Songoftheday 1/12/24 -Be, b-boys and girls, listen up you can be anything in the world, in God we trust...

 

 

"I Can" - Nas

from the album God's Son (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 13

 

Today's song comes from rapper Nasir "Nas" Jones, who had scored his second top-40 crossover hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 as a lead artist (and eighth overall) in the beginning of 2003 with the song "Made You Look".  The second single from his God's Son album was the aspirational anthem "I Can". Written by Nas with producer Salaam Remi using the much-used percussion sample from the Honey Drippers' record "Impeach The President" giving Roy Hammond writing credit, the actual production was an interpolation of the classical music piece "Fur Elise" by Beethoven. The record starts out with all the "you can be all you want if you work at it", but the verses are more cautionary tales on what not to do. The first two verses in particular are aimed at young girls, with the first telling the story on a promising talent that threw it away on drug addiction, while the second scare-shames girls into believing they'll get HIV from a guy who SA's them for just showing up at a club. The third verse gets more philosophical, explaining how Africa used to be powerful and bountiful before the Europeans came and took their wealth as well as their freedom as slaves. It's that verse that stands out. But what doesn't is the inclusion of the children's chorus - mind you it's not as cringe as the recent "All My Life" from Lil Durk, but it's not far behind - that should've been left on the cutting room floor. They sound pitch-shifted, and it makes it seem like a grab for the mainstream audience his rap peers have been seeing for years. But at least it seems his heart was in the right place, and he's not afraid to sugar-coat the verses, so there's that. And many a child who never had exposure to classical music in their lives got at least a melodic taste of Beethoven. The music video surrounds Nas with the children miming along...

"I Can" came close to making the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100, missing by a couple notches in May of 2003, while scoring his sole top ten hit as a lead artist on the R&B Singles chart at #7 and #6 on the Rap Singles list. On the radio, the song peaked at #27 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, #6 on the Mainstream R&B airplay list, amd #7 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single reached the top-40 in Denmark (#15) and the United Kingdom (#19).

A third single from the God's Son album, "Get Down", sported a bevy of samples that worked well together, but stalled down at #76 on the R&B Singles chart. That same year, Nas contributed a track to the soundtrack to the Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle movie. The result, "Nas' Angels...The Flyest" with Pharrell Williams, got enough radio play to make it on to the R&B Singles chart at #72.

 

The rapper returned in 2004 with an ambitious two-disc seventh studio album and last with Columbia Records Street's Disciple. The collection went to #5 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the R&B Albums list, but the biggest single success from the record, "Bridging The Gap", featuring Nas' father Olu Dara, only managed to pop on to the Hot 100 at #94, while stopping at #49 on the R&B Singles chart. But the bluesy number was better received across the Atlantic, climbing to #18 on the British Singles chart. 

After resolving the "feud" between himself and fellow New York rap star Jay-Z, Nas was signed to Def Jam Records, where in 2006 he released Hip Hop Is Dead. The title track, which featured will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas (who produced the track) and interpolated the stoner rock monolith "In A Gadda Da Vida" by Hot Butterfly, did decently, almost returning Nas to the top-40 on the Hot 100 at #41, while stopping at #48 on the R&B Singles list. It also made the top-40 in Finland (#12), Italy (#27), New Zealand (#28), and the UK (#35). Another track from the set, "Can't Forget About You" with singer Chrissette Michelle, missed the R&B top-40 at #46, but landed Nas' first appearance on the older-skewing Adult R&B format chart at #40. The album went to #1 on the Billboard 200, selling over a half million in total. At the Grammy Awards in 2008, Hip Hop Is Dead was nominated for Best Rap Album, losing to Kanye West's Graduation. Also at the awards, his collaboration one-off single with Kanye and KRS-One, "Better Than I've Ever Been", was up for Best Duo/Group Rap Performance, which again went to West and Common for "Southside". For me, Hip Hop Is Dead is my favorite album of his. 

For his next release on Def Jam in 2008, Nas garnered criticism from both left-leaning activists and the holy-roller right by attempting to title the disc with the N-word slur. Eventually, the label released the set without a title (rendering it just as Nas), but the "bad news is still news" may have helped, as it again hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and R&B Albums chart. The single "Hero", featuring singer Keri Hilson, popped on to the Hot 100 at #97, while not doing much better on the R&B list at #82. Nevertheless, the record got nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy,  with the award going to Lil Wayne for Tha Carter III. The album track "N.I.*.*.E.R. (The Slave and the Master)" also was up for the Best Rap Solo Grammy, also losing to Wayne for "A Milli". 

The next couple of years saw Nas appearing on the Beastie Boys track "Too Many Rappers" from their Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, which got nominated for best Duo/Group Rap Performance, which went to Eminem, Dr. Dre, and 50 Cent's horrid "Crack A Bottle". Nas also released an album with reggae nepo-baby Damian Marley, Distant Relatives, which topped the R&B and Reggae Albums charts in Billboard and peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200. One track from the set, "As We Enter", made the British top-40 at #39 while "bubbling under" the Hot 100 at #116. 

Nas re-emerged in 2012 with Life Is Good, which spent a week at #1 on the Billboard 200 (his most recent to do so). While the only charting song on the record, "Daughters", only reached #78 on the R&B Singles list in Billboard, is was critically revered, and he was nominated for both the Rap Performance and Rap Song Grammy Awards, both of which went to Kanye West and Jay-Z for "Ni**az In Paris". Another cut from the record, "Cherry Wine" with the late Amy Winehouse, was up for the Best Melodic Rap Performance, which went to "No Church In The Wild" by Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and The-Dream. The Life Is Good record also was nominated for Best Rap Album, which Drake took home for Take Care. 

It would be six years before Nas came back with a new studio album. Nasir, produced by Kanye West, hit #5 on the Billboard 200 in 2018, with single "Cop Shot The Kid" featuring West spent a week on the Hot 100 at #96, while making it to #49 on the R&B Singles chart. The set marked the debut of the Mass Appeal label, which would since become an independent entity. 

In 2020, Nas released the first in the King's Disease series of albums, with all three volumes reaching the top ten on the Billboard 200. The King's Disease 1 album ended up with Nas winning his only Grammy to date so far for Best Rap Album. From it the song "Spicy" with Favio Foreign and A$AP Ferg nicked the Hot 100 at #96. The second volume was also nominated, losing to Tyler The Creator's Call Me If You Get Lost. Two tracks from the record made the Hot 100, "EPMD 2" with Eminem and EPMD (#79) and "Rare" (#100). The King's Disease III record, released in 2022, is currently nominated for the Best Rap Album Grammy in the upcoming awards.

His latest album cycle is the three-volume Magic series, with Magic 3 arriving in September of 2003 and reaching #65 on the Billboard 200 and #26 on the R&B Albums chart. 

(5/10)

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Here's Nas performing the song for British TV...

 And lastly, Nas performed the song at the Grammys in 2022 along with "Made You Look", "One Mic", "Rare" and "NY State Of Mind"...

Tomorrow I'll have my top hit tunes of this past week, then Monday SOTD will be back with a reggaeton star who isn't lazy.