Listen to DJ Shadow & Nas – Systematic

At times we need music that tells us how it us, something incendiary that doesn’t beat around the bush. Whilst it’s nice to have uplifting records that make us feel better, at times we need music to be a cathartic release. Articulating the fears, issues and frustrations that can dog our daily walk through life. Hip-Hop is arguably the most consistent genre when it comes to saying how it is and DJ Shadow & Nas – Systematic is another such Hip-Hop record.

DJ Shadow kicks things off with a simple yet irresistible guitar loop, a loop that is later accompanied by an equally simple yet irresistible bassline. Combined with traditional hip-hop beats and scratches Shadow’s foundations have clearly inspired a top drawer vocal performance from Nas. The rhymes are sharp, inventive and as slick as 1980’s filofax sporting yuppie…

The system will defeat itself
Nothing stays in a steady state, It overheats and melts
It only feeds itself, the system
Yo, I think it exists just because, like a pit eats its pups
Eats its own litter up
The system’s fucked, it’s corrupt
It’s for its own survival, it’s genocidal
No place or origin, no beginning cycle

Admittedly it’s not quite Rage Against The Machine – Take The Power Back, but if global markets, corporate greed, selling arms, Donald Trump and Brexit are the sort of subjects that get you fired up, then this needs to be added to your soon to be created anti-capitalist playlist. In fact we’d also recommend watching the movies – Margin Call, Inconvenient Truth, The Big Short, War Dogs and Inside Job if you’re feeling particularly revolutionary.

Rating 4.0/5

DJ Shadow & Nas – Systematic [Mass Appeal]

Related Hip-Hop Listening

DJ Shadow – The Slideshow
Lushlife / CSLSX – Body Double
DJ Format & Abdominal – Behind the Scenes
J-Zone – Im Sick Of Rap

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