Album Review: King's Disease III by Nas

Nas fans love to debate which producer works best with him. He’s collaborated with some of the greatest producers in an illustrious 25 year career that spans 15 solo albums. Depending on the era of when you discovered Nas, you could argue either Large Professor, L.E.S., Trackmasters, Salaam Remi, No I.D., DJ Premier or Dr. Dre maximized the producer-rapper synergy.

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Nas and Hit-Boy reunite to deliver some no-nonsense verses and beats, with an interesting mix of nostalgia and more contemporary sounds There's a moment on King's Disease III - near the end of Reminisce, just before the drill switch-up - where Nas pronounces "I don't like to reminisce / 'cause what we're doing right now is really lit". While the track is enjoyable this line stands out for being so obviously untrue, coming as it does from a deeply nostalgic rapper. His debut appearance on Main Source's Live At The Barbeque in 1992 is mentioned multiple times on the album, and his current output seems perfectly content to rest in the shadow of Illmatic, as can be gleaned from the N.Y.

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The late-career up-swing from Nas has produced some of hip-hop's most satisfying recent projects. The Queens rapper's partnership with studio boffin Hit-Boy brought the emphatic LP 'The King's Disease', an act that essentially excised his hit 'n' miss post-Millennial work to place Nas in a neo-classic context. It worked, too – rewarded with some of the best reviews for 25 years, a Grammy nominated follow-up album saw the production grow a little darker, absorbing trap elements in the process.

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