“Edgar Hoover was black; Willie Lynch is a myth,” Nas affirms, “Colombians created crack; the government made stacks.” It’s that first part about Hoover that represents the rapper’s state of mind. He, like too many Americans, is obsessively focused on race and racism, but only the white on black type, which itself seems racist in its exclusions.

To be fair, Sean Combs (Diddy) does suggest equality by commanding all listeners to put their fists in the air, whether they’re “white, black, Latino, Asian, Caucasian…” Hold on; isn’t Caucasian and white the same? In being inclusive though, he contradicts not only himself but the concept of the song, which is supposed to be about “they” and “us”.

The best parts are the hook, though what sounds like a silly falsetto effect added to it takes away from the song’s solemn message, and the beat, which is led by an epic sample from The Hunt For Red October. The worst part of the song, other than Diddy mentioning the year; “We ain’t posing for no pictures in 2018”; is the title, which seems irrelevant.

my rating : 4 of 5

2018