Nas could've been a contender. Well, except, he has this problem. He's a tease. Illmatic, Nas's grimy 1994 debut, is one of the best hip-hop records ever.

How Nas remains as popular as he does is hard to figure out since every record he's put out since Illmatic has seen him fall off just a little more. And God's Son, doesn't help turn that around.

"Get Down," the blazing opening track, is the album's clear highlight, but even its thug-funk sound seems somewhat slapped together. "Made You Look" is passably gritty, his Jay-Z diss song is effectively vicious, and Nas deserves some credit for saving some of the lesser tracks with his usually sharp rhymes. Nothing, though, can save "Thugz Mansion (N.Y.)", a beatless, quasi-inspirational duet with the very dead Tupac Shakur. It's just as weird as it sounds, and just like his constant eulogizing of his late mother in the album, it turns God's Son into a directionless, hyper-emotive mess.

-- Reviewed by Paul Thompson