by Jamil Weeks

When it was first announced back in 2012 that Nas was doing an entire album with Hit Boy, as a lifelong Nas fan I feared this would be THE album where I stopped checking for any new material from the Queensbridge emcee. Nas had gone on a six-year hiatus from making music after releasing 2012’s Life Is Good album, only to drop a lukewarm, rushed project with Kanye, followed by a lackluster sequel to his Lost Tapes series. To add insult to injury, instead of delivering the album his fan base desperately wanted to hear (YOU guys know that album), he decided to give us an album nobody wanted with Hit Boy. Then I saw the track list and, initially, I panicked. Lil Durk? Big Sean? Fivio Foreign?!

Then I saw Brucie B and The Firm (a reunion I thought I would NEVER happen) and decided to listen to the album with an open mind. Little did I know that this album, 2020’s King’s Disease, would be the first installment in the Nas/Hit experiment that would breathe new life into Nas’ career and showcase Hit Boy’s versatility in beat making and producing. Since 2020, Nas and Hit have gone on a legendary and unprecedented run, bridging the gap between generations and Nas extending his already legendary career as one of the greatest lyricists and artists in hip hop. However, as Nas so eloquently rapped back in the day, “nothing lasts forever”.

With Nas and Hit Boy’s latest offering, Magic 3, both artists conclude their fantastical run with their sixth studio album in three years. What is special about this run is seeing these two artists develop an undeniable chemistry together organically. There is a certain purity in seeing two talented artists collaborate to make the kind of art that has timeless potential. Nas sounds reinvigorated and you feel the energy coursing through the frenetic Hit instrumentals. Hit Boy is a master sorcerer in crafting the perfect canvas for Nas to experiment with different flows and styles. Whether it’s East Coast boom bap, or down south trap, or New York drill, or west coast g funk, etc.,

Hit can provide any style of beat for Nas to display his verbal wizardry. Hit has been able to make songs that highlight Nas’ strengths (his cinematic and vivid stories, his prophetic introspection, and his brand of poetic, cerebral lyricism), while providing him with a more contemporary style that is more relevant to today’s hip hop scene. Their work has also seen Nas collaborate with stars young and old, from Brucie B, Charlie Wilson, and EPMD to Fivio Foreign, Lil Durk, and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.

Nas has found new life injected into his career after teaming up with Hit Boy. Nas won his first grammy for King’s Disease in 2021 and has garnered critical acclaim and a general positive response from hip hop media and fans alike. Now this magical run has finally come to an end with Nas with the release of Magic 3, which is coming off a successful year of selling out the Garden by himself, touring the world with Wu-Tang Clan, placements on two movie soundtracks, being inducted into the Billboard Hall of Fame, co-headlining and helping to organize arguably the biggest celebration for the 50th year anniversary of hip hop by selling out Yankee Stadium, and releasing Magic 2 just two months before this final album. Nas is getting his flowers while Hit is being introduced to a new audience of hip hop listeners.

Now let’s get to the most important part of this review, is Magic 3 any good? It’s always hard to drop a climatic franchise finale. George Lucas was unsuccessful with Return of the Jedi. Christopher Nolan failed with The Dark Knight Rises. Francis Ford Coppola struck out with The Godfather Part III. Thankfully in the case of Nas and Hit, the conclusion to their six album run ends on a poignant and intimate note. Nas runs rampant over soulful Hit Boy instrumentals, far from the grandiose, stadium-made production of Kings Disease 3. Magic 3 showcases Nas doing what he does best, being introspective and painting vivid pictures, that if you close your eyes, you can see as clearly as a film on an IMAX screen.

The highlights of the album begin with “Fever”, an up-tempo celebration of Nas’ illustrious career and milestone 50th birthday over a tribalistic, thumping beat. Nas refuses to take his foot off the gas pedal with “TSK” as Nas takes Floyd Mayweather-like jabs at critics and challenges his peers to “get back to the art, not the trends”. Conceptually, Nas is at his best on the emotional “No Tears” as he takes turns having a conversation between his older and younger self. On “Never Die”, Lil Wayne delivers arguably the best verse on the album, as he gets revenge on the QB poet for the homicide he committed on Carter 4’s “Outro”. The brilliance of Nas’ storytelling capabilities truly shines on “Based On True Events, Pt. 2”, where he channels his inner Donald Goines to tell us a live street tale as if the listeners are gathered around a campfire. Things only get better as Nas wraps up the album reflecting on his journey navigating through the music industry on “Japanese Soul Bar”, while also leaving the door open for future collaborations with Hit on “1-800-NAS&HIT”.

As consistent as Magic 3 is for the majority of its 46-minute length, there are some misses. Make no mistake, there is not one wack record on the album. However, songs like “Pretty Young Girl” is where the album loses a little steam, as the Queens lyricist desperately searches for his dream woman over a 9th Wonder-like beat. Another example is “Blue Bentley” that has Nas juggling multiple women as he struggles with the complexities of his own fame in an era where women have developed a male approach to dating. While Hit Boy supplies Nas with a ridiculous head-nodding beat, the record seems out of place with the overall themes of the album. These records come across as blatant lazy attempts to cater to his female fans. For a man who is celebrating 50 years of life, records seem somewhat out of place with the mature themes of the album. We all know Nas is capable of much more than to resort to, dare I say, “gimmicky” types of songs.

Another criticism of the album is with this being the seemingly final album with Hit producing everything from top to bottom, you would have hoped Nas would take more time crafting this album and came a little harder (as New Yorkers would say, "PAUSE"). We all know Nas is 50 years old and it is almost impossible for him to duplicate the hunger he had when he was younger. Nas no longer needs to “out-rap” the competition as he no longer has anything further to prove. His place in hip hop is forever etched in stone. However, on certain records I wanted to hear more energy from Nas and for him to hit those pockets a little more precisely. These critiques are merely nitpicking from a devoted Nas fan over the span of his career, as it does not take away from how GOOD this album sounds. At the end of the day, I am grateful to still be hearing Nas rap at an elite level.

Does Magic 3 conclude on a good note? I would say so. Magic 3 joins the ranks as one of the best albums out of the Nas/Hit sessions.Too early to tell where it ranks in the legendary six album run, but it is up there with Kings Disease 2 and 3, as well as the first Magic. Only time will tell, but this album seems built for endless replays in the coming years. Let the debates begin. Magic 3 is arguably a top five Nas album in his catalogue.But to both Nas and Hit Boy, I sincerely say THANK YOU. Never in a million years would I dream of such an unlikely combination working so well. If it were up to me, I would keep the run going for the rest of the 2020’s. As a grown man who still is enamored with hip hop culture, it is refreshing to listen to music that is both mature and contemporary from one of my favorite emcees. Nas has truly separated himself from the rest of the pack with this run this late in his iconic career. Hit Boy also stamps his place as one of the most versatile producers in the game right now and has the potential to be one of the best of all time. I look forward to hearing more “magic” from both artists, albeit separately.