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9.1
44394
9.1 |
A.V. Club
Life Is Good leaves Nas in his comfort zone, where the vital music of his youth proves a rousing platform for commenting on matters of middle age
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9.1
44685
9.1 |
The AU Review
This overdue, but very welcome comeback is one of the more important things to happen in hip-hop this year
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9.0
45430
9.0 |
No Ripcord
The only rap album that comes close in terms of tone is My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and the similarities to Kanye don’t end there
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9.0
44235
9.0 |
Slant Magazine
It reminds us that there's still a place in hip-hop for the album as a form
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9.0
44172
9.0 |
BBC
A focused set of sustained brilliance
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8.5
44400
8.5 |
Beats Per Minute
The most original work one of the greatest MC’s of all time has released in more than a decade
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8.5
44502
8.5 |
hhv.de mag
Alongside traditional Boom Bap, nicely set samples, orchestral and R&B-elements shine through
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8.3
44515
8.3 |
Pretty Much Amazing
He deserves commending for remaining an auteur within mainstream hip-hop
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8.3
44270
8.3 |
Pitchfork
You can't recapture lightning in a bottle, or age backwards, but you can settle gracefully into strengths. Nas isn't back; he's just here
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8.0
44340
8.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
This is Nas’ strongest album in 18 years and three months – yes, since his debut album Illmatic
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8.0
44397
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
A thoroughly enjoyable return to form. A slight, but unmistakeable mid-album lull is forgivable considering its lofty heights, with only the party-track misfire ‘Summer on Smash’ and its car horn of a Swizz Beats hook majorly disrupting the album’s momentum
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8.0
44173
8.0 |
NME
There’s no ill-advised bandwagon-jumping here. Just Nas doing exactly what he does best
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8.0
44174
8.0 |
The Observer
Maturity suits the ever-articulate rapper, and his recollections of his early years as a Queensbridge hustler have added resonance here
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8.0
44177
8.0 |
Independent on Sunday
Proves once again that Nas is one of the smartest and most skilled players in the game
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8.0
44654
8.0 |
Under The Radar
Life Is Good stands as Nas' best album in years, and one of the best hip-hop releases of 2012
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8.0
44719
8.0 |
Tone Deaf
The angry ambition that fueled him in his early career has turned into wisdom, though his rhymes still provoke the same sharp imagery that saw him removed from the thuggish rappers of the 90s
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7.0
44192
7.0 |
Prefix
If Life Is Good is anything, it’s a clear juxtaposition of what Nas can do when he trusts himself, and what he inevitably becomes when he insists on forcing the issue
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7.0
44223
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
His words alone keep us glued
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6.5
44175
6.5 |
PopMatters
Take 1: Decent but too inconsistent to be anything more. 5/10. Take 2: The first Nas album in a decade that can be recommended without any sort of disclaimer. 8/10
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6.0
44176
6.0 |
The Independent
Along with the anger and regret comes the usual hip-hop baggage of aggrandisement, recrimination and old-school reminiscence
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6.0
44178
6.0 |
All Music
He may have recorded some game-changing albums early on ... but this puff-chested bitch session is a completely different animal
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6.0
44519
6.0 |
The Irish Times
Vintage Nas and then some
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