"They thought I'd make another Illmatic But it's always forward I'm movin' Never backwards stupid here's another classic?" I waited to purchase this despite the early leak of the album so therefore I had plenty of time to read many reviews. From many of them one would have thought the beats were something a 5 year old would construct… Anyway, while most won't blow you away like the way Dre's Chronic blew people away back in '92, for the most part, I like them and I think they compliment Nas well and what he is trying to do with this. 'You Can't Stop Us Now', 'Hero', 'America', 'N.I.G.G.E.R.' (The Slave and the Master) & 'Black President' are all extremely excellent tracks from a production and lyrical point of view with 'Sly Fox' and 'Y'all My Niggas' not being far off. The subject matter of racism has obviously been done before (without the current Obama stuff and so on) but Nas still spits some worthwhile material and I struggle to think of an album subject wise that has been overly original in a while. Even without my bias of being a big Nas fan (if you can't tell from my username) this is easily one of the best hip hop albums so far in 2008. While not a classic, as there are a few skippable tunes, I have listened to it about five times already and my enjoyment has increased with each spin. The best on this are some of his best songs. I put that on my mother. Best Tracks: N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave and the Master), America, Hero, Black President, You Can't Stop Us Now