20 YEARS OF ILLMATIC

Tuesday, April 15, 2014   20 years of illmatic , illmatic , nas

Nas - Illmatic

On April 19th, 20 years ago as the story goes Nas with Columbia records unleashed which many regard as one of the best rap albums ever to come out of New York. With only one guest appearance by AZ on LIFE'S A BITCH it also had the best Hip Hop producers of 1994 contributing to it. This album showcased Nasir Jones venomous rap style of deep lyrical content.

Nas - Illmatic 2Oth anniversary edition

Just before this album came out Hip Hop writers at the various rap magazine called this the second coming of Rakim. Remember back then in 1994 there weren't any bloggers out and internet sites leaking tracks, all you had was magazines and cassettes. The streets is what made this album the classic is its today.

Nas first came on the scene with this following track ...

With having the first verse Kid Wave aka Nasty Nas aka Nas came with lines like, " at age 12 I went to hell for snuffing Jesus"

Nas then in 1992 made his solo debut on the soundtrack for the film ZEBRAHEAD with the Large Professor on production with HALFTIME.

Then MC Serch gave Nas a chance to rap on BACK TO THE GRILL off his solo album.

MC Serch couldn't believe Nas didn't have a deal yet and took him to Russell at Def Jam, who said that he sounds like Kool G Rap. Russell said no at the time but Nas struck gold at Sony records. just reminder that 20 years later Nas is now signed to Def Jam.

Before working with Nas on Illmatic DJ Premier stated that Nas' HALFTIME was like ERIC B FOR PRESIDENT or THE BRIDGE.

The first single got released from Illmatic was the Large Professor produced IT AIN'T HARD TO TELL

The buddha monk's in your trunk, turn the bass up
Not stories by Aesop, place your loot up, parties I shoot up
Nas, I analyze, drop a jew-el, inhale from the L
School a fool well, you feel it like braille
It ain't hard to tell, I kick a skill like Shaquille holds a pill
Vocabulary spills I'm Ill
plus Matic, I freak beats slam it like Iron Sheik
Jam like a tech with correct techniques
So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me
Scannin' while you're plannin' ways to sabotage me
I leave em froze like her-on in your nose
Nas'll rock well, it ain't hard to tell

—Nas, "It Ain't Hard to Tell"

One of the highly acclaimed tracks on here has to be THE WORLD IS YOURS produced by Pete Rock.
The video also had elements from the classic Brian De Palma film SCARFACE starring Al Pacino.

Q-Tip/Kamaal from A Tribe Called Quest contributed one track which was the groundbreaking ONE LOVE ....

The first track on Illmatic was N.Y STATE OF MIND produced by DJ Premier. A vicious and  easy on the ear beat with a myriad of sounds that paved the way we listen to music from Premier. Nas rhymes also made it so nice for us to hear something that made us at the time pressing rewind again and again on the tape deck just to feel and experience what Nas was saying.

The Source magazine (Hip Hop's Bible of the rap's golden era) gave Illmatic the coveted 5 mic album rating. Which at the was unheard of for a debut artist. But then again it was reall that good.

Also Illmatic was also the first rap album from the east coast to use more than one producer.

It also revived the Queensbridge rap scene among many other things when it came out.

20 Years later Illmatic is indeed a classic!