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What I'm Listening to Now

Nas raps about his latest CD picks

by Brian Orloff
[ Updated: Jul 14, 2008 - 4:53:25 PM ]

When Nas dropped his debut album, Illmatic, on the hip-hop scene in 1994, his deft, complex lyricism raised the bar for the genre, and the record is still considered a landmark in the evolution of rap. More than a decade later, Nas continues to innovate with tracks like “Bridging the Gap,” a folk-inspired duo with his father, jazz musician Olu Daru. And while the rapper still likes to call himself the “king of hip-hop,” his new album—his first on the legendary Def Jam label—is entitled Hip Hop Is Dead. Here, the veteran musician explains why his musical tastes have expanded far beyond hip-hop’s beats.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Casino: Music From the Motion Picture
(MCA)
“I’m actually scoring some feature films as we speak, so there are a couple of instrumental tracks from the movie Casino that I really love. The music that goes with specific scenes can stick in your head forever. It can be a motivational sound, or it can be something frightening or something that makes you think. Music to a film is something that can change your life.”


KELIS
Kelis Was Here
(Jive)
“There are songs on this album that bring you to the earliest parts of her career, and some songs that take you to where she’s headed in the future. She’s coming from a point of being a trendsetting artist and taking more responsibility—and there’s some real bossiness here. I like ‘Lil Star’ [with Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo Green]. It’s a real humbling track, and this is a well-rounded record.”


THE CURE
Greatest Hits
(Elektra)
“I don’t know how surprised people would be to know that I listen to all kinds of things. I recently picked up the Greatest Hits from the Cure. It’s like my favorite stuff right now. I love ‘Boys Don’t Cry.’ I love all of it! It’s some cool shit. I really dig them and the quality of Robert Smith’s vocals and what he’s saying.”


GNARLS BARKLEY
St. Elsewhere
(Downtown)
“Gnarls Barkley is the biggest thing that I’ve been excited about this year. It’s not ­contrived—it is free, man. It’s like they had to get away [from the music-industry machine] to record it, and it’s hard to do when you have a career going. So the record sounds like it wasn’t hurt by a busy career or ­executives forcing them to make a ­certain kind of record. It just feels like it is from the heart.”


SERGE GAINSBOURG
Initials SG
(Universal International)
“Gainsbourg was a controversial French singer/songwriter from the ’60s and ’70s, known for his partying ways. His casual style and sound is just pimp. He was a real laid-back guy, a laid-back cat. There’s a song [of his] called ‘Ballade de Melody Nelson’ that is just real, real smooth.”