For All Seasons

Album Review

With his laboriously delayed debut, For All Seasons, Nature was hoping to make up for lost time. Why? It had been three years since Nature parted ways with the Firm (an eternity in hip-hop), and in that time Nature watched the anticipation for his debut slowly dissipate. Nature's inaccessibility was lost on a fickle hip-hop populace that demands immediate gratification, as his once prospective fan base made stars out of thugs who were more readily available: Ja Rule, Beanie Sigel, and Black Rob. While Nature may have failed to capitalize on his window of opportunity, For All Seasons affirms that quality work can never be dated. Though Nature's lyrics are recited strictly in a tempered, conversational manner, he is an exceptionally flamboyant and charismatic MC, which is evident in the braggadocio of "Ultimate High" featuring Nas. But Nature is most intriguing when he eschews the typical thug banter and delves into the storytelling aspect of his repertoire, as he weaves a fatal love triangle with "Young Love" and paints visceral montages of street life with "I Remember" and the sublime "It's a Man's World." Though Nature delivers a compelling debut, the project's prolonged confinement leads to stretches of outdated production, which ultimately prohibits For All Seasons from joining the ranks of classic debuts from the boroughs of now-luminary figures (Run-D.M.C., Rakim, LL Cool J, and Nas). [For All Seasons was also released in a "clean" edition, containing no profanities or vulgarities.]