(SHUFFLE)

Nasty Nas's first album, "Illmatic," was almost universally recognized as a hip hop classic, introducing such tracks as "It Ain't Hard To Tell," "One Love," "The World Is Yours," and "N.Y. State of Mind." Despite it's thick content, commercially it's sales were dissapointing. In response, Nasty switched to Escobar, got down with the Wackmasters and released the horrific "It Was Shitten." Despite having only about 3 good songs on the whole album, the album sold like hotcakes, but in the process, Nas alienated many of his underground fans.

Now, with the advent of his third opus, "I Am," Nas faces the daunting task of maintaining his commercial success while trying to regain his credibility with the underground community. For the most part, he succeeds, although he stumbles with such wackness as "Hate Me Now," where Puff Daddy shows up to disgrace Nas' gifted lyricism with his presence. Honestly, I could probably live with this track if not for Puffy. His hook is repetitive, stupid, annoying and several other epithets I will spare you.

Primo opens up the album with "N.Y. State of Mind II," a brilliant reworking of the original with more of the storytelling talent Nas has demonstrated since his first appearance. He also blesses the album's first single, "Nas Is Like," which BET (and many radio stations) has been doing their best to murdalize with excessive repetition. The only other true standout track on this album is "We Will Survive," with it's Kenny Loggins (???) sample. This ode to Biggie and Tupac contains heartfelt lyrics and comes over, despite slightly repetetive and lazy production.

Most of the other tracks are solid, but still lack much of the brilliance we expect from an MC as gifted as Nas. I was blessed to hear a copy of the album as it was originally meant to be (courtesy of the MC formerly known as Ise) and I felt that version was much better. However, due to a leak to the internet, he changed up the tracks on the album, I think for the worst. Thankfully, the Wackmasters only produce two tracks on this album, in one case using a two bar loop and the other four. Ever hear of switching shit up sometimes? For the most part though, the rest of the production is sufficient, although not incredible. The exceptions are Primo's two tracks (of course), and Timbaland's offering, "You Won't See Me Tonight," although it could have done without the cameo from Aaliyah.

The final verdict: A solid addition to the collection, light years better than "It Was Shitten," although that doesn't say much. However, there's a lot of very good hip-hop already this year and more to come. If you're budgeting, (and who isn't) feel free to pass on this one, you're not missing that much.

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