Illmatic

Product Information

Illmatic is often hailed as the best hip hop album of all time, and deservedly so. The first thing that can be (review of Illmatic only) Ill Will Music, Inc./Skematics Music/Minder Music (USA) (ASCAP)/Taking Care Of Business Music/Total Experience Music Publishing Co. (BMI) Contains a sample of "Yearning For Your Love" as performed by The Gap Band and written by R. Wilson and O. Scott. Used courtesy Polygram Special Products, Inc. B3 - Large Professor Music Ltd. / EMI April Music Inc. / III Will Music, Inc. / Skematics Music (ASCAP) Like many others, because this was a live hip hop album, I wasn't expecting much in terms of its sound quality. That prejudice was smashed 10 seconds in due to the fantastic audio engineering that went into this album. The quiet parts are dead quiet, the vocals are surprisingly well balanced, and the icing on the cake is the orchestra. NY State of Mind, One Love, and Life's a Bitch in particular sound brilliant with the addition of these live instruments. Even though it's Illmatic and Nas does a solid job MC'ing, the orchestra truly is the focal point here as it adds a refreshing and powerful new addition to the best hip hop album ever made. I got goosebumps several times during the performance (for real), as this is a rare occasion. Usually fusions such as these sound mashed and clumsy. Not here for it's evident that a ton of work and rehearsal went into this performance.

I was the person every Sunday going through your inorganic rubbish on the kerbside looking for "gold"One of the items I would find was vinyl records, I already had a collection in my house I would listen to on my 1960's Record Player (found kerbside one Sunday) and came up with the idea to turn them into artwork, to allow them another life, a good way to prevent them going into landfill Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park)" produced for Works Of Mart Productions. Recorded and mixed at D&D Recording, NYC. Matrix / Runout (Side C, etched): MSAP0055LP C RE-1 NAS - LIVE AT THE KENNEDY CENTER S- 101213 RE-1 This historic performance was recorded live in March 2014 for One Mic Hip Hop Culture Worldwide Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. A5 - Large Professor Music Ltd. / EMI April Music Inc. / III Will Music, Inc. / Skematics Music / Minder Music (USA) (ASCAP)

This sounds insane in hindsight. When people start making greatest rapper lists you can't count to five before Nas' name is mentioned. The kid who went to hell for snuffing Jesus has become a sacred cow. Twenty years deep, he's nominated for a Grammy and is in Gap ads with his dad. There was the album with Damian Marley, the feud with Jay-Z, there was Belly. Nas is firmly entrenched in VH1 Special territory. He has crossed over enough without ever making radio hits, save for "Oochie Wally", in which he is out-rapped by his bodyguard-- all for oochie. B2 - Produced by Q-Tip for A Tribe Called Quest, Inc.. Recorded and mixed at Battery Studios, NYC. Contains sample from "Smilin Billy Suite Pt. II" as performed by The Heath Brothers and written by J. Heath. Hip-hop was a teenager when Illmatic dropped*.* Old enough for biblical foundation, but young enough to be embroiled in an early identity crisis. The Columbia press sheet that accompanies it opens: "While it's sad that there's so much frontin' in the rap world today, this should only make us sit up and pay attention when a rapper comes along who's not about milking the latest trend and running off with the loot." Illmatic' is the debut studio album by American rapper Nas, originally released in April 1994. Often cited as one of the best hip-hop albums of the '90s, 'Illmatic' is the undisputed classic upon which Nas' reputation rests. It helped spearhead the artistic renaissance of New York hip-hop in the post-'Chronic' era, leading a return to street aesthetics. Hip-hop fans accustomed to 73-minute opuses sometimes complain about 'Illmatic''s brevity, but even if it leaves you wanting more, it's also one of the few '90s rap albums with absolutely no wasted space. 'Illmatic' reveals a great lyricist in top form meeting great production, and it remains a perennial favourite among serious hip-hop fans. pressing: fairly standard Columbia CD release: jewel case, fold-out booklet (no lyrics) with some good photography, sounds good

N.Y. State Of Mind" produced for Works Of Mart Productions. Recorded and mixed at D&D Recording, NYC. Contains sample from "Mind Rain" as performed and written by J. Chambers. Gifted Pearl/Ill Will Music, Inc./Skematics Music (ASCAP) Removed from context, they seem unremarkable. When spit with criminal smoothness over beat breaks, they became iconic. If Rakim was rap's Woody Guthrie, Nas was the Dylan figure expanding the possibilities and complexity of the form, twisting old fables to match contemporary failings, faithful to tradition but unwilling to submit to orthodoxy.

A5 - Produced by The Large Professor for Paul Sea Productions, Inc.. Recorded and mixed at Chung King Studios, NYC. Contains samples from "Dead End,""Soul Travelin" and "School Boy Crush". Contains sample of "We're In Love" as performed by Reuben Wilson and written by R Wilson and P. Barsella. A3 - III Will Music, Inc. / Skematics Music / Minder Music (USA) (ASCAP) / Taking Care Of Business Music / Total Experience Music Publishing Co. (BMI) Life's A Bitch" recorded and mixed at Unique Studios and Chung King Studios, NYC. Contains sample from "Yearning For Your Love" as performed by The Gap Band and written by R. Wilson and O. Scott used courtesy Polygram Special Products, Inc. Ill Will Music, Inc./Skematics Music/Minder Music (USA) (ASCAP)/Taking Care Of Business Music/Total Experience Music Publishing Co. (BMI) The enduring vision of Nas: a baby-faced Buddha monk in public housing, scribbling lotto dreams and grim reaper nightmares in dollar notebooks, words enjambed in the margins. The only light is the orange glow of a blunt, bodega liquor, and the adolescent rush of first creation. Sometimes his pen taps the paper and his brain blanks. In the next sentence, he remembers dark streets and the noose.

Have others noticed that the album cover picture is based on two negatives overlayed with the face picture being the top with the street and houses as the bottom.