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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
The Greatest Album Ever Made From The Greatest Lyricist Ever, 9 April 2005
What can be said about Illmatic that hasn't been said before, probably not a lot but this my personal take on what I consider to be the best album ever made. From the beginning when a new york train drives loudly past a room where Nas' verse from the breakout song Live At the Barbeque with Main Source plays at half volume before a gang disussion gets underway. A non nyc native realises they are about to be taken to world not only wholly unbeknown to them but also to world that modern mainstream Hip-Hop itself has long since forgotton. Nas spits verses on the 9 classic tracks produced by Q-Tip, DJ Premier, Pete Rock & Large Professor with the wisdom, delicacy and heartfelt experience of someone twice his age. Forget the bragadocio gangsta mentality of Curtis Jackson and his ilk, Nas deals with issues such as gang warfare, gun crime and drugs with a brutal honesty that portrays them not as glamourous acts but merely as parts of the colorful tapestry of his home in the Queensbridge Projects that take place everyday. What really impresses are Nas' multi-faceted rhyme patterns and his story telling ability both of which are yet to be beaten in any genre of music. For those who wish to return to a forgotten time buy this album and let Mr. Jones take you back through the greatest 40 mins of narrative your ears will ever hear, from stories of nyc stick-up kids and shoot outs in fron of tenements to the hopes and fears of generation x black males you will not be disappointed. One word Essential.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Is it worth buying if you have the original?, 31 Jul 2005
Probably not, if you already have the original and you are wondering whether it is worth the extra money for the extra tracks I would say no. If you don't already have illmatic then you should definately buy this version instead because it is undoubtably one of the greatest albums ever. The remix's have good beats but it is almost impossible to improve the classic tracks and the two bonus tracks are ok but I wouldn't spend all this extra money on them, stick with the original unless you are a die-hard fan.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Nas is the greatest, 25 Jan 2003
About a year ago,I heard "got yoself a gun",and ended up getting stillmatic because it was so catchy.It turned out to be a wise choice-in my opinion nas is the best lyricist in hip hop,whatever you say about tupac or the rest,and he rarely makes a weak song.Stillmatic became my favourite album,and then after buying a couple more of his excellent albums,i decided to get this.Nas's albums always seemed to get compared to illmatic as extremely poor.I got it,and I was amazed!Even better than the other nas albums,and yes its true this is the best hip hop lp ever made!He flows quickly with wit and intelligence and shows his pure lyrical genius.The lyrics better the beats,which are doper than any ive heard on an album for a long time.Nas utilises great street knowledge for a 20 year old,and illmatic shines with flair and originality.This album changed the face of hip hop,and is well worth getting,whether your a fan of hip hop,nas,QB or just music in general.This is hip hop at its best.Buy it now,you won't regret it.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Nas Illmatic - An Epitah for 90's Hip Hop, 19 Aug 2004
From start to finish this album epitomises all that is/was good in Hip Hop.At the time (1994) Nas was touted as the next Rakim and on the evidence of his first long player stemming from his debut on Main Sources posse cut "Live at the BBQ", the plaudits were not far wrong. With production from Heavy Weight players such as The Large Professor, Dj Premier, Pete Rock and Q-Tip from A Tribe Called quest the album tracks range from the Sublimely Hypnotic Pianos and Wordplay of "The World Is Yours" to the hard core head nodders of "Half Time" and "Represent" and finishing with the Beautiful Debut single "It aint hard to tell". Nas takes your through a range of emotions and topics with his complex flow and smooth delivery to the back drop of the Projects in Queensbridge where he grew up. Everyone should own this album - A bench mark for how Hip Hopshould be....
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
39 minutes of perfection, no filler, just pure hip hop, 24 Jan 2004
When I first listened to this, I thought the beats were plain and tedious, and I was disappointed with the length (10 tracks, 39 min). But I knew it was meant to be a classic, so I gave it a few more listens. Now it is my favourite album of all time, and sits in my CD rack next to timeless classics like 36 chambers, liquid swords, cuban linx, the infamous, and ready to die. If you are a commercial fan and have no brain, you'll be disappointed because the lyrics are real and there is no image and acting, and he doesn't constantly rap about guns, hoes, cars, diamonds and material. He raps about life in the ghetto, and what he sees around him. If you say the beats are boring, wakeup and realise that good hip hop requires you to GET INTO IT. Don't dismiss an album just because it didn't appeal to you on your first listen. Most classics require repeated listens for you to fully appreciate and understand. Any real hip hop fan knows that good hip hop should be original and have thought provoking lyrics, unlike mainstream which is all the same. Nas' flow is perfect throughout and each lyric gives an extra detail of what life in the Queensbridge projects is like. The production is original, consistent and perfectly fits in well with Nas' flow and intelligent lyrics. Every track is a classic and no matter how hard I listen I can only find one minor flaw, and that is the repetitive chorus on One Time 4 Your Mind, but that is so easily ignored. The best tracks are hard to choose, but my favourites are N.Y. State Of Mind, The World Is Yours, Memory Lane, One Love, Represent and It Ain't Hard To Tell. Even the intro is dope. Is you don't like this on your first listen, trust me it'll grow on you the same way it did for me if you just sit back, feel the beat and enjoy Nas' flawless flow and intelligent street poetry. CLASSIC. Highly recommended for real hip hop fans who have brains.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
believe it, its all true, 10 Jun 2002
if there was a sixth star, I'd give that to this album too. I bought stillmatic a while back and after enjoying tracks like '2nd childhood' I moved onto illmatic, the more critically acclaimed debut album. what can I say, every track is genius. it sounded a bit old school to me at first, some of the loops seemed a bit tedious at the time, but with every listen it became more and more infectious. I honestly think nas is hip-hops only true poet, tupac may have stood for more but on ILLMATIC nas is so fluent and consistent, his force in modern hip hop is undeniable. Every track is of the highest order but after millions of listens my fave tracks are halftime, one love, represent and it aint hard to tell. I hope this review is helpful to those who have just discovered nas, cos you'll find his new stuff quite accessable but like most hip hop albums, a bit patchy. Illmatic is 39 minutes, 10 tracks and no fillers, it truly is an urban classic.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Greatest Piece of Hip hop Ever?, 6 Jul 2005
By A Customer
In a word. Yes. This is a serious piece of music. I have an emotional attachment to records such as 'It takes a nation of millions - PE', 'Criminal Minded - KRS' etc. When you listen to this record up against those, there really is no comparison. Nas on this record is touching poetic genius. His flow is untouchable, the lyrics orignial, intelligent. The production is excellent. Some people might consider this a Gangster record. Nas is simply telling it how he saw it growing up, as a young black kid in the QB projects. This record is a testament to that struggle, and should be acknowledged as such. I cant quite get my head round the fact that Nas made this record when he was 20 years of age, incredible.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
I got more kicks than a baby in a mothers stomach, 3 Sep 2003
I’m a relative newbie to the hiphop scene. I did use to buy albums in the mid 90s like Tha Dogfather by Snoop, Liquid Swords by Gza and the classic 36 Chambers by the Wu Tang Clan. But I never really understood those pieces, the lyrics and was more into the music.Illmatic is probably the album which put these two things together and made the hip hop genre clearer to myself. I’m a music man, and can happily tell you when the melody changes key and when the drummer adds more shuffle in a track from memory, but ask me to recite the lyrics or even tell you what the song is about and I just can’t. But listening to Illmatic, hearing Nas rap about his struggle of being a kid afraid to rap but now he’s running shows (Halftime). With even some jazzy influences on Life’s a Bitch, to the full bassline of Halftime and the Michael Jackson subtle sampling of It ain’t Hard to Tell, Nas has a lot to offer. He doesn’t go on too much about gun totting but he tells the truth “I use to wash chips now I load Glock clips”, but he’s got proper positive lyrics which he has coming on through the album. Some true to his life which are harrowing, but that’s the way hiphop should be. Sugar coated rap has it’s place, but when it comes down to the deepness and truth of it all, I feel Nas is one of the best. His follow up albums where excellent, though I still think Illmatic is the best of the pile.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Forget the nasty Nas of today, 'Illmatic' is a true classic, 8 Dec 1999
By A Customer
Quite how Nas went from releasing one of the most complete, magnificent debuts of all time to becoming the bête noire of fans of quality hip-hop is a story too depressing to recount. But put aside his current incarnation as something between Will Smith and Puff Daddy and revel in 'Illmatic'. Gathering together some of the greatest names in rap production [Premier, Diamond, Large Professor, Q-Tip, Pete Rock...], Nas fused their space age beats and breaks to his street level lyrics and languid, rolling vocal delivery. Even five years after its release, 'Illmatic's freshness seems to defy the ageing process. There's the strutting b-boy anthem 'Halftime' juxtaposed with the Michael Jackson-sampling lyrical onslaught of 'It Ain't Hard To Tell'. Nas nods to hip-hop's landmarks on the opening 'Genesis' with its reinterpolation of the theme to seminal rap flick 'Wildstyle'. But riding above all such gems is 'World Is Yours' - a Pete Rock-produced uplifting stunner, with Nas preaching like all the very best emcees do. It's a shame he's lost his way since 'Illmatic', but better to have produced something like this than nothing at all. Ill? No, it's an album to die for.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
The Greatest Hip-Hop Album of all time, 12 Aug 2001
By A Customer
If you like commercial rap such as Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Nas' later material etc., then on the first listen of this, you won't like it at all. But on the third or fourth listen this album begins to appeal to you and eventually has you hooked. The beats [provided by Primo, L.E.S, Large Professor and Q-Tip] are unrivalled even today by anything around. Nas' lyrical content is the perfect compliment to these beats as his Ghetto poetry is sheer genius. If I hadn't known any better, I would've thought he had a college degree in English literature rather than being a High School drop out. This album is a necessity for anyone who even thinks that they may like hip-hop. It's the perfect advertisement for East Coast Rap...f*** that, it's the perfect advertisement for rap.
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