Illmatic - Nas > Reviews > Illmatic - What More Can I Say

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Great lyrical depth
Disadvantages:	Not much you can pick out

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Released in 1994, "Illmatic" is a classic Hip Hop album by the rapper known then as Nasty Nas. It is regarded as one of the greatest Hip Hop albums of all time, which is incredible considering it was the debut of a 21 year old MC from Queensbridge, New York.

1. Genesis (Intro)

2. NY State Of Mind

This is a perfect example of a time when Nas is able to force the listener into his way of thinking, along with DJ Primo, an atmosphere is created, which can only be described as a New York State of Mind, making you see things in a different light. It is made most apparent when he says "I don't sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death.", and it des actually make you wonder if you sould continue to do what you thought was normal, it suddenly has more depth to it.

This is a hardcore rap track and especially in the first verse of the track Nas' talent for writing rhymes is displayed, it was very different to anything else at the time and it's complexity would mean that it wouldn't really fit in too well today, but that's what makes Nas so great, he comes with something original and persists, instead of coyping popular trends.

**Four Stars**

3. Life's A Bitch

This track was ground-breaking lyrically, especially in the chorus, which was provided by former member of The Firm, AZ, in which it is stated that "Life's a bitch and then you die, 'cause you never know when your gonna go", because nothing similar to this had ever been put forth by an artist, not to mention this early in career. Initially I couldn't relate to the words, but as time has passed, I understand how it would have been a struggle to stay alive for that long whilst living such a lifestlye in New York.

With his father's backing on the cornet and L.E.S.'s imaginative compostion using samples by The Gap Band and Grover Washington Jr. there was a very jazzy feel to this one eventhough the topic was so dark. I really enjoy listening to it as you get to know how Nas grew up on the streets, and when his way of life sems so unlike what I'm used to, it seems fun, but from his tone and delivery, you can tell it was far from it.

**Four Stars**

4. World Is Yours

The Old School Hip Hop musician T La Rock get a sample of "It's Yours" played in the background, but the legendary Pate Rock has manipulation it slightly for this one, which has simialr themes to the original. Pete Rock goes for a Jazzy style, as you hear quite a bit in the album, so Ahmad Jamal's "I Love Music" also has a part in creating the beat too.

This is an early Nas tune as it was made in 1992. Nas tells us to stop wasting our time doing things to bring the community down when we have the potnetial to overturn the governemne t and make a better life for everyone. Theses are the type of conscious lyrics which have only been revisited recently by backpack Hip Hoppers, and it's amazing that such an young MC could come up with these theories on his debut album.

**Four Stars**

5. Halftime

This was Nasty Nas' debut single from way back in 1992, and it featured on the soundtrack to "Zebrahead". If you've seen the Spike lee film "Jungle Fever", then you will notice similarities between that and "Zebradhead", and Nas managed to encoraporate this theme of interracial relationships into his rhymes, even though the majority of it has little relevance to the movie. The best sentence to show this is: "You couldn't catch me in the streets without a ton of reefer/That's like Malcolm X, catchin' the Jungle Fever."

You get a strong feeling or influence from his father's music, as he was a Jazz musician, and Nas does this in a Jazz rap style, most clear with acts such as De La Soul. There are a lot of horns and brasswind, and Nas seems to just flow to this with ease, it's a shame we don't see much more of this, but it's completly out of fashion now.

**Four Stars**

6. Memory Lane

This one has a beat which you are able to just nod along to in a laid-back way, but as it's a Nas rap, you are unable to simply sit back and feel the beat, you must also feel the rhymes, because he is so deep that they go to waste if you fail to pay attention to each word he comes out with, because there are so many ambiguous lines that you must analyse everything which is said.

Nas seems to be talking you down "Memory Lane" in this track with a dreamy, hypnotic hook and instrumentals; all increasing the power which Nas is able to exhert through his lyrics, as he sounds as if he's recalling past events gradually as he goes along.

**Four Stars**

7. One Love

I hate to hate on Nas, but I just didn't feel this one, it didn't have enough energy to draw me into like most of the rest of the tracks on the album, for this reason I blame Q-Tip as this is the other record he produced on the album. i also feel bad for complaining because i like the concept of him speaking out the words from a letter he has written to his incarcerated friends, and if you knew the context then you would be likely to enjoy it, but this is where it lost me.

In my opinion, Q-Tip took Nas' laid-back sombre style and turned it into something boring and I certainly do not approve of this, so if the beat was a bit more funky and less dry, then it would have been a decent track.

**Three Stars**

8. One Time 4 Your Mind

The one uses deep bassline and samples "Walter L" by the Jazz musician Gary Burton and it seems to create the atmosphere for you to listen to the track as it is quite dark and brings you down. Then once Nas gets going you feel more able to comprehend his words as you are already in the mind frame that he was when he wrote the words.

Nas uses some Old School Hip Hop techniques of doing some call and responce with the producer, Large Professor, and it really hasn't been heard since these days of Hip Hop, where it way still in touch with its roots, from the music genres which it came from.

**Four Stars**

9. Represent

This one is Nas' first oppotunity to rep his ends of New York, in Queensbridge, where he talks about all of the troubles which he faces here. Nas doesn't do it like everyone else though, by just naming activities which may go down, he goes into great depth on the type of things which may horrify passers-by.

It is interesting how he talks about two contrasting subjects at once to bring out a reaction in the listener, but he makes it seem so casual as he speaks on sellin drugs, but if there waqs a dry stint, then he would resort to robbing from sweet shops; shocking, but real for people here, where they start off selling drugs so early that sweets are still seen to be on a similar level to them.

**Three Stars**

10. It Ain't Hard To Tell

It is one of the more up-tempo records as Large Professor chose to go for Michael Jackson's "Human League" rhythm to put a gentle backdrop on the nice Hip Hop beat, and it really fits in well with Nas' rhymes. Although it only just broke into the top 100 of the Billboard Charts, it would be considered to be a success for Nas at this stage because it was only his second single.

This is Nas' first oppertunity to brag about what he has accomplished so far in his career and he does it in such a way that you cannot complain because he still uses his amazing vocabulary and imaginative metaphorical phrases to form the track, many just state what they have done and received with little inspiration or creativity.

**Four Stars**

I think I need to grow a bit more before I can truley feel all the lyrics in this album because he just goes so far, and it is regarded a classic by all true Hip Hop heads, so I'm just not satisfied that it's the music which is was slightly weak, it's the listener, and so if you aren't fully into Hardcore Hip Hop, there's no way that you will get that much in what he says.

So much is compacted in to these ten tracks, and it's amazing he was able to say so much is so much depth with so few, but that was how Nasty Nas did it. There is so much range in it too, which can't really be explained as he goes into many different modes of getting a bit jazzy at itmes, and then performing some Hardcore rhymes which comment on the state of society.

Nas was backed up by producer which are still seen as amongst the best from the East wth Pete Rock, L.E.S. and DJ Premier all included, and they really allow for the potential of Nas to come out here.