Nas Honors Mike Tyson With Track on New Mixtape
This week hip-hop fans by the legion have downloaded, bought, or found a copy Nas‘ new mixtape, The N—– Tape which is mixed by DJ Green Lantern. The tape includes a fast-paced banger produced by Salaam Remi called “Legendary (Mike Tyson)” which also is featured in the new Mike Tyson documentary which premiered a few months ago at Cannes.
It’s hard to explain to Mike Tyson cynics how my generation could ever love the man with all his tragic flaws, unfulfilled promise, and descent into a sad carnival act. Nas tries to answer these questions in his song.
The “Legendary (Mike Tyson)” narrative exists on two levels. The chorus chants Mike’s strengths and is an adolescent admiration of the former champ; a reflection of how all coming-of-age Gen-Xers felt when we saw Iron Mike from 85-89. It was a combination of awe, respect, and fear. The intro and early first verse put Mike on the pedestal we placed him on in 1986. It’s a place we always want him to be.
The second level recounts the earnest empathy that the grown up fan feels towards our former hero. It talks about his downfall with understanding but without sympathy acknowledging the choices made and offering no excuses. The song ends with the hope that there will be another Tyson but acknowledges that “Mike Tyson/Never see another like him.”
Nas’ rap career never sank to the depths of Mike Tyson’s boxing life and with this mixtape we’re hopeful that he can return to the promising form of his youth. The youth of Illmatic, a knockout album every bit the legend of Tyson’s string of fearsome first round knockouts and the destructions of Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, Tony Tubbs, Trevor Berbick, and so many more.
Illmatic is remembered with the same passionate fervor as Tyson’s early career. Our memory tells us that the LP’s greatness allows for Nas’ subsequent 12-year musical downfall and cascading career arc. Like Tyson, he made his money selling sub-par performances, never equaling what might have been. We accept it because there is always the hope that the genius will return. Just as true Tyson believers always felt he had a chance against Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
It’s no accident that in “Legendary (Mike Tyson) Nas quotes his own Mike Tyson quote “Amped Up/They locked the Champ up/Even my brain’s in handcuffs” which appeared on Illmatic’s “The World is Yours.” The track’s just as much about his own legend as it is about Tyson’s.
I never fell for the legend of Nas like I did for the legend of Mike Tyson. Perhaps because Nas and I are around the same age or perhaps because he always seemed like a poor Rakim imitation. I never really bought into the over-intellectualizing of and deification of his sporadically great work. In other words, he’s never been anything without Primo and just because you’re discussing intelligent things doesn’t mean you’re saying something intelligent.
Is this song (and his subsequent “controversial” album) actually saying something different? Is Nas finally fulfilling the artistic promise rap fans have always wished and hoped was there? Mike Tyson never became Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali but maybe just maybe Nas might become more than the last great hip-hop hope. His time is running out.
To hear the song and watch an unofficial video just play the youtube below:
Photo Source: Newscom.com
Tags: DJ Green Lantern, DJ Premier, download, Evander Holyfield, Illmatic, Joe Louis, Larry Holmes, Legendary, Lennox Lewis, Michael Spinks, Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, Nas, Rakim, Salaam Remi, The N----- Tape, The World is YoursRelated Stories
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