The third of its kind, Nas Lost is one of those books that you can read about ten times and still find new meaning with every revisit. Byron Crawford is a pretty dope guy. He really wrote a whole book about how Nas let hip hop down. No, not the same way Jermaine let Nas down. I never quite grasped what he was trying to say, or why he dedicated a whole track to Nas about not being the greatest Nas Stan he couldve been. Whatever. So, I saw a review of this book on some blog, Animal New York I think, and knew I had to buy it the second it was put on Amazon. When it came in the mail, opening the package felt unreal, like if Jesus was re-releasing the Old Testament and I received my pre-order before the Rapture or something.

 

Anyway, skillfully weaving a web between the mishaps, shortcomings and failures of the infamous Queens Bridge rapper to the historical decline of hip hop’s integrity in the Industry, Crawford provides insightful and enlightening commentary for readers in this awesome Cautionary Tale about Nasir Jones. Crawford’s writing style, as unconventional as it is, exhibits innate brilliance and may be what the editorial world is missing. How XXL fired him on his birthday, I’ll never understand. Only pitfall of this piece is that at times I did feel overloaded with 90s baby references that my brain just didn’t have a cache for and wasnt a fan from all the tangential thought that spurred out of control and into a nostalgic mess. But overall, super witty, smart, and compelling, even for the novice hip hop aficionado. Definitely collectors item worthy, especially for those stocking up on good and credible literature on pop culture, hip hop and contemporary non fiction.

 

Enjoy.

 

More by Crawford: Mindset of a Champion and Infinite Crab Meats