There's certain albums that I can't really exclude from a "Classic Album" series, and Illmatic is definitely one of them.
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Since first hearing it, Illmatic has always been in my top 10 Hip Hop albums of all time. And for many it is regarded as the Greatest Hip Hop Album of All Time. You'll be hard-pressed to find a top 10 list without Illmatic in that's for sure.
I'm gonna see if I can dissect some of the reasons why that is. Because, at the time it was fairly under-stated, only selling around 15,000 copies in the first week, which is crazy. Obviously I wasn't around when it came out, but I bet everyone knew it was the shit straight away, but maybe only over time has it become the seminal, revered album that we know it to be.
So what's all the hype about? For the review I'm just going to pick out some of the reasons why I love the album so much.
Vivid Storytelling: Whether it's describing his gritty upbringing in Queensbridge and his surroundings, or actual stories that have happened, he always does it in a really evocative, graphic way. He won't miss an opportunity to go all the way with it and really bring you into his world. I think what I like the most is how creative he is with it. Like this line from The World is Yours, he could easily just say like he's sick and he's smooth when he's rapping, but look how creative he is with this, which is essentially just a line bragging: "Behold the Mic I'm throbbin, mechanical movement, understandable smooth shit that murderers move with". That sort of vividness, detail and lyricism is what has inspired so many MC's after him. I know that line isn't too much of telling a story, but he is describing how he is on the mic, so he kind of is, but you get the point anyway.
Raw and Authentic Beats: Nas has often been accused of being quite a bad 'beat-picker', but that's definitely not something you could criticize him for on Ilmatic. Rapping some really realistic, nasty bars over typical jazzy boom-bap beats it all just jelled brilliantly. The beats feel real, never over-produced and bring out Nas' flow excellently. Best beats are on Represent, Memory Lane (Sittin in da park) and N.Y State of Mind.
Addictive Flows: Straight out the gate when Nas says "Rappers I monkey flip 'em, with the funky rhythm I be kickin" he completely sets the precedent for the rest of the album. Soon as you hear it, it just draws you in and you can't turn it off. No one skips a Nas verse, especially on Illmatic and his flow is probably the reason why. One of the reasons why his flow is so good is because he's always catching you off guard with his rhyme schemes and the way he switches them from bar-to-bar.
Look at the opening bar of N.Y State of Mind again, and look how he switches the scheme:
"Rappers I monkey flip 'em. with the funky rhythm I be kickin', musician, inflictin' composition, of pain, I'm like Scarface sniffin' cocaine".
At first you think he's rhyming the "Monkey Flip 'em - Funky Rhythm" scheme, then he changes to "Kickin' - Musician - Inflictin'" scheme, then again changes to "pain - cocaine". So within the first 3 bars he's changed the rhyme scheme 3 times. Also his delivery is always hard too, so it's a crazy amount of skill he's demonstrating.
Quotable Bars: If you've heard the album there's probably going to be at least one bar that stands out for you, even if it's just the intro to N.Y State of Mind, "Straight out the fucking dungeons of rap..."
I think it's the way he sets up his punch lines and stuff, they often land on the end of the bar perfectly. My favourite is from Halftime: "But I was too scared to grab the mics in the parks and, kick my little raps cause I thought ni**as wouldn't understand, and now in every jam I'm the fuckin' man."
Album Length: Really digestible length, around 40 minutes. It's not a slog to listen to. Because it's short makes it seem even more valuable. There isn't a bad song. In fact, maybe it could be a couple songs longer.
To finish, they were just some of the reasons why I love Illmatic so much. If you asked a hundred other people they could probably come up with 5 completely different reasons. Yeah, ultimately, Illmatic is an underground album that became the greatest hip hop album ever. I think for that reason, to this day it is still inspiring to many MC's in the underground. It still probably speaks to them, and is still relatable. It has aged tremendously in my opinion.
Hard album, brilliant production, insane lyricism, can't really go wrong - I could talk about it all day and still wouldn't do it justice. An album that will be remembered forever.
Fave track - Halftime
10/10
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