"Pumping for something, some’ll prosper, some fail. Judges hanging niggas,
uncorrect bails for direct sales. My intellect prevails from a hanging
cross with nails"Illmatic was the debut album of Nas and it is credited with single handedly making him a legend. Some consider it to be Nas best album and others consider it to be the best rap album of all time. One thing that is common in all camps is that Illmatic is universally hailed as great. Despite it's greatness Illmatic is far from perfect. With Nas himself stating that he was simply writing with no idea how to count bars or create a hook. It's not just Nas' lyrical ability that made Illmatic great. It's influence isn't merely felt with the music but the album art as well.
When listening to Illmatic today it obviously sounds dated but has still held up to the test of time. The laid back style of beats still resonate today largely due to the Nas' father Olu Dara playing various instruments throughout backing his son. Most noticeably he plays a trumpet solo at the end of "Life's a Bitch," that stands out as one of the iconic moments of the album to some. The production on the album seems like an afterthought at times but it excels in presenting a minimalistic vibe with necessary embellishments to accompany Nas' own flow.
Nas flow is consistently laid back and calm throughout the album. The thing that makes it great is it's the same flow on every track. Nas' raspy voice calmly skates over most tracks on the album. However on tracks like "N.Y. State of Mind," he managed to speed up while maintaining that same amount of calm. Other trikes like "It Ain't Hard To Tell," you can hear him catching his breath in the middle of verses in attempt to speed up. Breath control is something Nas admittedly struggled with early on. When you compare him catching his breath on tracks with Illmatic it's crazy to think he's now one of the artist applauded for his breath control.
"Life's A Bitch," could have been the name of the album because the theme is obviously a hopelessness that black people face living in poverty. The first half of the the album is pure hopelessness and a pessimistic outlook on life. "N.Y. State of Mind," displays the reality of urban warfare between gangs. Running through blocks of innocent civilians who are caught in it to no fault of their own. With Nas realizing he's too high to think and he could have shot a kid. "Life's A Bitch," is simply that. Life is a bitch then you die. No matter how hard you try there's just going to be something pushing back against you. Even if you grow up good we all end up with some kind of struggle that can break us. Getting high is simply a way to distract from that morbid fact. "The World Is Yours," tries to find some kind of motivation to keep living but ultimately fails. Nas just wants to rap and live a stress free life but that dream is being snuffed out by facts and reality. At the end it's important to maintain that optimism because there's not really much else.
Halftime is possibly the most important track on the album and sometimes goes overlooked. Marc Lamont Hill called it "The rise of the black public intellectual." Rappers have always been separated into two categories. Conscious and commercial. Conscious rappers are usually the ones with the better lyrical content but lower sells. Opposite that is the commercial rapper who has high sales and mediocre lyrical content. At the time Nas was being considered a conscious rapper and everyone expected his sales to be miniscule. Halftime was Nas proving that there is no need for conscious rappers to sit quietly any longer. It was the rise of black artist no longer simply hiding behind the music but speaking out as well. Halftime comes in the middle of the album and demonstrates a shift of theme from hopelessness to holding on to a slither of hope.
"This is beyond rap, I´m attempting to be rapper with this record, but at the end I´m realising as I´m writing the verse; this isn´t even rap as I know it — I´m bleeding on these tracks"
"One Love," has Nas making phone calls, visits and sending letters to friends in jail about how things are different. He attempts to maintain hope for those behind bars by realizing his situation is only slightly better. The third verse features Nas talking to a 12 year old about why the street life isn't the life. This is the moment that he realizes he's being a hypocrite for telling this kid not to look up to him and do the things that he himself has done with lines like, "I had to school him, told him don't let niggas fool him, cause when the pistol blows the one that's murdered be the cool one." He wants to put some kind of hope into the kid about getting out of the hood.
"One Time For Your Mind," has Nas depicting who is at the time of recording vs who he wants to be. he's running the streets but he wants to be just a rapper who can relax no matter how far away that seems. "Represent," is what it is. It's the typical New York drug dealing rap. It's Nas making sure people know that he's from the hood and no matter what that's where he's from and he can't change that so he might as well represent his hood. The last track is called "It Ain't Hard To Tell," was originally called "Nas Will Prevail." It's about Nas holding on to that tiny slither of hope. He's taking that hope and he's running with it until he makes it.
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You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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