Nas is like a - Half Man Half amazing

Author's Rating:

Pros: One of Nas' best efforts.

Cons: Only 10 tracks.

The Bottom Line: 
Nas' Illmatic is just a debut album, but to me the best album he's released bedside Stillmatic released 10 years later.

Author's Review
I remember being in high school and into rap, not very into it, but that was a time when rap still had some kind of meaning and the rappers were delivering something more than, "that girl over there has an ill-nana and she's shaking her thing and she's making me wanna holla."

I remember seeing this young 20 year old on the airwaves talking about life and the streets and I used to think he was so cute. I mean I was only 15 and me and my friends were all digging him at first because of that. So I decided to purchase Illmatic. 10 years later, this is still one of my favorite hip-hop albums.

Illmatic was released in 1994 under SONY and as a debut album, he really hit me hard with the hot tracks, real lyrics, and pumping beats. This was Nas' debut album and one of his rawist and realist. Unfortunately Nas has become much more commercial in albums to come like, Street Dreams, but to me, this is still one of Nas' best efforts with my next favorite being, Stillmatic because he reclaimed himself as the artist he used to be, though it took him about 10 years to go back to his original and funky style. What I got out of Illmatic was a young man who was very head strong, knowledgeable, very into what he was doing, not someone who just rushed to complete a project, mentally ready and very skilled at putting something hot on a track to give to the general public.

Illmatic consists of 10 tracks of solid hip-hop with the first being a skit. It was like a conversation between him and a mentor about his love of hip-hop and how he strived to do it for the love of it regardless of him having a record deal or anything. It was really a heads up of what he's been though to where he is now. I just remember that one line of the album that made me want to hear more when this man told him, Stop F**ing around and be a man. The music fit the track really well, though it is just an introduction to the well put together package, but it gave an idea of this street guy who has always been into rapping, put the streets into lyrics to create an album that has been strong in my collection for the past 10 years.

2.New York State of Mind is really an anthem to what he had to go through on the streets of New York and the mind that was built from the streets. I really liked the piano in this song. It carried a very jazz feel to it. The bass line is really hot. But what I liked most was the way that he vamped out of this song, though it was a very repetitive phrase that he used. New York State of Mind, New York state of Mind, New York State of Mind, New York state of Mind, Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Nasty Nas, Na-Nasty-Nas, Na-Nasty-Nas. I just think that part is so funky. I could see him freestyling this song, though it is more complete than probably a free-styled song might be. This track keeps your head bopping and feeling like writing.

3. Life's A B**ch featured rapper AZ which I thought was a pretty hot rapper at one time too though there was period that he kind of was missing in action for too long. This track is one of those tracks that you just have to wonder, what was going on in their lives at that time to write a track like this. Though it is very real because life can sometimes be rough and though you have to deal with it, you do until the end comes. The melody is really smooth and funky. But what I liked about this track is that, it was an album cut and didn't have to be on the radios for him to want to have it on his album. The lyrics weren't very commercialized, and to me made me respect Nas more for having something real to say about who he was. Keep it real, packing steel getting high, 'cause life's a b**ch and then you die. Life's a b**ch and then you die, that's why we get high 'cause you never know when you're gonna go.

4. The World is Yours was one of the tracks released to the general publics and was produced by Pete Rock. I think the beat and melody is pretty cool. Nas holds it down with the lyrics on this track. I preferred the remix though. I thought it was cool and I preferred the video for that one. If you remember when this album was released, Video Music Box was still airing it's show on channel 31 at about 4PM, so videos weren't something you needed cable to watch. Or maybe that was because all the hip-hop tracks that were released didn't have videos that featured half-naked girls doing things that were about PG17 and almost Rated R things in these videos. But that is just a matter of opinion. "The World is Yours" is one of those classics about claiming the world and living it according to the way that you feel. He refers to historical figures like Ghandi who have taken matters into his own hands to make the world what it was for him and his people. Nas came across to me as a very educated person. And then at then end, he calls out all his friends and other hip-hop figures and tells them the world is for them. Again this track has this real jazzy feel to it. Like an instrumental you would hear playing in a jazz club by a live jazz band or even on an A track. I keep falling, but never falling six feet deep. I'm out for presidents to represent me (say what), I'm out for presidents to represent me (say what), I'm out for dead presidents to represent me. Who's world is this, the world is yours, the world is yours. It's mine it's mine it's mine who's world is this, the world is yours, the world is yours.

5. Half-time reminds me of one of those old rap songs where rap artists used to claim their title in the rap game as the best MC. KRS 1 used to do that a lot back in the days. To me that was one of the things that held hip-hop down. Battling for the top with the microphone and lyrics instead of with fists and guns. Plus also talking about the things that you wore whether it was Nike, Timbs or hoodies. I like the movement of the music which included some horns. Horns, give a track so much more feeling and meaning, to me. Nas why did you do it, you know you have the mad phat fluid when you rhyme. It's half-time.

6.Memory Lane includes hums, jazz piano, rhythmic drums, and a very nice bass line. Reminiscing about back on the days while sitting on park benches. It reminds of some of the CD booklet where inside, he is sitting on a park bench with his crew. The cover also features a picture of him as a young boy, so this track kind of fell right in line with the CD booklet because it gave more meaning to the entire package. And this is the song that his famous phrase which he uses in like almost every album. I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testing was conceived.

7.One Love was letter to his boy in jail telling him what was going on around with the neighborhood, the people in it and his family. I liked the track and I especially liked the hook. Reminded me of Kool and the Gang back in the days when they used to sing "One Love" and have that little dance moving their leg left to right. I really liked the music in this song because it was funky, very danceable, melodic and something that you would be willing to blast in a car that has a good booming system. Plus the lyrics to me are mad cool. Sometimes I sit back with a buddha sack, minds in another world thinking how could we exist through the facts. Written in school text books, bibles etc. F**k the school lectures. Their lies get me vexed

8. One Time 4 Your Mind is one of the slowest tracks on the album. Something to make you think about. This is another of those album cuts that was more of a declaration of who he was with the rawness and realness of attitude. I like the way he rhymes. I like the things he has to say. This is not my favorite track though because I think the music could've had a little bit more flavour to it. But still he speaks about his inspiration one who used to be Ron G who gave him the idea of rhyming mellow. I try to stay mellow rock with acapella rhymes that made me richer than a slipper made Cinderella.

9. Represent is another one of those tracks with a jazz piano and type feel. I like the movement of the track. It is very funky and danceable. Leave a gun, won't even run I tell bloods. I don't believe in none of that your facts are backwards. I'm a street rebble.

10. It Ain't Hard To Tell was one of his best tracks that was released on the radio waves. It is full of funk, flavour and great lyrics. This is the first song I heard from Nas that gave me the desire to purchase this album. I like the hook full of instruments like horns, da-da-da and It ain't hard to tell being repeated. This track is very melodic and one of those tracks you just don't ever forget. And this is where that phrase that he reuses in like one track from each of his albums came aboutHalf man, half amazing though I thought it was pretty cool when he first used it in this track. I drink moets with medusa, give her shot guns in hell from the spliffs that I hit and inhale, it ain't hard to tell

I love this album because it is full of music and lyrics that have meaning to it. He reminds me a lot of the hip-hop of the past because he uses the concepts of what rap music is all about and he does in a way that not many rappers were doing at that time. But around the same time was when Biggie released, Life After Death which was like one of the best albums in hip-hop to me because of all he had to offer musically and lyrically. Nas is a realist who holds no bars in speaking his mind using facts and his strong mind to give the best that he can. To me this was Nas' best efforts and I admire all that he put into this album to make it a success. Like I said before, this album has been in my collection for over 10 years and is still something I listen to at least once a month. I enjoy every bit of this album from the music to the lyrics to the tracks because it involves much more than hip-hop but funk, jazz and musical accompaniments that made me more of a Nas fan than I probably am to any other hip-hop artist because I have purchased practically all of his albums (give or take a few).

It is sad though the way that he changed so much from the first to second album though. His first album was so real and then his second was very commercialized and I didn't like the changes, though the second album was still good. Maybe that is the difference and the comparison between Jay-Z which people often make. Both artists were incredible. Jay Z's first album didn't really do much but his second album was really his first and it had some tracks on it that no other artist could touch. Both were great hip-hop artists and still are, but to me Nas changed to more commercial in the second and it wasn't a great change where Jay-Z never changed and stayed the same (though Nas is still my favorite of the 2).

I recommend this album to anybody who doesn't have it yet who is interested in listening to a well put together album.