I consider myself one of the lucky ones.
Born the youngest of two children, I was also the youngest of three grandchildren on my mother’s side (including my brother) and…honestly, I lost count of how many cousins there are on my father’s side, but I’m the youngest there, too. Being the baby can be a real pain in the ass when you’re a kid, but as you get older (if you’re smart), you learn to appreciate the vast reservoir of knowledge at your disposal. In addition to teaching you about football, women and drinking (can you think of a more appropriate trio of things a young adolescent male should know about?), your older siblings and cousins can teach you about life— and for me, music is life. Fortunately for me, my family knows good music.
I was too young to appreciate Illmatic when it was first released on April 19, 1994. The crazy thing is, Nas wasn’t all that old either, and most likely, was unaware of what he had just created.
A timeless work of poetic storytelling, Nas laid down Illmatic in 1992 and 1993, meaning he was somewhere between 18 and 20-years-old when he penned the record. The idea that someone that young could possess that combination of street knowledge, verbal dexterity and worldly perspective was something hip-hop had never seen before.
To commemorate the 20-year anniversary of one of the great rap albums of all-time, Nas is releasing Illmatic XX, a re-release of the original that will include unreleased remixes to the original songs on the album, along with unreleased versions of “I’m a Villain” and Nas’ appearance on The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show On WKCR October 28, 1993. But it’s important to not view this event as your typical money-grab with the audio version of a clip show serving as the catalyst. Nas’ impression on rap is profound, and this album’s irrepressible qualities have given it unparallelled staying-power. Hence, the legacy of this album needs to be properly understood in April 2014.
Quality Over Quantity
While chillin with one of my older cousins this past weekend, I asked him what he felt Illmatic’s contribution was to the culture. He casually sipped on his Peach Ciroc and explained how Illmatic wasn’t even really an LP. At 10 tracks, nine songs and 39 minutes and 51 seconds of material, Nas’ debut album is much closer to an EP, or at least what used to pass for a mixtape.
We’ve seen rappers go the other way, some even successfully. Fellow Queens emcee 50 Cent’s debut Get Rich or Die Trying was 69 minutes and contained 19 tracks (Fif is good for putting 20 songs on a record, with none being longer than 3:45). It’s still considered a classic by many, but the impactfulness of Nas’ songs is magnified by the scarcity of material. For this reason, each song is inherently more valuable. It taught emcees that there’s real value in perfecting a smaller number of songs, rather than blindly cranking out material.
Telling The Story Of Young Black Youths In The Hood
Nas is as eloquent of an emcee that has ever existed. A self-proclaimed “thug poet,” Nasty Nas has always been an artist, in every sense of the word: Queensbridge Projects his easel; street life his oils; each stanza his brush.
“I sip the Don P, watching Gandhi til I’m charged/Then writing in my book of rhymes, all the words pass the margin/To hold my mic, I’m throbbin, mechanical movement/Understandable smooth shit that murders move with/The thief’s theme, play me at night, they won’t act right/The fiend of hip-hop has got me stuck like a crack pipe/The mind activation, react like I’m facing/Time like Pappy Mason, with pens I’m embracing/Wipe the sweat off my dome, spit the phlegm on the streets/Suede Tims on my feet makes my cypher complete.”
The hood allegories told on Illmatic possess the range to resonate with the streets to this day, while highlighting The Don’s peerless storytelling ability—an ability that still serves as a litmus test for rappers in 2014.
Longevity isn’t a right of any album. It’s earned by those with the foresight to speak ahead of their time. This is a large part of Illmatic’s contribution to hip-hop.
The Emphasis Placed On Lyricism
To that end, this album serves as a benchmark for lyrical excellence in hip-hop to this day. Not only does Nas announce himself as one of the preeminent rhymers in the game, he also encouraged other emcees of this era to raise the bar. Amazingly, after 20 years, Esco’s rhymes don’t sound all that dated.
.@Nas lyrics should be hung in a museum.
— HipHopSportsReport (@HHSReport) April 15, 2014
Gave Queens A Man To Carry The Flag For The Next 10 Years
Here’s a list of some of the most relevant rappers to hail from Queens, NY:
Run DMC, MC Shan, Roxanne Shanté, Kool G Rap, LL Cool J, Salt-n-Pepa, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mobb Deep, Ja Rule, 50 Cent and Nicki Minaj.
A pretty solid stable of artists, yes, but there remains a distinct chronological line of demarcation. After Tribe’s run ended, Queens struggled to produce artists of equal relevance from a musical and cultural standpoint until 50 — and to a lesser extent Ja Rule — came along. For the better part of a decade, Nas and Mobb Deep were the only people poppin out of Queens. And with all respect due to Havoc and P, they never had the reach or influence of Esco. Nas carried the flag for one of the industry’s most hallowed communities throughout arguably hip-hop’s most competitive era.
Many rap purists will describe 1996 as the “golden age of hip-hop”. Lyricism was alive & well — as were Biggie & Tupac — and the genre was in the midst of the torch passing from the old school to the new school. Aside from the out-of-control beef between the coasts, the music was spectacular. Off the strength of Illmatic, Nas had cemented himself as one of the lyrical leaders out of NYC. He even got dissed by Pac, which was a compliment in its own way.
Influences On Other Rappers
It’s been said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; it’s also been said that the highest compliment one can receive is from his/her peers. Over time, Illmatic has been lauded by other highly respected emcees. This ranges from Jay Z, who borrowed a classic Nas quote from “The World Is Yours” and later smugly stated that Nas, “made it a hot line, I made it a hot song,” to Elzhi, whose Elmatic mixtape was a transcendent tribute to Nastradamus.
Sidebar: Fun fact: Jay sampled Nas’ Illmatic lyrics for a hook more than once back in the day.
Consider for a moment other albums that are classified among the greatest in rap history: Reasonable Doubt, The Chronic, All Eyez On Me, Ready To Die to name a few— do you see other artists (talented, established artists) making parody projects based on these great works? Somehow, Nas has managed to influence other emcees on a tangible level, even 18 years after the fact (Elmatic being released in 2012).
The Emergence Of AZ
One lost piece of trivia about Illmatic is it contained only one featured artist. Anthony Cruz blessed “Life’s A Bitch” with one of the most memorable verses ever. AZ floated on that record, to the point that he actually outshined Mr. Jones.
That 16 launched AZ’s career, one that had pockets of success, but never quite lived up to the sky high expectations set on “Life’s A Bitch”. Nonetheless, hip-hop heads from coast to coast recognize AZ’s flow as being on par with any legend ever.
Careers Of Legendary Producers Were Cemented
From the original “five-mic” review of Illmatic in The Source Magazine:
Oh yeah, and that classic cover art…also part Illmatic’s legacy.
“Musically, when Nas hooked up with four of hip-hop’s purest producers, it seems like all of the parties involved took their game to a higher level of expression. Whether listening to the dark piano chords of Pete Rock’s meanside of “The World Is Yours,” or Primo’s sinister bounce on “Represent,” or Large Professor’s old-soul sound on “Memory Lane,” or Q-Tip’s jazzy marimba melody on “One Love”— it all motivates. Your mind races to keep up with Nas’ lyricism while your body dips to the beat.”
Often overlooked in conversations about Illmatic were the list of producers who blessed the record. Five of the greatest produces in rap history, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, DJ Premier, Large Professor and L.E.S., joined forces in Voltron-esque fashion (or Megazord-esque fashion, for our younger readers) and provided the soulful, jazz-based backdrop for Illmatic.
Each of these beatmakers have their own parking pass at the hip-hop hall of fame, but DJ Premier specifically has a corner office on the top floor. And while his Gang Starr production and Jay Z guest work alone would gain him admittance into any convo involving the greats, his legacy was launched and retroactively solidified by the legs of Illmatic over the course of the last two decades.
The Birth Of One Of The Five Greatest Emcees Ever
Above all else, this album’s legacy is about Nasir Jones himself. From the time he first touched fans on “Live At The BBQ,” to his epic battle with the Jigga Man, to his lesser known, yet still technically proficient works such as The Lost Tapes and Distant Relatives, Nas has authored one of the most complete careers ever in rap music. Despite being in the game for 20 years, his lyrics have managed to remain potent, while his spirit still revolutionary.
When you talk to people about their “top five, dead or alive,” the usual names tend to surface. But some consider Rakim to be ancient history, while others don’t care for Eminem’s goofy singles or beat selection. Jay’s shallow content has rubbed many the wrong way, Pac’s lyricism has left much to be desired by some and Big only released two albums while he was alive (technically he only released one, but we’ll count Life After Death). The one penman who seems to be universally accepted as one of the five best rappers of all-time is Nas, and Illmatic is the crown jewel of his illustrious career.
My old heads taught me about Nas early on—let’s just say I owe y’all one.