Album Review: Illmatic by Nas (1994)

1994 was an incredibly iconic year for culture. Brazil won the world cup against Italy in an intense
penalty shootout, movies such as The Lion King, Forrest Gump, and Pulp Fiction came out that year. In
the music industry, specifically Hip-hop, debut albums from legendary rappers like Ready to Die by
Notorious B.I.G and Outkast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik came out. However, what arguably is
the most important and influential piece of art that came out that year is a rap album made by a 20 year
old. That would be Nas's Illmatic. And today, i'd like to review this album

The whole album as a whole is a must listen for hip-hop enjoyers, whether you like old school hip-hop
or new school hip-hop. There's a reason why this album is a timeless classic and is regarded as the best
hip-hop album of all time. It tells you what it was like to live and to be raised in the projects, or in other
words low income housing area in Queensbridge, New York. All of the struggle and problems that were
prominent during those times as projects in New York in the 70's and 80's were invested with crime,
whether that's drug trade or straight up murder. And whats worse is that it was common for people who
lived in projects to do these crimes, regardless of their age and gender. Nas is no different. He had to
endure living in these projects for most of his childhood. So to me, this album felt more powerful. How
could it not? Not only does it resonate with people who had to endure living in these projects, but it
also offers a brand new perspective, albeit a tragic and violent one to people who never endured these
types of hardships before, creating an interesting experience to some listeners. It made you feel as if
you were there. Not only that though, Nas's immaculate flow and lyricism also stands out when youre
listening to this album. Lines like “i never sleep cause sleep is the cousin of death” will always be
remembered as one of the most iconic lines in hip-hop. Coming up with lyrics might sound easy, but
coming up with clever lyrics that will not only resonate with listeners but also have a great flow, which
means the rhymes and rhythms that compliment each other is not. However, Nas possesses this ability.
The most impressive part is that Nas possesses it at such a young age, as he started making Illmatic
when he was only 16. And when you think it couldn't get any better. It does get better. The beats, or you
could say the background music for songs in this album are just amazing. Before we continue, we need
to know the definiton of sampling. Sampling is the act of reusing a portion or a part of a song to
potentially make something new. Samples may compromise of elements like rhythm, melody, speech,
and sounds and maybe layered and manipulated to fit the sampler's will. Now that we know what it
means, the samples were done by some of the most respected hip-hop producers of all time, like Pete
Rock, Q-Tip, Large Professor, and DJ Premier. One of my favorite samples comes from one of Nas's
most popular song and personally my favorite song from his album Illmatic and his entire discography,
New York State Of Mind and The World Is Yours. For New York State Of Mind, I find it incredible
how DJ Premier was able to take one part from Joe Chambers's Mind Rain and incorporate some
elements from Kool and The Gang's N.T and Donald Byrd's Flight Time and create an iconic beat for
one of the best rap songs. That's also the case with The World Is Yours, It's absolutely amazing how
Pete Rock was able to take one part from I Love Music by Ahmad Jamal Trio and incorporate some
elements from other songs to create the perfect beat for one of the best rap songs as well. Those are the
amazing things about this amazing album. However, this album isn't without flaw as well. The
downside for me is that it features really inappropiate words that younger people might not be allowed
to listen to. Not only that, the theme on some of its songs can also be too graphic to some people. Me
personally I dont think its a huge problem. If anything I see it as a positive because the point of the
whole album is to tell you a story about living in these projects and its hardships. Overall, this album is
an absolute 10/10, without a question. Now the question is, why is it so influential?

First of all, this album was the first album to feature more than one producers as back then it was the
norm to just feature one producer. Not only that, the fact that he was only 19 turning 20 when Illmatic
 was released inspired a lot of upcoming artists to try to hone their talent to make it out like Nas.
Because of that, Nas inspired some of the biggest names in new school hip-hop, for example J. Cole,
Drake, and Kendrick Lamar. Not only that, the album also is a blend of many subgenres of rap like
gangsta rap and reality rap. In my opinion, its also more influential than legendary albums like Straight
Outta Compton by N.W.A, Enter the 36th Chamber by the Wu-Tang Clan, All Eyez On Me by Tupac,
The Infamous by Mobb Deep, and so much more. As i've stated before, this album is a 10/10 and a
must listen to anyone who enjoys hip-hop for reasons mentioned. Thank you for listening, and i'd like
to apologize if I made any mistake