Nas’ highly anticipated and controversial album Untitled arrives in stores today. Here’s what the critics are saying…

Entertainment Weekly: Neither preachy nor overly polemical, Nas uses his lyrical gifts to keep us guessing … In a summer of ”Lollipop,” it’s refreshing to hear a complicated record that doesn’t shy from grown-up ambition. B+

Los Angeles Times: The nearly hour-long Untitled jumps from rote gangsterisms to transparent bids for commercial success and a litany of racial transgressions … More often than not, though, Nas offers windy whines instead of innovative ideas. 2 out of 4

The New York Times: Nas has a cause to match his temperament: his own suffering. And he hasn’t sounded as vibrant as he does on this, his ninth album, in years … Nas is the least musical of the great rappers, with little sense of melody and little flexibility in rhythm and cadence.

The Boston Globe: The new album, immersed in a soul-funk sound with guest spots from the Stylistics and the Last Poets, is contradictory at times, but the idea of building hope through about an hour’s worth of music supersedes any effort to brew controversy.

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