NaS Lost: A Tribute to the Little Homey

by Byron Crawford

NaS Lost is the Nas book only Byron Crawford could write, and not just due to literacy issues in the hip-hop community. Billed as a tribute to the little homey, it is in fact a tribute, but not in the way that an article in XXL magazine is a tribute to a rapper. NaS Lost considers the artist's career in its totality, from its amazing highs to its crushing lows -- and some of everything in between.

Discussed in NaS Lost:

The 2001 beef with Jay-Z. What really led to this dispute?

Nas and Jay-Z as Eskimo brothers. How the two of them became related in a sense.

Nas' albums. Is it true what Jay-Z said, that Nas has a one hot album every 10 year average?

Illmatic's five mic review in The Source. Was it really the best album of its era?

The dreaded n-word. If KKKramer can say it, why can't Nas?

Ghostwriting allegations. Can anything dream hampton says on Twitter be believed?

The Virginia Tech controversy. What is the real cause of most school shootings?

The hostage situation in Africa. Who was to blame there, Nas, the promoters, or the continent of Africa?

Nas' marriage to Kelis. Bad idea, or worst idea of all time?

Nas as a parent. Why is his teenage daughter posting her birth control on Instagram?

Cultural tourism. Why is it that SPIN magazine likes a Chief Keef album more than Life Is Good?

194 pages, ebook

First published August 20, 2013

About the author

Byron Crawford is the founder and editor of ByronCrawford.com: The Mindset of a Champion, and the author of The Mindset of a Champion: Your Favorite Rapper's Least Favorite Book and Infinite Crab Meats. He blogged for XXL magazine for five years in the mid to late '00s. He lives in a shanty town.

Reviews

[Matt H · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was expecting some degree of critical musical analysis, not just an E! Hollywood story gossip column. Crawford mentions somewhere early in that there are no hip-hop periodicals for adults, I feel like, after reading this book, there's very few books for adults either.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was mildly entertaining in some parts, but more often than not it was a complete bore. It was also filled with misinformation or outright lies that could've easily been prevented with a few seconds of research. For example, it is said in two different chapters that Carmen wrote in her book about Nas drinking orange juice after sex, despite the fact that she didn't. That was Jay.

And there were glaring typos, misspellings and missing words at every turn. The author repeatedly mentioned a "stripper poll" instead of pole, so I don't even think it was an accident. He clearly had no editor.

Oh, and Nas is only vaguely mentioned 10% of the time in this book that is supposedly about him.

[Craig Crecelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarity. A bit of an improvement from the first due to having a tighter focus and topic. I still end up reading it as though it were an extra long blog post and catch myself stopping to crack up a few times. No matter what you think of him, this author has a really strong clear voice.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic.