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nas' greatest hits tracklisting is a disgrace.  trying to cram the greatest hits from the greatest ever onto one disc is laughable. sony/def jam should've made this a 2 disc project braking up the subject content that nas raps about. one would've been his more bill o'reilly NAZ gangsta hits and the other his more mature/hip hop material.  on the positive side, from the greatest hits we get a new song called "surviving the times" which is one of the best songs of the year and has that same great jazzy vibe as "cant forget about you" and "war", 2 of my favorite nas songs from his last couple albums.  this greatest hits album is a little premature and im sure it will be made better in the future. for those that say illmatic is his greatest hits i guess i cannot disagree but even w/o illmatic his tracklist is better than 100% of artists out there (in my opinion)

bee why's the lost tapes came out of the clear blue about a week ago.  bee why's lyrics are smooth and the production is tite. Remember the Times, Playa Slaya, GATS, Boro's are the highlights for me.

kanye's graduation highpoints are really good, and the lowpoints are truly throwaways that he mostly screws with his lyrics.  "Everything I Am" is easily the best track on this album and one of my 5 favorites this year. the other songs that i gave play were "Good Life" "Champion" "Flashing Lights" "Good Morning" "Cant Tell Me Nothing". every other song on there has some flaw that makes it unbearable. the original "Home" shouldve been put on there instead of  that cornball "Homecoming".  I like Kanye, he gets a lot of hate on hip hop websites but he makes (samples) good music and his lyrics are catchy.  I would love to hear a compilation album where he lets some legends rip it on some of his production

the hate 9th wonder gets on the internet is shocking. "Saved" "Brooklyn on My Mind" "Thank You" are all great songs off his newest compilation album. he's a great producer in this day of garbage hip hop

 iv'e got to have an mp3 of that snl skit/song/video "I Ran So Far". video is hilarity and the song's been stuck in my mind.

the  "Memphis Sessions" by AZ is great. The al green samples seem natural for az's laid back flow, I would def buy this album if i saw it on sale. the "Format" and " The Come Up" are actually as good to me as their originals.  "Seems That Way", which does not contain an Al Green sample and is a bonus track on this album is one of my favorite songs of the decade and previously and shockingly unreleased.