New York Shit (remix)
New York's shine in the spotlight has been stolen by the likes of Houston and Atlanta in recent years. While everyone from rappers to message board posters has an opinion as to why this happened and how it can be reversed, it's safe to say any New York comeback isn't going to spring from a song specifically about a New York comeback. That's way too self-serving, predictable, and corny even; in fact, it proves the point that New Yorkers are, at times, like modern day geocentrists, so sure that everything revolves around them, despite all the evidence to prove the opposite. This much Busta Rhymes found out when his New York Shit single went belly-up earlier this year.
Well, now too many months later, trying to resurrect his own buzz, Busta has returned with a New York Shit remix, four actually: a New York remix, a Midwest remix, a Dirty South remix, and a West coast remix. Scratch your head on that for a second. However, at the very least, the NY rendition of NYS brings us a new Nas verse.
From the Kay Slay mixtape Myspace Maniac.
[NAS]
Savoir-faire
Radiant, conscience clear
I'm about to have a monstrous year
Livest spots, e'ry night we deep
Ladies get you harder than termite teeth
Check me, Broadway 42nd Street
Legendary, 3 Card Molly
Nasir drives a Harley
Now, wrist is froze
Like toes on the body in the morgue
They were all put there by the squad
FYI, for ya info, insects splatted on the bike window
Had an innuendo, take a look around, what you found?
Crème de la Crème from everything I be in
Like Masta Ace, tell me the world's a faster place
High school students will slash your face
Look here, I'm the god on the mic on the track
Like Arthur Ashe on the tennis rack'
Tell the DJ, spin it back
Busta Rhymes f/ Papoose, MOP, Nas & Labba: New York Shit (remix)
posted by Fletch at 9:15 PM
8 Comments:
Not an amazing remix. TRhe Papoose verse is completely off-topic about his signing(turns a geocentric song into an egocentric song)
But hearing M.O.P on the mic with some fire is good.
And it finally answers the question I had for ages about how Nas would sound on that song
Btw has anybody heard the 'Hip Hop is Dead" snippet eskay has?
Will.I.Am finally gave us a good beat, and Nas delivers with a nice fast rap verse (Hip Hop is dead but fast rap's been resuscitated)
I don't really wanna address the snippet, since it's a snippet. I'll spare y'all the rant I got stored, but all I'm saying is have patience. When the full length leaks, we'll have a look.
Moving on . . . When I heard about the NYS remix a couple days back, I was really surprised, because I had taken Busta's album and that song in particular to be a past tense affair. I think because of this, listening to it now, it's got a curious attachment to it. Regardless, it's certainly nothing worth waiting for. Busta, once upon a time, played a role in one of the greatest posse cuts and, subsequently, one of the greatest remixes. And I think with this track and the previous barrage of Touch It remixes, he thinks a concept is all a song takes, that just with an idea of how it used to be he can bring it back to how it used to be. Unfortunately, in both instances, the execution of the concept has been rather underwhelming and overall forgettable.
As for Nas' particular verse . . . it's kinda disappointing. For starters, there are a couple places that are really odd / nonsensical / awkward (if I'm hearing him right):
1. What the hell is "had an innuendo"??
2. "Crème de la Crème from everything I be in / Like Masta Ace, tell me the world's a faster place"
I'm really hoping I'm missing some Masta Ace reference here, because, what?
3. "I'm the god on the mic on the track" . . . "on the mic" is an extra string of words that disrupts the flow.
Moreover, he's repeating himself, albeit from two unreleased tracks:
1."Ladies get you harder than termite teeth" is basically the same line as "dick harder than termite teeth", from the unreleased SD track Anybody Test.
2.And what probably is the best line, "wrist is froze like the toes in a morgue" is from another SD unreleased track, Foul Breeze (this has never been leaked, but the exact quote was included in an old Pound Magazine article).
The remix is pretty wack, the beat is nice but apart from MOP the rest of the artists bring weak verses.
As far as the 'snippet' is concerned I'm not really infused by it. The beat is weak (same sample as Thief's theme wtf) and Nas' verse isn't amazing considering the joint IS called 'hiphop is dead'. But I wont judge it fully until I hear it all.
All this new Nas stuff is ill, esp the snippet, reflipping classic samples is what hip hop is all about if you ask me, especially when it rips.
Waits in anticipation for the full album...
Good call GT, I have only heard the second part of the freestyle (from "Kool G Rap" on) off the Ill Will Quan mixtape.
In regards to it being a throwaway verse, I was just thinking how if rapper A collaborates with rapper B for B's album, then usually B will return the favor for A. If you look at Busta Rhymes and Nas, Bus' did the hook for Suicide Bounce, then Nas paid him back by getting on Rough Around The Edges, which went unreleased. Even still, Nas gave him another verse for Don't Get Carried Away. After Busta came back asking for him to get on the New York Shit remix, I bet Nas was saying, "damn, dog, it was just one hook." And so he threw him some two-year old freestyles and called it a rap.
In my humble opinion Busta' needs 2 call this project a wrap. I'm sure dude had visions of going platinum or even multi plat but un4tunately it struggled 2 even go gold. FOUR new New York Shit remixes? Corny. I said it a while ago and I'll say it again ... Busta' should have released "Don't Get Carried Away" as his 2nd or 3rd single. I don't think he released a Dre produced beat 4 a single. I'm not sayin' that anything produced by Dre is an automatic hit but Dre did give him so good stuff 2 work with. The Busta' Nas collabo had an intensity and urgency 2 it that I think would have translated well in2 a video and I really think it would have done better than some of these other singles he released. Oh well ... at this point we'll never know. I wonder what Dre is thinkin' in terms of what he provided 4 this project and how it basically went unused?
So as to what GT wrote above, Nas did indeed use essentially this same rap in a 2004 freestyle for Hot 97. Here's a very short clip to prove this much:
download.yousendit.com/1E668CB56CF7E2F0 (no reup)
Thanks to Q-Storm
Just to make things more complicated, here's a quote from Nas' 11/08 interview w/ Funk Flex:
NAS: Busta smashed them with that New York joint.
FLEX: You're on the New York remix . . .
NAS: Nah, I didn't get on that, I was trying to get on that.
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