Nas - Illmatic (Album Review)
What up one & all. Sky Bento here on the check-in once again. Big Bento Energy is most definitely in full effect. Hope you & yours are doing good & well. Drinking water, protecting your mental health, knowing the vibes & all.
We are back with our first retro album review of the year 2022. Let’s start off on a high note with a record that needs no introduction. But due to years of actually paying attention in English class, I feel like I gotta give y’all one anyway. Luckily, Nas has been on a bit of a run as of late (even finally snagging his first Grammy) so you should all know who Nasty Nas is. But you may not know the exact importance of his debut record. This album started the trend of baby picture album covers. This album started the trend of rappers working with all of the hottest producers at the time on one project, rather than sticking to just one. This album even started the trend of rappers being said to not be able to match the quality of their debut. This album brought rap to a new plateau in so many ways that we’re still feeling the reverberations of today. So get your headphones & put yourself in the Queensbridge Projects, because today we are diving into what many still consider to be the greatest rap album of all time. Today we’re revisiting Nas’ 1994 magnum opus, Illmatic.
As always, these are just MY opinions and do not reflect the views of TDN as a staff, brand or a m***********g crew. Feel free to crucify me on Twitter @plzsaythebento. Iight, let’s get to it.
01. The Genesis - Setting: New York in the 90’s. Queens to be exact. We flip from a movie clip about manning up and being greater than our current selves, all while Nas’ classic breakthrough verse from “Live At The BBQ” blares in the background. Then we get a closer look at a day in the life for Nas and his confidants. Phillies & Hennessy. Nas immediately sticks out as the chiller, more cerebral member of the group, telling his homies to stop knocking the cats on the radio and speaking of the integrity he has in his craft. You can tell this is a kid that lives in his head. This is a kid with a worldview that defies his literal view of the world. He sees bigger than his bleek surroundings, even if he can’t actually see past them. This intro says so much with so little, or maybe with so much since there is a lot of talking. But this one is all about the subtext. The stage is set. Let’s get into the greatest Nas song of all time.
02. N.Y. State Of Mind - “Straight out the f***ing dungeons of rap. Where fake n***** don’t make it back. I don’t know how to start this s***.” Bold-faced lie. Nas knew exactly what he was doing, even if he wasn’t conscious of it at the time. And this is before the verse. In true New York fashion, Nas’ first bar on the entire album is about how he’s a better rapper than the rest. In this game you’re only as good as your confidence and man does Nas ooze confidence all over this record. This joint really is the New York state of mind. The high pitches synth (or horn, for once I don’t know) brings to me the vision of a train getting ready to leave, while the gritty bass loop feels exactly like the uncertainty one feels taking their first steps into the underground station. Will you find a dope fiend? Will you get robbed? Will you find Nas rapping with some E&J by the stairs? Will this be completely uneventful but with the same eerie feeling that at any moment it could go left? Who cares. Confidence above it all. This is New York after all. The mecca. This record details all the things that make this place home to Nas. This is the greatest track 2 of all time, because the foundation of what New York is fully informs the rest of the album. To understand the things Nas is about to dive into over the course of the next eight tracks are all consequences of his state of mind. “Life is parallel to hell but I must maintain.”
03. Life’s A B**** (featuring AZ & Olu Dara) - Then we follow it up with arguably the greatest, most scene-stealing feature of all time. AZ’s verse on this joint is even more electric than Nas’ debut feature on the Main Source record. “Clothes, bankrolls and hoes... Yo then what man, what?” With all of the dirt New York has to offer, what more is there to life? AZ details it cleanly. “F*** who’s the baddest, a person’s status depends on salary. And my mentality is money-orientated. I’m destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it.” It’s a mission statement. We’ve got to enjoy this life we were given. We owe it to our friends and family who’ve either lost their life or are serving it. AZ’s flow and cadence are so smooth and matter of fact at the same time, perfectly capturing the essence of the themes at hand. You don’t know how life is going to end, you just know that it will. Contrarily, Nas wakes up on his 20th birthday, grateful for his blessings. Focused on the money, sure, but still wary of his inevitable downfall and making up for it by trying to enjoy his life to the fullest. “That buck that bought a bottle could’ve struck the lotto.” That line always lived with me. Life is definitely a b****, but it’s also what you make it. And the record gets topped off from some saxophone from his father. Poetic.
04. The World Is Yours - From contemplating the meaning of life to a more inspirational cut. All that money talked about on the last joint? It’s yours, along with the world. “I’m out for presidents to represent me.” Specifically the dead ones. Such a fire bar. But yeah, get the money. If it’s one thing this album has said so far, it’s that. And to a youth trapped in the projects, surrounded by vices and crime, what more is there to know? Nas of course is rapping his ass off here, showing just how crazy autobiographical lyrics can sound when the details are painted in full color like this. The projects really breed a "you against the world” kind of mentality, but Nas flips this to be “us against the world” as he shouts out the different boroughs of New York. And if one of us can make it, we all can.
05. Halftime - So this was apparently the lead single from this album and was released almost two years before the full project arrived on store shelves. That could explain why this doesn’t get talked about as much as any of the songs we’ve gone through so far. We are, at this point, halfway through the project. So Nas can just show off his verbal skills for us right quick. This is halftime entertainment. No surprise here, Nas snaps. He just lets you into who he is, nothing too profound. This one is all about the rhymes, which are as much a part of this album as the themes and topics described by the wordplay. Nas really came out the gate THIS GOOD. It’s no wonder he got all of the game’s premier producers (no pun intended) vying to play a part in the debut album of what many considered the second coming of Rakim.
06. Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park) - Nas begins by addressing his whole target demographic. Listeners, blunt-heads, fly ladies and prisoners. Hennessy holders and old school n*****. People who could relate to the stories he drops, basically. Nas’ raps throughout this album contain the stories of fallen soldiers, simpler times, and more. The breezy instrumental gives Nas a wonderful backdrop as he reminisces a bit more in-depth. We actually see all of things that make Nas who he is. Judges hanging n*****, while his intellect prevails and keeps him out of trouble. There’s a sense of survivor’s guilt throughout this track. He was there for all of it, just in a different position. And due to that, he feels obligated to tell the story. His, theirs. Not just an obligation. It’s really in his blood because it is his story as well. Proximity doesn’t matter, these are his people that he wants to shine for.
07. One Love (feat. Q-Tip) - “What up kid? I heard sh** is rough doing your bid. When them cops came you should’ve slid to my crib.” One of the greatest rap songs of all time. The concept is letters to his incarcerated friends, the ones he mentioned on the last track. Letting his mans know all that’s gone on in the hood since he’s been gone. Not only that, he’s sending love out to his other homies in the same situation. The more things change, the more they stay the same. “I hate it when your moms cries.” This is a regular thing. The ups and downs of the street life. The saga continues as the world keeps turning. Nas even got a mask and glove to bust slugs, but one love. Nas ain’t a gangster, this why he’s not in jail. But damn if he ain’t consider going down the same path. This makes his point of view unique amongst most rappers at the time and even now. Most rappers speak of street life from a point of view that is fully entrenched in it. They are willing (as much as they can be with very limited options otherwise) participants. They flex on it. Nas on the other hand has this duality of trying to keep his head on straight and narrow, and not abandoning his homies that have chosen otherwise. He’s a sponge, absorbing all of the information that the world is giving him. And that is exactly what makes this record so excellent. All the things he’s seen are given purpose as he writes them down to give a friend in the pen the feeling of still being on the outside. And in a situation where he’s made to feel completely detached from the outside world at large, that’s exactly the strength he may need to keep going.
08. One Time 4 Your Mind - I feel like this and the next record have the same reputation as Halftime. Despite being on what many consider the greatest rap album of all time, very few people talking about these joints. Being surrounded by such amazing records, and being just super dope can almost make them look whack in comparison. It’s like we have to temper our expectations or something. And honestly, I do think if there’s one joint to take off this project, it’s either this or Halftime. Now that that’s been said, Nas is still rapping his ass off. Take a shot of E&J for every time that happens. The beat is cold for a cypher, but the fact that it really goes nowhere does make it feel a bit monotonous. And this lacks the emotional weight of the prior records. There’s no big theme of message. It’s just great raps. On any other album this would hit entirely different but on a classic like this, you can’t help but want more.
09. Represent - Similar to the last joint, this one just isn’t as good as the the rest. But I think this is the best of the three joints that share the same fate. This one got a better, more ominous beat that actually builds up and releases. And there’s an actual theme of representing for his hood, even if it’s not as in-depth as “N.Y. State Of Mind”. The gang vocals on the hook, you can imagine how this would ring out at shows when Nas didn’t have the vast discography he has today to pull from. That said, there’s still no emotional weight. Not that it needs it, but again, surrounded by the records it is, it could use it to feel a bit less hollow. On the upside, the hollow feeling speaks to the cold Queensbridge vibe. All the shout-outs. This one is meaningful in its own way. It’s a good song. It’s just on Illmatic, where there is much greater. Speaking of…
10. It Ain’t Hard To Tell - This one is special. At this point in the record, it really ain’t hard to tell. You can see exactly what Nas is about. The details are all throughout this project. And one again, Nas is… you know the drill. The internal rhymes and laid back yet full-of-attack flow is just crazy. Plus, the Michael Jackson sample gives this a reflective feel. It feels like Nas is looking back at all he’s said, and accomplished. When he was young, he was a fan of The Jackson 5. Now he’s being compared to Michael Jackson! Okay… maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. But Nas has cemented himself as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Even back when this initially dropped. It’s a perfect outro for this magnum opus.
I don’t know how to end this sh**, yo. Nasty Nas has caused mass hysteria for almost 30 years. There have been slips of course, nobody’s perfect. And you could hardly say he ever dropped another album as good as this one. But man, what an entrance into the game. What a concise body of work. The details he effortlessly weaved into poetic stanzas remains unmatched. There have been plenty of classic debut albums since. There have been plenty of amazing albums since. But there is and forever will be only one Illmatic.