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On July 13, 2012 rapper Nas released his eleventh album— Life Is Good. The nineteen-track project features artists such as Rick Ross, Anthony Hamilton, and Mary J. Blige. For Nas, this is an album of closure songs such as “Bye Baby”, which describes his relationship and marriage to Kelis. “Daughters” is about Nas’ struggle as a father.
The album opens with the song “No Introduction”. The instrumental is a combination of organ piano, hi-hat, and bass drum. He shortly addresses everything from early childhood to Kelis. In “No Introduction” he says, “The tales you hear is the truth on me/Who wasn’t the most faithful husband/ Reveal my life, you will forgive me/You will love me, hate me, judge me, relate to me”.
“Daughters” is a powerful song. Few rap songs address parenthood to this degree. In the song Nas is referring to his daughter, Destiny Jones. Nas says, “Said she don’t know what got inside this child’s mind, she planted/A box of condoms on her dresser then she Instagrammed it/At this point I realized I ain’t the strictest parent”.
“Bye Baby” is a wonderful song. Each piece works beautifully together. The beat is amplified by a sample of “Goodbye Love” by the R&B group, Guy. Nas continues with his admirable honesty. In the song he says, “Reasons you don’t trust men, that was your daddy fault/He in the grave let it go he no longer living/ Said you caught him cheating on your mom, with other women/Fuck that gotta do with us”.
Other outstanding songs are “World’s an Addiction”, which compares the world to a drug and discusses its ills, and “Accident Murderers”, which is about street kids who aren’t as tough as they appear. Life Is Good is sure to be a Hip-Hop classic. Nas’ lyrical capability and story-telling skills are still great. The album’s production is excellent. Nas shows how good his life truly is, by giving us a truly good album.