30 Years of Illmatic
April 19th, 1994, an album was released that would change the course of Hip-Hop and music forever. Nasir Jones, 30 years ago today, dropped what many continue to believe is one of, if not THE, greatest Hip-Hop album of all time. It placed the then 20-year-old emcee from Queensbridge into the greatest of all time, the GOD MC, by those who heard it. It has since stood the test of time and continues to be discovered by the next generation, one after another. So many different adulations have been thrown into the direction of Nas and Illmatic, more than deservedly so. 30 years of consistency and importance comes with endless praise. So, what is there left to say still, all these years later?
This is one of the most important albums in my entire life. To me, you’re lucky, you get to listen to this album. It’s no “gatekeeped” secret by internet sleuths and is only mentioned in underground circles. To me, it is something you have to listen to before you die. You don’t have to fall in love with it and mindlessly take on any opinion people think you should have about a piece of art. But Illmatic is no different than going to see the Mona Lisa in the Louvre or reading The Odyssey. But, if you’re really lucky, you hear it for the first time when you’re just starting to get into Hip-Hop. For me, it was when I was 13.
“I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death, Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined I think of crime, when I'm in a New York State of Mind” - N.Y. State of Mind
Right around or just before high school is the perfect time we all start getting into music. Finding our genre, starting our libraries in one form or another. Mine started after discovering the song “N.Y. State of Mind” in a YouTube recommendation. I was drawn in by the cover. That fading image of a young kid, the color, even the font. There was something about it. I had discovered DMX and Eminem, but this felt different. That first drum kick, those recurring Premier piano keys, and who can forget that intro skit? It’s well known, the story that he did the whole first verse in one take and that the skit was part of that first take, truly not knowing how to start and finish with what would be an all-time undeniable classic track.
It truly started my addiction to Hip-Hop. All I knew was that I needed that CD. I’m not saying I used LimeWire, but all I know was that Illmatic was being played over and over again on my computer and iPod, whichever I had the chance to use. During that first listen, finding out he was also from Queens instilled a sense of pride in where I was from, and where I grew up. To know that someone like this walked the same streets I had. The entire album sounded like it was picked up off the streets of Queens, the epitome of NY Rap. From the language to the train tracks and soulful-headknocking beats. He wanted to capture all that encompasses NY and he even did it in the opening track in the form of a skit, a part of that albums today that have lost their furver. No one could tell me that this wasn’t the coolest living human being and that this album was not the greatest of all time. This was The Beatles for me. Every week I had a new favorite track, finding something else, a drum pattern, a flow, to become hooked too. One week it was the effortlessly impeccable trading of verses by AZ and Nas on Life’s A Bitch. One of the best features of all time, and Nas’s flow in that verse just catches the beat masterfully. Of course that was the first song I played when I turned 20. It will never make sense to me that someone recorded this between 16 and 18 years old.
“I woke up early on my born day;
I'm 20, it's a blessin',
The essence of adolescence leaves my body, now I'm fresh and,
My physical frame is celebrated 'cause I made it,
One quarter through life, some godly-like thing created” - Life’s a Bitch
There are so many things I love about this album. The prolific storytelling on One Love with Q-Tip is second to none. Using prison letters that he’s writing to his friends, updating them on the goings on in the neighborhood set a standard of rap storytelling for all that followed. Showcasing his ability to paint a vivid picture with words while addressing how the prison system affects young black men in America, that has not necessarily changed since this songs release 30 years later. The last verse being recreated in the Nas movie Belly with DMX is one of many examples of people in film and entertainment in general being inspired by moments from this album. Whether it be in Nikes on My Feet by the late-great Mac Miller, or the countless references from a plethora of Hip-Hop greats, the album and Nas are embedded in Hip-Hop’s DNA. Even the video and every verse, but particularly the third, on It Ain’t Hard To Tell is a top 5 song for me, of all time. In one album he showcased every skill and facet of rhyming and hip-hop creation that some only hope to attain when they’ve hit their 3 or 4th album. Whether it be supreme confidence, followed by lines of burdened shoulders, or the lines that showcase the violence and thoughts that go through the brain of a young kid from the 90s. All the dark, haunting aspects of his life seep through these tracks, with a layer of mysticism, flyness, and sleekness, metaphorically covering these aspects that are integral to this album and his life. The label GOD MC does not get thrown around at just anyone. Rakim, Nas, and Kendrick are the names. This is a different level category in the game. The main reason this man is in this conversation happened with his first album. That alone is one of the many small lists Nas will continue to be a part of, long after many of us are gone.
“Wipe the sweat off my dome, spit the phlegm on the streets
Suede Timbs on my feets makes my cipher complete” - The World Is Yours
The World is Yours, Represent, Halftime, these are the epitome of rap. On the topic of calling yourself a fan, there is a lot of discourse online and in circles that “you can’t call yourself a fan if you haven’t listened to (insert any album or artist).” I tend to think that way of thinking is counterproductive more than anything these days. But for one exception. This album. If you want to call yourself a fan, you have to have pressed play on this at least one time. Everyone online has these opinions, no different than me typing this up, that we all think are right. But anyone who thinks Hip-Hop isn’t real music or doesn’t contain certain elements that other “real music does” has never heard this. This alone helps validate anything that an artist releases in the genre those like me love. Cliches may be corny, but they’re cliches for good reason sometimes.
“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
Delete stress like Motrin, then extend strong
I drink Moët with Medusa, give her shotguns in Hell
From the spliff that I lift and inhale; it ain't hard to tell” - It Ain’t Hard To Tell
‘Nas explained the meaning of Illmatic years ago. He called it “Supreme ill. It's as ill as ill gets. That shit is a science of everything ill.” 30 years ago this was the meaning of that word. Since then, that one word, from one rapper, changed Hip-Hop and the world forever. 30 years later Illmatic is a word synonymous in Hip-Hop. It means something far greater now than what it used to. It is the utmost and highest level of praise you can give another rapper’s album. Someone who comes along and their first album is undeniable, almost untouchable. Reasonable Doubt, good kid m.A.A.d. city, Ready to Die. All incredible and groundbreaking. Important in a multitude of ways. But they’ll never be the one who created the original. There will never be another Nas. 3o years from now, there will never be another Illmatic.