Shaq, Nas And Jay-Z Join Forces For Retro Banger “No Love Lost”
Shaq is a pop culture icon. He’s a Hall of Fame basketball player, a colorful personality, and a fixture in commercials. One thing he is not is a great rapper. Shaq’s celebrity status allowed him to drop several albums in the 1990s. Some of the songs are decent due to production or guest verses, but it was clear Shaq was no wordsmith. That being said, there’s something fascinating about hearing the athlete dig back in the time machine and pull out a collaboration of this magnitude. “No Love Lost” was originally recorded in 1996, which means his features, Nas and Jay-Z, were at creative peaks.
Boy, does it show. “No Love Lost” has a solid instrumental. Nothing face-scrunch-ingly good, but it allows plenty of room for the rappers to do their thing. Shaq goes first and handles the chorus. He’s pretty good, all things considered. He has a few clunkers, but he had the good sense to get out of the way and let the masters go to work. Nas was killing every track he got on in the mid-90s, and “No Love Lost” is no different. His flow is impeccable, and his wordplay is razor sharp. He walks away with the best verse, which is saying a lot considering Reasonable Doubt-era Jay-Z follows him. Hov is great, even if he does still have the Jaz-O influence that he would minimize from his second album on. Old school hip-hop fans are going to love this, plain and simple.
Let us know what you think of this brand-new track, in the comments section down below. Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
Nas Steals This Classic Song From Shaq And Jay-Z (!)
Fo’ sho’, everything’s for dough now
The flow, y’all gotta pay a little mo’ now
It’s platinum, nowadays we put the gold down
We stepped it up, y’all don’t ever wanna showdown
About The Author
Danilo is a writer based out of San Diego. He graduated from the Art Institute of Tucson with a B.A. in digital media, and has since forged a career as a pop culture journalist. He covered hip-hop for Heavy.com, Rhyme Junkies and PopMatters prior to joining HotNewHipHop.com. Danilo’s top five is constantly changing, but Biggie and Slug from Atmosphere remain permanent fixtures. His favorite rap album of all time is “Late Registration” by Kanye West, and that stays the same.
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