Illmatic at 30

Years ago, there was a conversation about albums that can base the entire art form of hip-hop around it if it disappeared. There were many albums in contention: Run-DMC’s self-titled, The Low End Theory, Paul’s Boutique, Follow The Leader, Good Kid m.a.a.d City, Enter the Wu-Tang, The College Dropout. But, with all of these different works of art, one album stood as the clear winner: Nas’s Illmatic. 

Illmatic is not revolutionary, not by any means. It didn’t change rapping like Paid in Full, it didn’t introduce profanity to white America like Straight Outta Compton or As Nasty as They Wanna Be, It didn’t invent multi-layer sampling like Paul’s Boutique or 3 Feet High and Rising, and, it didn’t give rappers inspiration to have creative storytelling like The Adventures of Slick Rick. Illmatic didn’t invent any of these things, but it melded them into its own.

Like a good recipe, Nas mixed Rakim’s intricate flow and rhyme schemes with Slick Rick’s storytelling, as a way to paint a picture of the horrible life that kids and young adults faced in Queensbridge Projects, while they were still making sense of the world around him. Each song is a story about either Nas or people in his neighborhood, complemented with lavish production by some of the (at the time) best producers from the east coast. 

My one test for production quality lies in a simple phrase, does it hold up? And the one misconception with that phrase is that others think that there is some connection to it feeling dated, but not at all. All good production is going to be dated, sometimes in a good way. As an example, “N Luv Wit My Money” by Paul Wall has a very dated beat, with the slow tempo and  agonizing synths. But, on the other hand, we have “Good Life” by Kanye and T-Pain, which uses synths that sound very similar to “N Luv Wit My Money”, but Kanye incorporates them in the song at a time where T-Pain’s vocals can complement it. And, as mentioned, Illmatic is in the second camp. 

Each producer incorporates their own style into this project, and that’s   what makes this album spectacular. One of the reasons I can’t listen to a whole Future record is because most of the beats on it sound the same, and it makes a boring listen. But, Illmatic shows that beat diversity is something that is largely overlooked in a hip-hop record. The transition from a gritty street anthem like “N.Y. State of Mind” to the calm, relaxing, Gap Band-sampled sound of “Life’s a Bitch” is a wonderful change of scenery that somehow still connects with the album’s story, and I think the producers help add to that, as even they can inspire each other. While working on “One Love”, Q-Tip (producer for A Tribe Called Quest) heard an unfinished version of “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in the Park)” (produced by DJ Premier), and that gave him inspiration to use the “Smilin Billy Suite” sample. (fun fact: Q-Tip used a method called pause taping to sample. Brandon Shaw of YouTube channel Digging the Greats tried it out and it really showed how painstaking a process it was.) Then, Premier heard “One Love” and got so blown away, he  scrapped the original version of “Represent” and made a whole new beat for that and for “Memory Lane.” But  of course, there is still one part of the record we haven’t talked about, and that’s Nas himself.

Before Illmatic hit store shelves, Nas had as much expectations as LeBron did a decade later. People all around New York couldn’t wait for the Queensbridge MC to finally showcase his talents on record. And boy did he showcase them. Nas got the coveted 5-mic rating on the Source Magazine, and it was well warranted. At least 5 songs on this album are in the top 100 hip-hop songs of all time. The flow he has on “Memory Lane” is so dense and cohesive. “N.Y. State of Mind” showcases the troubles that a young kid from Queensbrige would get into at an early age over an amazing Primo beat.“Life’s a Bitch” and ”The World is Yours” contrast each other, as the former talks about the slim chances of making it out of the projects and the negative outlook on life that some kids have. Meanwhile, the lader has a positive message, to  make the  most out of your life and to not take anything for granted. “Halftime” was the lead single for the album, and uses a gritty Large Professor instrumental, with a multitude of samples on top. “One Love” has Nas’s storytelling capabilities on full display (heavily inspired by Slick Rick), with him talking about writing a letter to his homies locked up. Lastly, “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” closes off the album, and Nas starts flexing his Lyrical capabilities once again. He starts using words that have never been used in rap songs before, and starts rhyming random words together, and somehow makes them work.

The saying goes that Nas had an English professor’s vocabulary at just 19, which is true. But even more impressive than that is how he has kept going throughout the past few years. He dropped Stillmatic in 2001, during the height of the JAY-Z beef and the entire King’s Disease trilogy, which reinvigorated his prime 30 years later, even making the case that he should be in the big three right now. And this album is a reminder that he still got it from 1994 to 2024.

This is the 2nd installment in my Top 7 Hip-Hop Albums series.