On the 23rd of May 1992, a gunman entered the Queensbridge Houses in New York and killed Nas' best friend, Willy Graham, while Nas' brother was shot and survived. This traumatic event served as a wake-up call for the fifteen-year-old Nas, who had been writing lyrics under the name Nasty Nas since he was sixteen. Before this tragedy, Nas had already made his recorded debut on the 1991 Main Source track Live at the Barbeque and released his solo single Halftime for the film Zebrahead in 1992. Despite the buzz surrounding his complex rhyme schemes and comparisons to the legendary Rakim, Nas was rejected by major labels like Cold Chillin' and Def Jam Recordings. It was not until mid-1992 that MC Serch, whose group 3rd Bass had dissolved, discovered Nas and began shopping his demo around. Serch recalled that after Russell said the sound was too much like G Rap, he took the tape to Faith Newman at Sony Music Entertainment. She had been looking for Nas for a year and a half and insisted on a deal before Serch could leave the office. This partnership set the stage for a project that would change the trajectory of hip-hop history.
The Dungeon Of Rap
The recording sessions for Illmatic took place between 1992 and 1993 across four New York City studios: Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording Studios. The album's production was a collaborative effort involving DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and Nas himself. DJ Premier, known for his raw and aggressive jazz sample-based production, stated that hearing Halftime was automatic for him, noting that Primo and Nas could have been separated at birth because their beats and rhymes fit each other perfectly. The album's title, Illmatic, was initially a reference to Nas' incarcerated friend Illmatic Ice, though Nas later described it as supreme ill, a science of everything ill. The opening track, N.Y. State of Mind, was recorded with a unique energy; Nas had just written the lyrics and did not know how to format the delivery, so Premier counted him in as the beat played. The song opens with the line Straight out the dungeons of rap, where fake niggas don't make back, setting a tone of survival and authenticity that defined the project. Nas, who was twenty years old when the album was released, focused on depicting his own experiences growing up in the Queensbridge housing projects, creating highly detailed first-person narratives that deconstructed the troubled life of an inner-city teenager.
The Sound Of Survival
Illmatic is distinct for its many portrayals and descriptions of places, people, and interactions, utilizing vernacular slang indigenous to his hometown. The album contains highly discerning treatment of its subject matter, including gang rivalries, desolation, and the ravages of urban poverty. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, residents of Queensbridge experienced intense violence as the housing development was overrun by the crack epidemic. In N.Y. State of Mind, Nas details the trap doors, rooftop snipers, street corner lookouts, and drug dealers that pervade his urban dreamscape. The album also celebrates life's pleasures and achievements, acknowledging violence as a feature of his socio-economic conditions rather than the focus of his life. Life's a Bitch contains a sample of The Gap Band's Yearning for Your Love and features guest vocals from AZ, while Nas' father, Olu Dara, plays a trumpet solo as the music fades out. The World Is Yours provides a more optimistic narrative, citing political and spiritual leader Gandhi as an influence, contrasting with the Scarface references of N.Y. State of Mind. The nostalgic Memory Lane Sittin in da Park contains a sample of Reuben Wilson's We're in Love, adding to the track's ghostly harmonies and evoking the crossroads of old school hip-hop and new school.
Illmatic has been noted by music writers for Nas' unique style of delivery and poetic substance, featuring layered rhythms, multisyllabic rhymes, internal half rhymes, assonance, and enjambment. Music critic Marc Lamont Hill of PopMatters elaborated on Nas' lyricism, stating that his complex rhyme patterns, clever wordplay, and impressive vocab took the art of rapping to previously unprecedented heights. The album's musical endowments are equally significant, with the five major producers extensively contributing to a cohesive atmospheric aesthetic while retaining each producer's individual, trademark sound. The majority of the album consists of vintage funk, soul, and jazz samples, with Nas and his producers finding inspiration through the music of their childhood. Donald Byrd, Joe Chambers, Ahmad Jamal, Parliament, and Michael Jackson are among the artists sampled to create the album's sound. The involvement of older artists, including Nas' father and the cadre of big brother producers steering the album, empowered Nas to rest comfortably in his identity as an artist and an inheritor of tradition. This allowed him to innovate while honoring the history of hip-hop, as seen in the opening skit The Genesis, which contains an audio sample of the 1983 film Wild Style, showcasing the work of early hip-hop pioneers such as Grandmaster Flash, Fab Five Freddy, and the Rock Steady Crew.
The Visual And The Voice
The album cover of Illmatic features a picture of Nas as a child, taken after his father, Olu Dara, returned home from an overseas tour. The original cover was intended to have a picture of Nas holding Jesus Christ in a headlock, reflecting the religious imagery of Nas' rap on Live at the Barbeque, but the accepted cover, designed by Aimee Macauley, features a photo of Nas as a child superimposed over a backdrop of a city block, taken by Danny Clinch. Nas stated that the year the photo was taken, he started to acknowledge everything around him and saw the future for himself. The cover is reputedly believed to have been inspired by a jazz album, Howard Hanger Trio's A Child Is Born, whose cover also features a photograph of a child superimposed on an urban landscape. Nas has revealed that the inspiration for the album cover was derived from Michael Jackson, noting that the little kid picture with the afro was kind of inspired by Michael Jackson. Since its release, the cover art has gained an iconic reputation, having been subject to numerous parodies and tributes. The album was the first hip-hop album to feature a child on its cover and became a template for covers of numerous other albums. On the vinyl and cassette pressings, the traditional side A and side B division are replaced with 40th Side North and 41st Side South, the main streets that form the geographic boundaries that divide the Queensbridge housing projects, transforming Illmatic into a sonic map.
The Commercial Paradox
Illmatic was released on the 19th of April 1994, through Columbia Records in the United States. In its first week of release, the album made its debut on the Billboard 200 at number 12, selling 59,000 copies. Despite this, initial record sales fell below expectations, and the album's five radio singles failed to obtain considerable chart success. The lead single, Halftime, only charted on the Hot Rap Singles chart at number 8, while Life's a Bitch never charted. The album suffered from extensive bootlegging prior to its release, with music critic Jeff Weiss noting that Serch claimed he discovered a garage with 60,000 bootlegged copies. While initial sales were low, the album was eventually certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America on the 17th of January 1996, after shipping 500,000 copies. The RIAA later certified Illmatic platinum on the 11th of December 2001, following shipments in excess of a million copies. As of the 6th of February 2019, the album had sold 2 million copies in the United States. The 20th anniversary release, Illmatic XX, sold 15,000 copies in its first week, returning to the Billboard 200 at number 18, with an 844% sales gain. The album was certified gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association in April 2002, for shipments in excess of 50,000 copies in Canada.
The Five Mic Rating
Upon its release, The Source gave Illmatic a five mic rating, their highest rating and a prestigious achievement at the time, given the magazine's influence in the hip-hop community. Jon Shecter, co-founder of The Source, had received a copy of the album eight months before its scheduled release and soon lobbied for it to receive the five mic rating. At the time, it was unheard of for a debuting artist to receive the coveted rating. The rating was controversial, as two years prior, Dr. Dre's The Chronic failed to earn the coveted rating, despite its universal acclaim and influence on the culture. Illmatic was met with widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom hailed it as a masterpiece. NME called its music rhythmic perfection, and Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune cited it as the best hardcore hip-hop album out of the East Coast in years. Dimitri Ehrlich of Entertainment Weekly credited Nas for giving his neighborhood proper respect while establishing himself, and said that the clever lyrics and harsh beats draw listeners into the borough's lifestyle with poetic efficiency. Touré, writing for Rolling Stone, hailed Nas as an elite rapper because of his articulation, detailed lyrics, and Rakim-like tone, all of which he said pair every beautiful moment with its harsh antithesis. Christopher John Farley of Time praised the album as a wake-up call to Nas' listeners and commended him for rendering rather than glorifying the rough world he comes from.
The Legacy Of Illmatic
Since its initial reception, Illmatic has been viewed by music writers as one of the quintessential hip-hop recordings of the 1990s, while its rankings near the top of many publications' best album lists in disparate genres have given it a reputation as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. The album was instrumental in restoring interest in the East Coast hip-hop scene, alongside the critical acclaim of the Wu-Tang Clan's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers and the success of The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut Ready to Die. Illmatic is credited with returning Queensbridge's local hip-hop scene to prominence after years of obscurity. The album has been regarded as a landmark recording in the development of hardcore hip-hop, having unified the disparate threads of urban rebellion in hip-hop. Upon its release, Illmatic brought a renewed focus on lyricism to hip-hop, inspiring several rappers to improve their lyrical abilities. Rappers who have been identified as influenced by Nas' lyrical style include Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, and Detroit rapper Elzhi. Musicians who have acknowledged Illmatic influence upon them include conscious rappers Talib Kweli and Lupe Fiasco, the producers Just Blaze and 9th Wonder, and platinum-selling artists Wiz Khalifa, Alicia Keys and The Game. In 2021, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. In 2014, Nas announced Illmatic XX, the 20th Anniversary Edition of the original album, released on the 15th of April, four days prior to the 20th Anniversary of the original's release date.