Nas & Damian Marley / Distant Relatives
Album: Distant Relatives   Collection:Reggae
Artist:Nas & Damian Marley   Added:Oct 2010
Label:Universal Republic Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2010-10-10 Pull Date: 2010-12-12 Charts: Hip-Hop, Reggae/World
Week Ending: Nov 21 Nov 14 Nov 7 Oct 31 Oct 24 Oct 17
Airplays: 1 1 2 2 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. May 03, 2014: Down the Rabbit Hole
In His Own Words (Feat. Stephen Marley)
4. Jul 26, 2011: The Conscious Soul
Africa Must Wake Up (Feat. K'naan)
2. Jun 30, 2012: New World Disorder
Tribes At War (Feat. K'naan)
5. Jun 28, 2011: A Mind Redefined
Africa Must Wake Up (Feat. K'naan)
3. Aug 23, 2011: The conscious Soul
Tribes At War (Feat. K'naan)
6. Jan 01, 2011: New World Disorder
Tribes At War (Feat. K'naan)

Album Review
Sadie O.
Reviewed 2010-10-08
Nas & Damian Marley – Distant Relatives
Reviewed by Sadie O., 10/8/10
Hip Hop/Dancehall duets. Way too much orchestration and production for my tastes, and I’m not a big fan of Nas’s style, but that’s me. Jr. Gong is always good, and K’naan guests on a couple of tracks. Apparently this version of the release has been cleaned up, because there’s a few gaps in Nas’s raps.
Best tracks IMO are 2 and 8 – 1, 5 and 7 are decent, too.
1. 2:28 ***trumpet flourish intro, then midtempo dancehall riddim (rather a circus ride kind of sound) with Nas & Damian tossing raps back and forth min-line.
2. 4:30 ****strings, xylophone, electronics, big chorus, a bit of African element in the percussion. Unusual mash-up. K’naan adds his distinctive vocal/lyrical style.
3. 6:01 (“niggas” a few times) **very faint heartbeat intro, a bunch of Nas talking, then slow dancehall riddim, Damian singing as well as rapping, female chorus. A couple of long raps by Nas.
4. 4:20 **slow swingy skank, guest singing by Stephen Marley.
5. 4:49 ***sampled African vocal intro, very downtempo orchestral riddim.
6. 4:24 *smooth-jazzy rhythm. Damian sings. Riddim gets a bit harder when Nas raps.
7. 5:53 ***vaguely African style female chanting, then forceful slightly downtempo dancehall riddim, rather more like what we expect from Jr. Gong. Bit of chat about Africa at end.
8. 3:54 ****trumpet flourishes intro, then slow skank – best riddim yet. Very small bits of Dennis Brown singing.
9. 5:00 *”unplugged” acoustic guitar and piano. A bit pretty for my tastes. Stephen Marley sings.
10. 4:09 **hard downtempo dancehall skank. Lots of rap from both parties.
11. 5:46 *slow, rather depressed sounding, muffled female chorus, nice rhythm in Damian’s rap.
12. 4:00 **child chorus and Joss Stone warbling. Lil Wayne does a guest rap. Several seconds of kids squealing at end.
13. 6:40 *slow orchestra and piano intro, slow syncopated sway after half a minute. K’naan’s rap in Somali is the best part of the song by far.

Track Listing
1. As We Enter   7. Dispear
2. Tribes At War (Feat. K'naan)   8. Land Of Promise (Feat. Dennis Brown)
3. Strong Will Continue   9. In His Own Words (Feat. Stephen Marley)
4. Leaders (Feat. Stephen Marley)   10. Nah Mean
5. Friends   11. Patience
6. Count Your Blessings   12. My Generation (Feat. Lil Wayne & Joss Stone)
  13. Africa Must Wake Up (Feat. K'naan)