Three years ago, Queensbridge legend Nas made his first full-length collaboration with producer Hit-Boy on their album King’s Disease. Since then, they have turned that project into a robust working relationship with the release of King’s Disease II/III and now with Magic and Magic 2. While Magic wasn’t as substantial as the King’s Disease trilogy, it successfully worked as a bonus gift to tide fans over between the release of King’s Disease II and King’s Disease III.
Magic 2 begins with a spoken word intro from former pimp Don “Magic” Juan talking about why he is hip-hop and how long he’s been around over a circus melody, alluding to Nas’ dominance in the culture for three decades and what he will talk about on the album. The first real song on the album is “Abracadabra,” which features sparkling keyboard crescendos and a flurry of heavy bass on the production end. It also features Nas referencing his recent output with Hit-Boy with lines like “five-album run not a cursed one, it’s a blessed one/by the time you hear this, we’ll be halfway through the next one.”
Much like the first Magic, there are scant features on Magic 2. The first comes on the track “Office Hours” with 50 Cent, who stops by to drop an underwhelming verse well short of 16 bars before turning into 90s Puff Daddy, where he’s bragging about being rich and asking, “What we gon do?” I thought I was going to listen to you rap, but I guess that time has come and gone…Thankfully, Nas performs in top form as he blends the rhyme scheme of the chorus with his verse with a stop-start flow: “All I sees a bunch of Fredos/Godfather, they on payroll/they on go, when I say so.” Shortly after, he slows down his flow to remind people that he is providing his fans with so much new music because he loves them and that the quality isn’t dropping even with “two series at once.”
The only other feature comes from 21 Savage on the last track, “One Mic, One Gun,” a surprising collaboration that is a highlight on the album. Not only does 21 Savage stick to the motif of the album of having integrity and never selling out, but the celebratory horns on the beat make for the perfect sendoff for the album. The 21 feature is also a lot better than the one from 50, with him talking about how he isn’t interested in jewelry but in buying land and passing it on to his son. It’s a great moment on the album where two generations of artists from different regions are connecting through hip-hop, and because Nas gets to showcase how his business acumen and maturity throughout his career have made him one of the GOATS of the genre and influenced future artists to follow his lead.
As a matter of fact, the album is backloaded with the majority of the best tracks. The four-song run of “What This All Really Means,” “Slow it Down,” “Pistols on Your Album Cover,” and “One Mic, One Gun” provide a grand finale where Nas is nostalgic about his humble beginnings, but also aware of how rare his long-term success is. “What It All Really Means” remembers the feeling of the first time Nas saw his name on a flier (remember those?) and the pain of having his album I Am… bootlegged, which is a perfect connection because this uplifting beat and song sounds like something that could have come from that project—or The Lost Tapes, which is the same era. It’s a reflective ode to what he imagines his future to be while also never forgetting where he came from.
“Slow it Down” has a smooth classical instrumental that talks about the rappers that have come and gone and how his formula for success is never trying to “relate to the youth for the bag” because they’re smart enough to understand that Nas was their age when he first started his rap career. And “Pistols On Your Album Cover” has a KRS-One sample that fits nicely with Nas calling it the “hardest shit since having pistols on your album cover like BDP.” Some of the best lines have him talking about how he has “so many stones in his hand like Thanos” and how it feels good to be alive, and it’s nice to see that even at 50 that he is this invigorated and committed to making rap music this good.
The weakest stretch comes in the middle with an uninspired hook on “Motion” that Hit-Boy tries to spruce up with a high-pitched vocal EQ on Nas’ voice, but it just ends up being distracting. “Slow it Down” also hits the theme of speed/motion in a much better way. “Bookeem Woodbine” suffers from a forgettable hook and lines like “Jam like what you spread on toast” and “I’m throwing George Washingtons ’cause we them ones.” And again, “Earvin Magic Johnson” is a track named after another successful Black man, like the actor, “Bokeem Woodbine,” making some of these tracks seem redundant in name and theme. Nas has never been the best at creating memorable hooks, but his lyricism is so immaculate that it’s forgivable.
Overall, Magic 2 doesn’t reach the heights of the King’s Disease trilogy or even Magic, but the collaboration between Hit-Boy and Nas continues to make consistent dividends. Of course, I wish he would make an entire album with DJ Premier like fans have been wanting for ages, but if Hit-Boy is who it takes for people to stop complaining about Nas’ poor beat selection, then I’m all for it. Nas seems confident and continues to deliver his signature east coast lyricism that cements his place on the Mount Rushmore of rap and as one of the best storytellers to ever spit a verse. Magic 2 might have worked even better as an EP, but even this selection of songs from one of the GOATs is likely better than most rap releases you will hear this year.
Final Rating:
‘Magic 2′ is available now on Spotify and Apple Music.
Parental Advisory; Explicit Content.
(Photo: Obidigbo Nzeribe)
