Album: Illmatic
After album introduction The Genesis, Nas delves straight into life in the projects on NY State Of Mind, with tales of drug overdoses and young kids wielding guns. There's a relentless quality to the music, with the incessant piano groove reflecting the unyielding intensity of life in the ghetto ("I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death"). Life's A Bitch features a trumpet solo by Nas' father, jazz musician Olu Dara, and touches on how family issues, like the near-fatal shooting of his brother, have affected his outlook. The World Is Yours is one of five songs from the album released as a single, and strikes a rare note of positivity, citing the influence of Gandhi and a philosophy of self-determination. Halftime sees Nas in boastful hip hop mode and Represent is full of vocal sparring, while Memory Lane and It Ain't Hard To Tell are more thoughtful, nostalgic tracks. With its brilliant production, featuring a heavy Large Professor beat and a sample of Michael Jackson's Human Nature, It Ain't Hard To Tell makes for a momentous ending to the record. The song is also one of Nas' finest moments as a lyricist ("Hit the earth like a comet -- invasion! / Nas is like the Afrocentric Asian / half-man, half-amazing!"). Now over 20 years since its release, Illmatic is recognised as one of hip hop's crowning achievements and a commemorative version of the album, Illmatic XX, was released in 2014, full of unusual, engaging remixes like this one.
Artist: Nas
Born: Queensbridge, New York
Released: April 1994
Genre: Hip Hop
1994 was another good year for hip hop, notably the release of Jeru The Damaja's The Sun Rises In The East, Beastie Boys' Ill Communication and The Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready To Die, but the best of the bunch was Nas' Illmatic. Nas was a product of the notorious Queensbridge Houses project in Queens, New York, and Illmatic stands as one of the most insightful documents of the African-American inner city experience, along side Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing and David Simon's The Wire. Gang Starr's DJ Premier produced The Sun Rises In The East as well as Illmatic, and was responsible for the hardcore, aggressive sound of both records, lightened by jazz samples. DJ Premier was one of several star producers on the record, including Pete Rock and Large Professor, and this approach broke new ground in hip hop. The record's real strength though is the lyricism. Nas is one of hip hop's greatest MCs and street poets, on a par with Q-Tip, who features as a vocalist and producer on the record, notably on One Love, which is a nod to Bob Marley that features a Parliament drum sample and functions as an open letter to Nas' imprisoned friends. There's often a consciousness to New York hip hop that the LA variety rarely shared, and One Love is Nas clearly looking for ways to avoid the traps his peers have fallen into, searching for a sense of unity and peace of mind ("A two day stay, you may say I need the time alone / to relax my dome, no phone, left the 9 at home / you see the streets have me stressed somethin' terrible").
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