Tag Archives: nas

Sabali

by hip hop, rap, reggae • Tags: , , , ,

2010 saw the release of the collaboration album between Damian Marley and Nas that was first teased by the track “Road to Zion” on Marley’s hit album “Welcome to Jamrock”. While their collabo album didnt do a ton for me, this track “Patience” was a true gem. Featuring a sample from the great musical duo from Mali, Amadou & Mariam‘s track “Sabali” (which means Patience), this song really reflects the energy of the overall album which is about ancestry, Africa and poverty issues.

This is a great track as background music while having people over or for driving down the highway to :)

New K’Naan with Nas…and its a lot grittier than Wavin Flag.

by hip hop, rap • Tags: , , , , , ,

K’Naan is definitely trying shed his squeaky clean Coca Cola/World Cup/”Wavin Flag” image with some of his new tracks, and so far I like what I hear. This song, “Nothing To Lose”, is a nice little ditty featuring Nas where they draw some parallels between life in Queens and the struggles K’Naan saw growing up in Somalia.  I also like K’Naan’s flow…its choppy and intentional but unique. When I  talked with him at the Video Music Awards last year he was very low key and interested in the struggles different people were facing in the US and abroad. Im interested to see if he continues to use his platform to bring about awareness and incite change…I hope he does. Check out “Nothing To Lose” and let me know what you think.

Need a song you might hear at a riot, during a war or while entering a boxing match? :)

by hip hop, reggae • Tags: , , , ,

Damian Marley’s “Welcome to Jamrock” album was one of the best albums to come out of Jamaica since his father passed. Part reggae, park rock, part rap, part smooth, part hard…the album had it all. Most people are at least familiar with the title track as that got some US airplay, but there were a number of gems on the album. Two of my favorites were “Confrontation” and “Road to Zion” featuring Nas.  I really got into this album during a trip to Jamaica when I committed myself to listening to some of the albums I had in my music collection from Jamaican artists that I hadnt spent much time with yet. Im glad I did!

Whenever I hear “Confrontation” it sounds to me like the song you might hear a boxing entering the ring to, or the soundtrack to a revolution. What do you think?

“Road to Zion” was a staple at PH3 in New York (my old apartment) and is the the song that first brought Nas and Damien together for what ended up being a long term partnership that resulted in a great duet album between the two.