ILLMATIC State of Mind

On April 19th 1994 one of the last great masterpieces in Hip Hop was released. Recorded at D&D Studios between 1992 and 1993 Illmatic may have been the most eagerly anticipated Hip Hop album in history. (Not even west coast phenom  Snoop Doggy Dog's debut album was more awaited) Keep It Oldskool remembers one the greatest albums in history

"With Illmatic, I didn't think about it. I just did it. I believe everybody has good instincts. Now I’m a man from that past and I'm supremely grateful. There's a Nigerian proverb ‘What is past is prologue’. I'm here today because of 'Illmatic'.” - Nas  

The Buzz

The year is 1991 Main Source released their debut album "Breaking Atoms" a track called "Live at the Barbecue" featured an unknown Queenbridge Projects M.C named Nasty Nas. from the first few lines Nas had stole the entire song :

"Street's disciple, my raps are trifle
I shoot slugs from my brain just like a rifle
Stampede the stage, I leave the microphone split
Play Mr. Tuffy while I'm on some Pretty Tone shit"

"And Nas, he always has books and books of rhymes. So he took this piece of this rhyme, and that piece of that rhyme, and put it all together" 
            Large Professor on recording "Live At The Barbecue"

After that song everyone was saying "Yo that first dude on that Live at BBQ track is ill" Large Professor who had met Nas through mutual acquaintance Joe Fatal was working with him in between studio session times for Eric B and Rakim.  Large Professor  was producing a Eric B and Rakim album at the time. It has been stated and confirmed that a lot of the music that Nas made in those sessions was played for Rakim.Nas was looked upon as a child prodigy in Hip Hop and was mysterious as not many people outside of his Queensbridge home base really knew him. Most people mistakenly believe that MC Search discovered Nas. In reality Nas had wanted to roll with Large Professor but "LP" had ongoing issues with his management,label and group mates and did not want to hinder Nas going forward. Mc Search then proceeded to shop Nas demo to many A&Rs and labels including his own. Russell Simmons (Def Jam) declined to sign Nas saying he "sounds to much like Kool G Rap" (is that a bad thing.. I don't think so) Search having helped secure Nas a deal with Sony/Columbia and as Executive Producer of the album set about to get producers for the debut LP of Nas.

The Making of a Classic




DJ Premier  

"Represent"/ New York State of Mind 

 “I remember he got in the studio and we did ‘Represent’ first. That was the first one we recorded, but the version I did didn’t make the album,” DJ Premier explained. “It was a bass-line version. I played bass and then I swear to God as soon as I heard Pete do ‘The World Is Yours.’ I heard his version and went back to the studio to remix mine because I wanted to have the hottest beats on there… ( DJ Premier interview with www.hipjopdx.com) 

                                                                              

Q-Tip

"One Love"
 "I specifically produced ‘One Love’ for Nas. I knew he was special even before Illmatic. He was the MC who could capture the picture of everything he was rhyming about. His approach was incredible…he had the perfect cadence. You related to Nas because you felt he was from around the way. And people forget that Nas was a prodigy…he was younger than all of us at that time. So I told him, ‘Yo, I’m going to give you some spooky sounding shit for your album.’ And Nas was like, ‘Yeah, I need that to capture the feel of what I’m saying. I need that crazy, mysterious shit.’ So that was the vibe of ‘One Love.’ I knew that it was going to be a classic track. I just knew it. It’s one of those special songs that when you work on it you know what it’s going to be.” (Q-Tip interview with urbandaily.com) 





Large Professor aka Xtra P 

"It aint hard to Tell"/"One time 4 Your Mind"/Halftime

 "When you see the Breaking Atoms cover you see the needle touching the record and you don’t see one big ball, you see many, many atoms breaking off. Nas is one of them. It’s weak when you feel like somebody owes you something. You are weak as a person, I don’t care if you’re doing music or not."
                                                       (Large Professor on if he felt Nas owed him something ncb1979.com)

 Pete Rock 

"The World Is Yours"

“With Illmatic, I met Nas through Large Professor. From there we developed a working relationship. He came up to the crib in Mt. Vernon and we were playing beats. He liked what he heard when I played the beat that would eventually become “The World Is Yours”. He was already conceptualizing the song on the spot, telling me what he envisioned – his ideas for the hook. Then the song came out and we made history with it.”
                                                         (Pete Rock on working with Nas www.revive-music.com)

ACCOLADES 
Once the album was released, it was instantly recognized as groundbreaking. The Source Magazine (when it still meant something) gave the album the prestigious "5 MICS".Comments on the album ranged from  "the most urgent poetry since Public Enemy's" by James T. Jones of USA Today to a Washington Post critic who stated that Nas was "balancing limitations and possibilities, distinguishing hurdles and springboards, and acknowledging his own growth from roughneck adolescent to a maturing adult who can respect and criticize the culture of violence that surrounds him"  From his peers you hear quotes like:

 
Ghostface Killah
“The whole fuckin’ Illmatic album! The whole Illmatic album forced you to go ahead and do shit,” Ghostface added. “You know, you jump on [1995’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...] after, and you fuck around like, ‘Oh shit!’ You just try to throw your darts around. It was inspiration
                                                                                       (Ghostface Killah interview with wwwhiphopdx.com)




The Aftermath 
 Looking back at it now it was lunacy to think that Nas would be able to follow Illmatic up with a another masterpiece. Nas made a conscious effort to be more mainstream with the "It Was Written" album in 1996. From the somewhat controversial pairing of Nas and Dr Dre for "Nas Is Coming" to even dissing Notorious B.I.G in the song " The Message".  It was inevitable that people would say when speaking about "It Was Written" " Yeah that jawn (Philly term) was good but not as good as Illmatic"  Nas like most artists did have some missteps ("You owe me" comes to mind) But mostly he continued to make good music. It was not until a challenge from a rival New York MC did Nas step back into the forefront and reclaim his title as one of the most gifted poets who has ever done it.

ILLMATIC XX  20th Anniversary Edition will be released April 15th 2014 featuring remastered versions of the tracks on the album. The Illmatic 20th Anniversary Edition will also include and 2nd CD of remixes,demos and unheard tracks

KEEP IT OLDSKOOL REMEMBERS 
                             ILLMATIC