The Internet Is Confused About Nas' New Single "Jarreau of Rap"

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Jul 12, 2019

Nas is a week away from delivering a load of unreleased material with The Lost Tapes 2, but his first single from the forthcoming effort has fans wondering if it should have stayed locked away in the vault.

Today, the hip-hop icon shared album cut "Jarreau of Rap (Skatt Attack)," which features the late vocalist Al Jarreau and trumpeter Keyon Harrold. The track was produced by Xharlie Black.

Worlds away from the steady boom-bap sound Nas helped define, the song finds the rapper quickly rhyming on a sample of Jarreau scatting over Dave Brubeck's instrumental "Blue Rondo à la Turk."

Nas raps, "Doubting me they said I would have no longevity / Instead I'm steadily rapping these fundamentals / I assemble these sentences / 'Cause someone said that I've been unadventurous."



Some listeners were quick to praise Nas' adventurous work, pointing out that he is the son of jazz musician Olu Dara, in addition to mentioning the litany of jazz samples that make up his most celebrated work. One YouTuber even wrote in the comment section, "This the type of song that will get you studied in college courses. This is musical history."  Others were much more critical of the song, with one Twitter user writing that it "should have stayed lost." Another wrote that the Jarreau-sampling beat "sounds like the music that plays in Mario when you're almost out of time." 

The Lost Tapes 2 arrives July 19 via Mass Appeal/Def Jam.
 
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