Illmatic

Untitled

Illmatic is the debut album by rapper Nas, released on April 19, 1994 through Columbia Records. Featuring production from Large Professor (of The Main Source), Pete Rock (of Pete Rock & CL Smooth), Q-Tip (of A Tribe Called Quest) and DJ Premier (of Gang Starr), as well as a guest appearance from AZ, Illmatic was immediately hailed as a masterpiece by several critics, and is today one of the most celebrated and most influential albums in hip hop history. The release of Illmatic redefined the musical milieu of East Coast hip hop in the mid-1990s; resulting in a renewed focus on lyricism and in the revival of the Queensbridge rap scene, which had been latent after a period of prominence during the 1980s. Upon its release, Illmatic attracted a significant amount of attention within the hip hop community and caused an instant sensation within hip hop's underground circuit. In spite of this, the modest record sales of Illmatic fell below expectations. On December 11, 2001, Illmatic was certified platinum by the RIAA. A remastered commemorative edition of Illmatic was issued by Columbia for the album's tenth anniversary in 2004, with a bonus disc of four remixes and two previously unreleased tracks.

Background

Conception

The origins of Illmatic lie in Nas' ties with Large Professor. At fifteen, Nas met the seventeen-year old producer from Flushing, Queens, and was introduced to Main Source, a hip hop group of which Large Professor was a member. Nas made his recorded debut with Main Source, recording a verse on "Live at the Barbeque," from Main Source's 1991 LP Breaking Atoms. Nas would later make his solo debut in 1992 on the single "Halftime" from MC Serch's soundtrack for the film Zebrahead. The single added to the buzz surrounding Nas, earning him comparisons to Rakim, an influential trendsetter during the golden age of hip hop.

Despite the substantial buzz this collaboration generated for Nas in the underground scene, the rapper struggled to gain a record contract, and was rejected by major rap labels such as Cold Chillin' Records and Def Jam Recordings. Meanwhile, the group 3rd Bass had dissolved, and MC Serch, a former member of the group, began working on a solo project. In mid-1992, Nas was approached by Serch. At the suggestion of producer T-Ray, Serch collaborated with Nas for "Back to the Grill," the lead single for Serch's solo album, Return of the Product. At the recording session of this song, Serch discovered that Nas did not have a recording contract and, as a result, he contacted Faith Newman, an A&R at Sony Music Entertainment. As Serch later recounted,

Nas was in a position where his demo had been sittin' around, "Live At The BBQ" was already a classic, and he was just tryin' to find a decent deal. And I think Nas didn't know who to trust, and it seemed that no one was teaching him the ropes. So when he gave me his demo, I shopped it around. I took it to Russell first, Russell said it sounded like G Rap, he wasn't wit' it. So I took it to Faith. Faith loved it, she said she'd been looking for Nas for a year and a half. They wouldn't let me leave the office without a deal on the table.

Recording sessions

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Nas in Queensbridge during the making of Illmatic

Once Serch assumed the role of executive producer for Nas’ upcoming debut album, he attempted to connect Nas with various producers. Based on what they had already heard, numerous New York-based producers were eager to work with him and eventually entered the Power House Studios with Nas. Among these producers was DJ Premier:

Everybody that really know hip-hop will always remember that record "Live at The BBQ." Just hearing how his flow was on that record let me know that he was destined to be out here to last for a while. When I heard "Half Time," that was some next shit to me. . . So from that point, after Serch approached me about doing some cuts, it was automatic. You'd be stupid to pass that up even if it wasn't payin' no money. . .It's many times when I gave him tracks, and he'd call the next day and say, "Yo, I can't get with that." But it don't bother me 'cause I told him, "I want you to be happy, it's your record." There was many times when he liked a track, and then he was like, "Naa, I want to change it." I'd go back in there and change it, which is what happened to "Represent."

Serch later noted the chemistry between Nas and DJ Premier, recounting that "Primo and Nas, they could have been separated at birth. It wasn't a situation where his beats fit their rhymes, they fit each other." While Serch contacted DJ Premier, Large Professor contacted Pete Rock to collaborate with Nas on a song that would ultimately be entitled "The World Is Yours." Shortly afterwards, New York producers Q-Tip and L.E.S. also gained the opportunity to work with Nas. Nas’ father, Olu Dara, also contributed to the album. His trumpet solo and rapper AZ's vocals were mixed with Nas's rapping in "Life's A Bitch." Throughout the recording, expectations for Illmatic were high, as shown by a quote from AZ:

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The Production Team of Illmatic (Clockwise: L.E.S., Pete Rock, Nas, Large Professor, DJ Premier, abd Q-Tip)

I got on Nas’ album and did the 'Life's a Bitch' song, but even then I thought I was terrible on it, to be honest. But once people started hearing that and liking it, that's what built my confidence. I thought, 'OK, I can probably do this. That record was everything. To be the only person featured on Illmatic when Nas is considered one of the top men in New York at that time, one of the freshest new artists, that was big.

With the majority of the album recorded, DJ Premier contributed one last song to the album before its completion:

After I heard brothers like Q-Tip and Pete Rock's joints, I was like, "Oh shit, I gotta go back to the lab." Them niggas represented with they shit. When we did "Memory Lane" towards the very end, he said he wanted something that was way different from the other stuff they did. Q-Tip's track kinda set a new tone for the album, along with "The World Is Yours" and "Memory Lane." Not anybody could rhyme to that. Most MCs would probably reminisce about situations like he did, but the way he did it is the way the niggas like to hear it, and we the hardest ones to please.

Music

Content

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The video to "One Love" (1994).

Part of the reason for Illmatic's acclaim was the discerning treatment of its subject matter: gang rivalries, desolation, and the ravages of urban poverty. Nas, who was nineteen years old when the album was recorded, realistically depicts the darker side of urbanity, creating highly detailed first person narratives that deconstruct the troubling lives of inner city teenagers. According to one columnist:

...Nas was a genius introvert who rose out of the rubble of Reaganomics to bless the mic with a forward brand of introspective, redemptive street poetry...[his] narration glorifies the emergent poetic self as the embodiment of an elevated creative state that is potentially attainable by most any ghetto child...[His] narrative voice swerves between personas that are cynical and optimistic, naïve and world-weary, enraged and serene, globally conscious and provincial...[He] was a most worthy candidate to craft a palatable and subversive message for the rotten apple’s disenfranchised youth. He was young and observant enough to isolate and analyze the positively formative moments of a project childhood while unflinchingly documenting the tragedies. Throughout lllmatic, listeners are implored to embrace their hardened upbringing as an imperative to move on to bigger and better things, both in the intellectual and material sense.

On "One Love," Nas assumes the role of a man who writes a series of passionate letters to a friend in prison, recounting several mutual acquaintances and the events that have occurred since the receiver's imprisonment. And in "N.Y. State of Mind," Nas recounts his participation in gang violence, and philosophizes that "Life is parallel to Hell, but I must maintain." In other songs, Nas celebrates life's pleasures and achievements, acknowledging violence as a feature of his socio-economic conditions rather than the focus of his life. For instance, in "Life's a Bitch," Nas, waking up, rejoices in life:

I woke up early on my born day, I'm twenty years of blessing

The essence of adolescence leaves my body now I'm fresh in
My physical frame is celebrated cause I made it

One quarter through life some God-ly like thing created

The New York Times noted that Nas "imbues his chronicle with humanity and humor, not just hardness ... [He] reports violence without celebrating it, dwelling on the way life triumphs over grim circumstances rather than the other way around." And Time Magazine praised the "submerged emotion" on Illmatic, calling the album a "wake-up call to [Nas]'s listeners.".

Lyricism

Template:Sample box start Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end In addition to its powerful narratives, Illmatic also gained acclaim for its lyrical substance. As Marc L. Hill of PopMatters writes, "Nas's complex rhyme patterns, clever wordplay, and impressive vocab took the art [of rapping] to previously unprecedented heights. Building on the pioneering work of Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, and Rakim, tracks like 'Halftime' and the laid back 'One Time 4 Your Mind' demonstrated a [high] level of technical precision and rhetorical dexterity..." Hill cites "Memory Lane" as an exemplar of Nas's "flawless lyricism":

I rap for listeners, blunt heads, fly ladies and prisoners
Henessey holders and old school niggas, then I be dissin a
Unofficial that mold woolie thai
I dropped out of Cooley High, gassed up by a cokehead cutie pie
Jungle survivor, fuck who's the liver
My man put the battery in my back, a difference from Energizer
Sentence begins indented, with formality
My duration's infinite, money-wise or physiology
Poetry, that's a part of me, retardedly bop
I drop the anciently manifested hip-hop, straight off the block
I reminisce on park jams, my man was shot for his sheep coat

Childhood blessing make me see him drop in my weed smoke

Production

Illmatic also gained praise for its production. According to critics, the album's four major producers (Large Professor, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Q-Tip) extensively contributed to the cohesive atmospheric aesthetic that permeated the album, while still retaining each's individual, trademark sound. Q Magazine noted that "the musical backdrops [of Illmatic] are razor sharp; hard beats but with melodic hooks and loops, atmospheric background piano, strings or muted trumpet, and samples ... A potent treat." With regards to Illmatic's production, one columnist wrote: "The production, accentuated by infectious organ loop[s], vocal sample[s], and synthesizer-like pads in the background, places your mind in a cheerful, reminiscent, mood...A substantial reason for its phenomenal quality...can be attributed to..the most accomplished and consistently excellent music producers."

Critical recognition

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Illmatic is famous for receiving the 5 mics rating from The Source.

Although some criticized the album for its brevity (it contained only nine songs and one skit; unusual for a hip hop album) the general reaction to Illmatic was overwhelmingly positive—garnering notable praise from several media outlets. Publications ranging from the The Source to NME have since recognized it as one of the quintessential hip hop recordings of the 1990s. The album holds the distinction of being one of the few hip hop albums to be included in the Rolling Stone’ s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was one of just sixteen hip hop albums to be included in Pitchfork Media's "Best Albums Of The 90s Redux list" and was listed as one of thirty-three hip hop/R&B albums included in Rolling Stone’s "Essential Recordings of the 90s." Illmatic was voted #5 in "The Critics Top 100 Black Music Albums of All Time" and #3 in the Hip-Hop Connection Magazine’s Top 100 Readers Poll. In addition, Illmatic was the highest ranked hip hop album of Rate Your Music’s "All-Time Top 500 Albums," coming in at #37 in a December 31, 2003 compilation of the database's user ratings and reviews (in a similar survey conducted in 2005 , the album later rose to #28). Illmatic also was ranked #4 in Vibe Magazine’s "Top 10 Rap Albums", and #2 in MTV’s list of "The Greatest Hip Hop Albums Of All Time."

Illmatic was the first rap album to be awarded with the 5 mics (out of 5) rating from The Source, a prestigious achievement given the magazine's influence within the hip hop community at the time. This was somewhat controversial, since it was unheard of for a debuting artist to receive such a coveted rating. Reginald C. Dennis, former music editor of the magazine and co-founder of XXL, stated:

Awarding records 5 mics – classic status – has always been, on some levels, troubling to me. I mean, we are not only saying that a particular piece of music is superior to everything that is out now, but it will be better than most things released in the future as well...I only gave one 5 under my watch and it went to Nas’s Illmatic. It was the only time I ever broke the 'no 5' rule. Jon Shecter [co-founder of The Source] had gotten his hands on the album like eight months before it was scheduled to drop...Jon didn’t let the tape out of his sight. Not only that, but he constantly raved about it. Everyday. He played it in the office about a million times and very early on began to lobby for this record to receive 5 mics...I told Jon that we'd work all of that stuff out when it was time to review the album. But everyday, Jon was like, "yo, this album is 5 mics — seriously, Reg, 5 mics!"

Significance

East Coast hip hop

Illmatic represents one of the most influential hip hop albums of the mid-1990s, and is considered by hip hop pundits as one of the archetypal albums of East Coast hip hop. Adam Heimlich of the New York Press claimed:

"Nas's heralded debut was an explosive, explicit rejection of the cultural assimilation of most previous hiphop. It foreshadowed rap’s repudiation of all American values other than material ... Illmatic was the first great album (with the arguable exception of Black Moon’s Enta Da Stage) on which credible street stories are told in first person. Its beats pump invisible, practically intravenous scenery, fleshing out the psychological unmentionables of the narrator's violent tales. Literary, disciplined New York hiphop entered a world foreign to liberal humanism or even rationalism. Hiphop was never anything but ghetto will-to-power, the thinking went, and Nas' was pure."

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Illmatic's 10th anniversary edition

Along with the critical acclaim of The Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and the commercial success of the Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die, Illmatic was instrumental in restoring interest into the East Coast hip hop scene, while shifting the emphasis away from the melodious, synth-driven, and funk-induced West Coast G-funk (which dominated the charts for some time following the release of Dr. Dre's The Chronic). As All Music Guide's Steve Huey writes: "It helped spearhead the artistic renaissance of New York hip hop in the post-Chronic era, leading a return to street aesthetics."

David Drake of Stylus Magazine wrote, "...hip hop was on the come-up in '94. Everything that had been building in terms of production and rapping came to an apex in '94, the year that brought us both Notorious B.I.G.'s epic debut Ready to Die and Nas's trenchant street reflections on Illmatic...This was the critical point for the East Coast, a time when rappers from the New York area were releasing bucketloads of thrilling work...". As Nas later recounted: "It felt amazing to be accepted by New York City in that way...at the time a lot of West Coast [hip-hop] was selling; East Coast wasn't selling as much, especially for a new artist. So back then you couldn't tell in the sales, but you could tell in the streets".

Lyricism

Despite its disappointing sales figures, Illmatic made a profound impact on the burgeoning hip hop underground circuit, and marked a major stylistic change in hip hop music by introducing a new standard of lyricism. Prior to the album's release, hip hop lyricism was mostly defined by two popular forms. One was characterized by a fast-paced Ragga-flow accompanied with a whimsical, often nonsensical lyrical delivery, and had been popularized by the Brooklyn-based groups Das EFX and The Fu-Schnickens. The other form was characterized by a slurred "lazy drawl" that sacrificed lyrical complexity for clarity and rhythmic cadence, and was exemplified by popular West Coast hip hop artists such as Snoop Doggy Dogg. However, Illmatic's rhythmically-immaculate verbal pace and intricate, multi-syllabic internal rhyme patterns, inspired several rappers to modify their rapping abilities — bringing a renewed focus on lyricism to hip hop. According to musicologist and pianist Guthrie P. Ramsey, of the University of Pennsylvania, "It set a benchmark for rappers in an artistic field consumed by constantly shifting notions of 'realness', authenticity, and artistic credibility."

Production

The assembly of producers DJ Premier, Q-Tip, Pete Rock, and Large Professor on a single project was unprecedented in hip hop music, since most rap albums had been primarily the work of one dedicated hip hop production team. According to one columnist: "Nas's Illmatic, widely considered one of the best albums in any genre made during the past two decades, is the first to draw together the top producers in the game on one record. That formula, most successfully mined by the late Notorious B.I.G. (1997's Life After Death), Puff Daddy (1997's No Way Out), and Jay-Z (1998's Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life), is what most N.Y. prospects still use today."

Revival of the Queensbridge rap scene

The anticipated release of Illmatic inspired a revival in the Queensbridge hip-hop scene.

Illmatic is also credited with reviving the Queensbridge rap scene. Once home to prestigious pionners such as Marley Marl, MC Shan, Roxanne Shanté, Queensbridge had been one of the most productive hip hop scenes in the country during the 1980s, yet it was otherwise stagnant during the early-1990s. According to Nas: "I was coming from the legacy of Marley Marl, MC Shan, Juice Crew kind of vibe. Knowing these guys out in the neighborhood. At that time, the Queensbridge scene was dead. Dropping that album right there said a lot for me to carry on the legacy of the Queensbridge pioneers." Following Illmatic's release, Queensbridge returned to prominence after years of obscurity, with the ascendancy of the influential hardcore rap group, Mobb Deep (who gained credibility due to their affiliation with Nas) and later with the emergence of the trend-setting duo, Capone-N-Noreaga. Furthermore, the album is credited with launching the career of the critically acclaimed rapper, AZ. AZ, who gained instant exposure and underground credibility due to his appearance on "Life's A Bitch," would later go on to become a frequent collaborator of Nas.

Decline of alternative hip hop

Illmatic was one of the earliest phenomena in East Coast hip hop music that distinguished the burgeoning hardcore rap scene from the popular alternative hip hop acts of the early-1990s. Recorded while East Coast hip hop was dominated by the jazz influences of A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, and the Afrocentric stylings of Brand Nubian and X Clan, the album roughly delineates the end of the golden age of hip hop (1986 – 1993) and the emergence of Mafioso rap, which flourished during the mid-1990s following the release of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (see 1995 in music). Yet as Adam Heimlich writes: "In 1994, there appeared likely to be more money (and definitely more cultural rewards) in working with Arrested Development or Digable Planets ." Although the album contains strong elements of jazz rap and alternative hip hop, Steve Huey credits Illmatic with marking "the beginning of a shift away from Native Tongues-inspired alternative rap," towards future hardcore hip hop artists such as Raekwon and Mobb Deep. Furthermore, Adam Heimlich writes: "[Nas] came on the scene as hardcore's golden child. Along with Wu-Tang Clan, Nas and Mobb Deep all but invented 90s New York rap, back when the notion of an 'East Coast gangsta' still meant Schoolly D or Kool G. Rap. Those three ... designed the manner and style in which New York artists would address what Snoop and Dre had made rap's hottest topics: drugs and violence."

Hip hop artists

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The cover of Bow Wow's Wanted, was modeled after that of Illmatic.

Today, several respected mainstream and underground rappers within the hip hop community have since acknowledged the huge influence Illmatic had on them, making numerous references towards it. These wide range of artists include the battle rappers, SunN.Y. and Reef, the critically-acclaimed rappers, Canibus, Talib Kweli, and Saigon, the popular producers Just Blaze and Alchemist, as well as the multi platinum-selling megastars, The Game (who makes several references to the album on his debut, The Documentary) and Eminem (who adopted a similar lyrical approach on his album, Infinite). Lyrics from Illmatic have also been sampled by other rappers on numerous occasions, including Big L's "Ebonics" (which samples "It Ain't Hard to Tell," and is featured on The Big Picture) and most notably, Jay-Z’s "Rap Game/Crack Game" (which samples "Represent") and "Dead Presidents II" (which samples Q-Tip's remix of "The World is Yours"). In fact, Common’s critically acclaimed album, Be, has said to have been molded after Illmatic .

Later Nas albums

While the critical success of Illmatic helped Nas's infant career immeasurably, hip-hop aficionados have cited it as his inextricable "gift and curse." Due to the widespread critical fame of his debut, Nas's subsequent albums have all been weighed against Illmatic. Against this standard, they are often critically deemed as mediocre follow-ups. For instance, while Nas's sophomore album, It Was Written, received favorable reviews, it is generally agreed that it failed to live up to the classic status of Illmatic. In addition, many fans of Illmatic went on to label Nas's subsequent efforts as 'selling out', due to his crossover sensibilities (i.e. his participation with the hip-hop supergroup The Firm) and his radio-friendly hits aimed at the pop charts, such as "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)" and "Hate Me Now". By the time Nas released I Am... and Nastradamus in 1999, many feared that his career was deteriorating, as both albums received further criticism for their commercially-oriented sound (the latter, Nastradamus, was especially maligned by critics). Reflecting this widespread perception in the hip-hop community, Jay-Z mocked Nas in "Takeover" for having a "one hot album [Illmatic] every ten year average." Nas, however, made a significant comeback with the aptly-titled, Stillmatic, and his subsequent albums have received positive reviews as well. Nevertheless, most fans still regard Illmatic as his definitive album.

Quotes

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Nas and Rakim in an interview with MTV (2006)

I'd met Nas at the Power House Studios [in New York, when Nas was a teenager]. But the first thing I heard [about Nas the MC] was through the buzz on the street. "Yo, Nas is dope. Boom, boom boom! He's wildin'! He's talking about everything!" Then I went out and got [Illmatic]: The first three joints that passed [while I played the album], I was like, "Ahhh." I felt like I wasn't the only one trying to reach for something. He kind of made me feel normal. For somebody to come out and spit fire and people to look at him, it made me feel regular. When Nas came out, he started solidifying it for lyricists. Never mind what [other] people are doing, do you. He did a lot for my career. He may not know that, but he did a lot for my career.

—Rakim; Hip hop artist, 2006

We used to always hear it [Illmatic] chillin' with Nas [in Queens]. What's funny about it was he was humble with it. I would listen to it and the songs were so ill, it made you wanna cry. He was just calm, like, 'How you like it?' We was hearing it piece by piece, so when it came out, it wasn't surprising to hear everybody's reaction. Everybody was going crazy. You could not walk through the 'hood without hearing Illmatic. It was on your brain.

—Havoc; Hip hop artist, 2004

Nas has an old soul, you kinda get the feeling he's been around before in the way he observes life. His mind is always kind of operating at a very mystical level. The people who are the most respected producers in hip-hop have a certain sense of awe when it comes to him. I have never, in all the 15 years that I've been listening to rap, ever heard anybody express something so vividly and perfectly as Nas. He doesn't have to shout to be heard. It's so effortless. You listen to his music, you get this mental picture of where he's coming from. It's not gratuitously violent or sexist, it's just real. It's touching too.

—Faith Newman, Executive Producer, 1994

Nas—he’s one of our saviors now. When we did ‘N.Y. State of Mind,’ at the beginning when he says, ‘Straight out the dungeons of rap / Where fake niggas don’t make it back,’ then you hear him say, ‘I don’t know how to start this shit,’ ’cause he had just written it. He’s got the beat running in the studio, but he doesn’t know how he’s going to format how he’s going to convey it. So he’s going, ‘I don’t know how to start this shit,’ and I’m counting him in [to begin his verse]. One, two, three. And then you can hear him go, ‘Yo,’ and then he goes right into it. He didn’t know how he was gonna come in, but he just started going because we were recording. I’m actually yelling, ‘We’re recording!’ and banging on the [vocal booth] window. ‘Come on, get ready!’ You hear him start the shit: Rappers…. And then everyone in the studio was like, ‘Oh, my God,’ ’cause it was so unexpected. He was not ready. So we used that first verse. And that was when he was up and coming, his first album. So we was like, Yo, this guy is gonna be big.”

—DJ Premier; Producer, 1994

Track listing

#	Title	Performer(s)	Songwriters	Producer(s)	Samples
1	"The Genesis"	Nas Additional vocals by AZ			Contains sample from "Live at the Barbeque" as performed by The Main Source Contains sample from "Subway Theme" as performed by Chris Stein of Blondie, from the motion picture Wild Style (1982)
2	"N.Y. State of Mind"	Nas	Nasir Jones Chris Martin	DJ Premier	Contains sample from "Mind Rain" as performed and written by Joe Chambers Contains sample from "Flight Time" as performed by Donald Byrd. Contains sample from "Mahogany" as performed by Eric B. & Rakim.
3	"Life's a Bitch"	Nas Additional vocals by AZ (First Verse) Trumpet by Olu Dara	Anthony Cruz Olu Dara Nasir Jones O. Scott R. Wilson	L.E.S.	Contains sample from "Yearning For Your Love" as performed by The Gap Band Contains sample from "Black Frost" as performed by Grover Washington Jr..
4	"The World Is Yours"	Nas Additional vocals by Pete Rock (chorus)	Nasir Jones Pete Phillips	Pete Rock	Contains sample from "I Love Music" performed by Ahmad Jamal Contains sample from "It's Yours" performed by T La Rock
5	"Halftime"	Nas	G. Byrd Nasir Jones W.P. Mitchell	Large Professor	Contains sample from "Dead End" by Japanese Hair. Contains samples from "Soul Travelin'" by Gary Byrd & "School Boy Crush" by Average White Band.
6	"Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)"	Nas	P. Barsella Nasir Jones Chris Martin Reuben Wilson	DJ Premier	Contains sample from "We're In Love" as performed by Reuben Wilson Contains sample from "Pickin' Boogers" by Biz Markie Contains sample from "Droppin' Science" by Craig G
7	"One Love"	Nas Additional vocals by Q-Tip (chorus)	Jonathan Davis Nasir Jones J. Heath	Q-Tip	Contains sample from "Smilin' Billy Suite Pt. II" as performed by the Heath Brothers
8	"One Time 4 Your Mind"	Nas	Nasir Jones W.P. Mitchell	Large Professor	Contains sample from "Walter L" as written by G. Burton
9	"Represent"	Nas	Nasir Jones Chris Martin	DJ Premier	Contains sample from "The Thief of Baghdad" by Lee Erwin
10	"It Ain't Hard to Tell"	Nas	Nasir Jones W.P. Mitchell	Large Professor	Contains sample from "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson, written by John Bettis and Steve Porcaro Contains sample from "N.T." as performed by Kool & the Gang

Sample information is retrieved from The-Breaks.com.

Credits

• Nas - Vocals, Producer
• MC Serch - Executive Producer
• Olu Dara - Trumpet
• DJ Premier - Producer
• Diego Garrido - Engineer, Mixing
• Large Professor - Producer
• Tim "The Funky Red" Lathem - Engineer
• Q-Tip - Producer
• Kevin Reynolds - Engineer
• Pete Rock - Producer
• Eddie Sancho - Engineer
• Jamey Staub - Engineer
• Jason Vogel - Engineer
• Stan Wallace - Engineer
• Louis Tineo - Assistant Engineer
• Aimee MacAuley - Design
• Jack Hersca - Assistant Engineer
• Danny Clinch - Photography
• L.E.S. - Producer
• Anton "Sample This" Pushansky - Engineer
• AZ - Vocals

Chart and singles history

Chart positions from Billboard magazine (North America)

Album

Year	Chart	Peak position ( # )
1994	The Billboard 200	12
	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	2

Singles

Single cover	Single information
File:114000952m.jpg	"Half Time" Released: November 12, 1992 B-side: Billboard Hot 100: - Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: - Hot Rap Tracks: #8
File:4908.jpg	"It Ain't Hard to Tell" Released: 1994 B-side: Billboard Hot 100: #91 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: #57 Hot Rap Tracks: #13
File:Nas worldisyo 101b.jpg	"The World Is Yours" Released: 1994 B-side: Billboard Hot 100: - Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: #67 Hot Rap Tracks: #13
	"One Love" Released: 1995 B-side: Billboard Hot 100: - Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: #6 Hot Rap Tracks: #24

Three singles were released in support of Illmatic: "It Ain't Hard to Tell" and "The World is Yours" in 1994, and "One Love" in 1995. The track "Half Time" was originally issued as a single before these three selections in 1992, in support of the Zebrahead soundtrack. All four singles had music videos produced for them, directed by Ralph McDaniels ("It Ain't Hard to Tell"), Josh Taft ("The World is Yours"), and hip-hop personality Fab 5 Freddy ("One Love"). There is no director's credit for the "Half Time" music video. There was also a video for "The World Is Yours (Q-Tip Remix)". "Life's A Bitch" was also released as a promo 12".

Accolades

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Blender Magazine	USA	500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die	2003	*
Ego Trip	USA	Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year 1980-98	1999	#1
Exclaim!	Canada	100 Records That Rocked 100 Issues	2000	*
Hip Hop Connection	United Kingdom	Top 100 Readers Poll		#3
Ink Blot	USA	Albums of the 90s	2002	#11
Juice	Australia	The 100 (+34) Greatest Albums of the 90s	1999	#101
Juice	Germany	The Hundred Most Influential Rap Albums Ever	2002	#4
Les Inrockuptibles	France	50 Years of Rock'n'Roll	2004	*
MTV	USA	The Greatest Hip Hop Albums Of All Time	2004	#2
Music Underwater	USA	Top 100 Albums 1990-2003	2004	#45
Pitchfork Media	USA	Top 100 Favorite Records of the 1990s	2003	#33
Rock de Lux	Spain	The 150 Best Albums from the 90s	2000	#134
Rate Your Music	USA	All-Time Top 500 Albums	2003	#37
Rate Your Music	USA	All-Time Top 500 Albums	2005	#28
Rolling Stone	USA	List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time	2003	#400
Rolling Stone	USA	The Essential Recordings of the 90s	1999	*
Select Magazine	USA	The 100 Best Albums of the 90s	1996	*
Spin Magazine	USA	Top 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years	2005	#17
Stylus Magazine	USA	Top 101-200 Albums of All time	2004	#143
The Movement	New Zealand	The 101 Best Albums of the 90s	2004	#51
The Source	USA	100 Best Rap Albums	1998	*
	USA	The Critics Top 100 Black Music Albums of All Time	2006	#5
	USA	Radio One's Top 50 Albums (1993-2003)	2006	#19
Vibe Magazine	USA	51 Albums representing a Generation, a Sound and a Movement	2004	*
Vibe Magazine	USA	Top 10 Rap Albums	2002	#4

( * ) designates lists which are unordered.

Trivia

• In an early promotional interview, Nas claimed that the name "Illmatic" (meaning "beyond ill" or "the ultimate") was a reference to his incarcerated Queensbridge friend, Illmatic Ice.
• The original album cover concept was to feature Nas holding Jesus Christ in a headlock.
• The album cover features a picture of Nas as a child, taken just after his father, musician Olu Dara had returned home from an overseas tour.
• The intro, "Genesis", starts with a audio sample of Wild Style (1982), the first major hip hop motion picture. Nas made another ode to Wild Style, while shooting the music video for his single, "It Ain't Hard To Tell", on the same stage as the finale scene for the film.
• Nas' famous debut appearance, "Live at the Barbeque" (see Breaking Atoms), is played in the background of "Genesis".
• The cover concept of Notorious B.I.G's Ready to Die (released a few months following Illmatic) features a picture of a baby with an afro. In the song "Last Real Nigga Alive" (featured on God's Son) Nas claims that rappers Raekwon and Ghostface Killah were at odds with The Notorious B.I.G. Specifically, he explains that the track "Shark Niggas (Biters)" from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx has Ghostface denouncing The Notorious B.I.G. for supposedly stealing Nas' album cover idea.
• At one point, the song "The World is Yours," can be heard in the background to a scene in Antwone Fisher . The song is also featured in the soundtrack to the popular video game, Tony Hawk's Underground

Further reading

• Alan Light (1999). The Vibe History of Hip Hop. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0609805037. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Kool Moe Dee. (2003). There's a God on the Mic. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560255331. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Sacha Jenkins (1999). Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 352. ISBN 0312242980. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• Illmatic at MusicBrainz

Reviews

• "Nas's Illmatic: A look at a hip hop masterpiece, ten years removed" — By Matthew Gasteier
• Retro "QB" Classic: Nas - Illmatic — By George Hagan
• Throwback Classic: Nas - Illmatic — By Michael Ivey

Lyrics

• Illmatic Lyrics — The Original Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive