... Before I lose everyone, understand that the Eta on the cake slice represence this SUPREME LEVEL 7 CONSCIOUS... pure being, the height of creativity and understanding... "Welcome to Level 7 - we've entered the life of true game" - Nas Alright, now as many know Omega represents finality... the finite... the end... death... In the Bible's Revelations Jesus declares himself to be the "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last".... (the Alpha, symbolizing the beginning may be on another part of the cake)... so being that Omega represents the end... an paring of Eta and Omega reads Level 7, The End... this cake slice basically says that Nas has reached the highest point of the rap artform, after him there is nothing, nothing above Eta, Level 7... Omega serves as a period at the end of the sentence... so the cake slice represents the album Street's Disciple as being the most evolved rap form, the best it gets, nothing better (you may or may not believe that to be true)... The cake slice is linked to Nas and Street's Disciple in that there is a wide sliver missing at one end... It is assumed King Nas has eaten it and thus internalized it and it is now being conveyed to the listener through the album... King Nas is being poured champagne into a golden cup by a shadowy figure... champagne is a celebratory drink, and it is indeed a party... several of the disciples are toasting King Nas. The four candles on the left end of the table represent the four albums that the 5 personas on that end represent... (I Am, Nastradmus, Stillmatic, God's Son)... Going through the left end personas.... on the far left side, holding a cigar, wearing a straw hat and raising a goblet we have Nastradamus the prophet... the raised glass is a toast to the future (the realized prophet)... the cigar represents excess, which the Nastradamus album had plenty of (Nas awknoweldges this "Nastradamus just wasn't one of my hardest - sold over a mil regardless")... the hat represents Nastradamus' link to the past... (the prophet is tuned into time, not just the future but the past and present as well... "the past is gone, the present's a gift, so what's the mystery - the future" - Nas, Some of Us Have Angels, Nastradamus album).... The Nas sitting down with the white baseball hat smiling and looking up is the Nas of Stillmatic... his white jacket is symbolic of the flashiness the Stillmatic cover entailed... as is his crisp white hat... His overall dress is indicitave of New York... grounding Street's Disciple in Stillmatic's NYC's aesthetic... he's smiling because of Stillmatic's importance... he knows it put Nas back on the map... the elle in his hand is his own personal celebration... he's also smiling because it was Nas's revenge album... revenge for the events that went on during I Am (Jay ****in Carmen, all the hate as expressed in Hate Me Now)... this link between Stillmatic and I Am is important... the Stillmatic Nas is making contact with the I Am Nas... the one wearing the gold zip up, holding the bottle of Cristal, dancing with the army hat... the Stillmatic Nas is saying to the I Am Nas.... "I got you son, we showed them dudes... don't worry about it" The I Am Nas is Big Nas Esco... Nas often wore the army hat during that time (check pics from 99)... it's contrasted against the bottle of Crystal... the Crystal represents the comerical songs and aspects of I Am (You Won't See Me, Big Things, Dr Knockboots, Kissing) and the Hate Me Now video where Nas spits Crystal at the camera... the army hat is the street throwback aspects of the album (NY State of Mind 2 and Nas is Like)... Nas' dancing represents the album's comercial success and viability as a club record as well as a street record... God's Son gets double representation... The sitting down in the wife beater and the white doo rag is God's Son from the cover... Nas wore similiar clothing in the God's Son CD booklet... this is the spirtually in tuned Nas, the sparsely dressed meditative Nas... above him is God's Son the man... the seasoned veteran and reigning Ether champion... he is religious as well... his religion is more tied to Judeo-Christian concepts of Christ and Jehova (as seen in the hanging cross around his neck) where the first God's Son is more Islamic (as seen in the doorag / head wrap / kufi)... combined they represent both sides of Nas' religious beliefs... "Islam's a beautiful thing / and Christian and Rastafari helps us to bring peace against the darkness, which is unGodly" - Nas... (Rastafari is grounded in Judeo-Christianity but sees Hallie Sallasie as the messiah)... The characters on the poster represent: -Nas the King, Africa -Illmatic Nas in hood, pre-prophet, precursor to Nastradamus -Grimey Illmatic Nasty Nas -Shadowy Figure - dont know -It Was Written's Escobar, and The Firm's Escobar -Nasir Jones -"in a white-T lookin for wifey" -Nas the General -"salute me" -the strategist, Mastermind, leaves bait for Jay in Stillmatic Freestyle, crushes with Ether -Judas The poster isn`t anywhere on the internet, for all the Nas fans and hip hop fans in general...buy that album...the poster is worth the 16 bucks on its own (Also a double CD). Scolla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcpbball30 Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 Wow those are great articles, thanks a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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