I made a statement a few reviews ago, actually in my review of The Chronic, that I was going to start a series-of-a-kind that covered all the old hip-hop classics. This review is the second in the series, and I’ve chosen NY Street poet/prophet Nas and his startling debut Illmatic. Released in 1994, the album went on to unrivalled critical acclaim, launched Nas as one of the most talented emcees around, and carved its own niche in history. Following this, I’ll be looking at such classics like Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), It takes a Nation of Millions to hold us back, Midnight Marauders, Reasonable Doubt and others.

Track Listing

1. The Genesis
2. NY State of Mind. (*****)
3. Life’s A Bit*h. Feat. AZ. (*****)
4. The World is Yours. (*****)
5. Halftime. (****)
6. Memory Lane (Sittin’ in Da Park). (*****)
7. One Love. (*****)
8. One Time 4 Your Mind. (***)
9. Represent. (*****)
10. It Ain’t Hard to Tell. (*****)

After a good intro, Illmatic gets into gear. The album kicks off with NY State of Mind. This sets the tone for the rest of the album, as well as perfectly setting Nas’ mindset. It’s a dark and ’underground’ song, with the soon to be legendary DJ Premier providing the production genius with a very deep and relaxed bassline powering the song, aided by chilling piano keys. But the lyrics are what Nas has always been famous for, and he doesn’t disappoint. A deep and staggeringly detailed street cry this song, with Nas putting forward prophetic lyrics that describe life on the street in amazing detail. One of the finest songs recorded in his career.

Life’s A Bit*h features a banging, up-tempo opening verse from Nas protégé AZ, rapping about the difficulties of living a life of crime in the ghetto and fearing death at every stage…
Even though, we know somehow we all gotta go
but as long as we leavin thievin we'll be leavin with some kind of dough
so, and to that day we expire and turn to vapors
me and my capers-ll be somewhere stackin plenty papers
Nas drops a good second verse, and both emcees get proper deep with their lyrics. Producer L.E.S creates a beautiful, laid-back and sombre beat, which fully utilises wonderful jazzy trumpets and a head-nodding drumbeat. Just a very thoughtful and enjoyable song, which skyrocketed AZ into the limelight.

Legendary producer Pete Rock teams up with Nas on The World Is Yours. This combines to devastating effects, with a piano overtone and bassline dominating the song. Nas kicks several short-ish verses, all which contain the hard hitting commentary, tight flow and on-point lyrics…
Dwellin in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled
Or caught by the devil's lasso, sh*t is a hassle
There's no days, for broke days, we sell it, smoke pays
While all the old folks pray, to Je-sus' soakin they sins in trays
of holy water, odds against Nas are slaughter
Thinkin a word best describin my life, to name my daughter
My strength, my son, the star, will be my resurrection
Born in correction all the wrong sh*t I did, he'll lead a right direction
The beat is very relaxed, but very jazzy almost, and provides brilliant backing to Nas. The hook is a collabo between Nas and Pete Rock himself, and again ups the quality of the song. Definitely one of the highlights of the album.

It’s really hard to pick the highlights off this album, but next I’ve chosen Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Lane). Produced again by the one and only DJ Premier, the beat is another work of genius. A thumping bassline accompanies the soulful female vocals supporting the track and odd keyboard keys. Nas once again kicks brilliant rhymes about the streets, and his darker lyrics somewhat juxtapose the beat. However, this works, as it creates a nice blend and adds a touch of mystery to proceedings.

Now the song that pretty much blew up. One Love is the critics darling, it went on to critical acclaim from all quarters and generally helped sell several thousand more copies of Illmatic. It helps of course when masterful Tribe Called Quest emcee Q-Tip helps out with production and writing, but this is Nas’ show really. He kicks three very long narratives of ghetto poetry, of which the third is the standout one. Production wise, well it’s very simple. A dark and subdued bassline is the primary feature, over which light piano keys occasionally crackle. Personally, I think this song is lyrically fine – one of Nas’ best in fact, but it’s a bit overrated in my opinion.

Closing off Illmatic, as well as my highlights, is It Ain’t Hard to Find. Nas teams up with old skool legend Large Professor, in a track that is essentially a freestyle. Nas uses a highly advanced, multi-syllable rhyme scheme, and comes out with supreme lyricism as well as some nice metaphors and similies…
It ain't hard to tell, I excel, then prevail
The mic is contacted, I attract clientele
My mic check is life or death, breathin a sniper's breath
I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps
Deep like The Shinin', sparkle like a diamond
Sneak a uzi on the island in my army jacket linin
Hit the Earth like a comet, invasion
Nas is like the Afrocentric Asian, half-man, half-amazin
Cause in my physical, I can express through song
Large Professsor has always been one of the classiest producers around, and he creates a lovely soulful/jazzy hip-hop track that is very laid back and accentuates Nas’ delivery perfectly. An underrated song, and probably my favourite track.

***

It’s very easy to label Illmatic as an absolute classic. It has everything that a perfect hip-hop album needs. First of all, Nas definitely justifies his reputation (at the time) as the ’New Rakim’. When he hits form, he is arguably hip-hops best rapper. Nothing stops him here. His flow is completely intact – his lucid rhyming scheme allows him to imitate Ra’s multi-syllable monotone. Even though you rarely hear Nas pause for breath, I never find him to become boring.

Why? Well because Nas and street-poetry just go together perfectly. His street stories often descend into unbelievable depth and analysis, as he literally takes his time to ’paint a picture’ of the ghetto. Now while Nas does this street poetry like no-one else, there are a couple of problems with this. Nearly every single track on Illmatic treads the same path. He’s always rhyming about the streets, the same old thing every time. This is no exaggeration. His lyrics, while utterly brilliant, are too repetitive. Nas is also fascinated by the idea of being a gangsta, and occasionally lets this show on Illmatic. These are the only two flaws really. Most of the time, Nas is incredibly literate and thoughtful, as well as thoroughly detailed.

It helps a lot when you have the production genius of producers like DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock and others supporting the album. Musically speaking, this is a thoroughly enjoyable album. The album takes on a very listenable soul/jazz/hip-hop aesthetic, and never looks to sell out. The music is always authentic, and never looks to sell-out to the commercial side of things. The beats are of the highest quality consistently throughout Illmatic, and helps the album to become so listenable.

There are a few, yet important flaws, however. The LP is too short, and almost feels like an EP. At 10 tracks, this is further reduced by the intro (a skit), and one skippable song, down to 8 tracks. You can whiz through the album pretty quick, which is a problem. Nas is also a bit repetitive, he only seems to rap about the ghetto – that’s it. These couple of small, but crucial flaws slightly alter the final score.

But I wouldn’t have chosen Illmatic as a classic album if I wasn’t going to give it a high score. It definitely deserves its status as a classic album. Nas is really on career-best form here – it’s that simple. His detailed and ‘prophetic’ lyrics really portray the ghetto like few other rappers I’ve heard, and his flow and rhyming really accentuate his lyrics. He’s a marvellous rapper, and backed up by the brilliant production from several luminaries, Illmatic doesn’t really do anything wrong. The couple of aforementioned flaws just bring the score down, but this is a landmark album that is a must buy. Nas tried very hard with his latest release, Stillmatic, to create an album approaching the quality of Illmatic and succeeded - but he'll never beat this.

5 mics


Recommended: Yes