Despite its grandiose title, God's Son features a semi-repentant Nas. After his stunning debut, many moons ago, it's been downhill ever since for the New York MC. Embroiled in petty spats, overblown productions, large paydays and a huge case of ego-itus, his original brilliance seemed lost forever. However the two-disc God's Son is a return to form. The first single, "Made You Look" is a barnstorming collaboration with Fat Joe. "The Book of Rhymes" is Nas back to his … mehrlyrical best, once again showing himself as the real inheritor to Rakim's MC crown. Nas goes deep into the funk on "Get Down", which features a heavy chunk of James Brown, another echo of Rakim's work to which Nas has openly aspired to. There are unsavoury moments. Nas's referral to sleeping with hookers on "Pussy Killz" veers between a sexual-health warning and a tongue lashing of women in general. He also advocates the creationist theory on "Dance". Perhaps he's trying to get the Texas Christian vote? However, such lyrical theorising will probably pass most by--those who just want to hear the beats. On this, God's Son delivers particularly well, especially with the Alicia Keys-enhanced tribalist "Warrior's Song". God's Son suffered heavy bootlegging prior to release and the track listing changed radically. Plenty of (good) material wasn't officially released--undoubtedly there's another Lost Tapes album on the way. Tupac's appearance on "Thugz Mansion" is proof positive that the Tupac impersonator out there is doing very good business. Why didn't they work the same trick with Elvis? --Jake Barnes weniger

1 - Get Down
2 - The Cross
3 - Made You Look
4 - Last Real N**** Alive
5 - Zone Out feat. Bravehearts… mehr
6 - Hey Nas feat. Kelis and Claudette Ortiz
7 - I Can
8 - Book Of Rhymes
9 - Thugz Mansion (N.Y) feat. 2pac
10 - Mastermind
11 - Warrior Song feat. Alicia Keys
12 - Revolutionary Warfare feat. Lake
13 - Dance
14 - Heaven weniger