 Life is Good received widespread acclaim from critics . At Metacritic , which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications , the album received an average score of 81 , based on 30 reviews . Kevin Perry of NME called it " a grimy , back @-@ to @-@ basics return to form " , while Pitchfork Media 's Jayson Greene said Nas had " settled gracefully into strengths " , Slant Magazine 's Manan Desai said Nas sounded " inspired " and praised the album 's " narrative unity " as " a wide @-@ angle look of the artist as a grown man . " Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club deemed Nas ' lyrics " beautifully expressed " and the music just " as thoughtful " . Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times called it a " thoughtful , fierce , honest and – most important – heavy @-@ duty work " and stated , " Nas has gotten better at rolling with the punches – and you can hear it in every verse " . Carl Chery from XXL said it is " arguably Nas ' best LP since Stillmatic " and asserted , " At this juncture — 21 years and 10 solo albums in — no other MC has ever rhymed at such a high level this deep into their career . " 
