Black History Music Pt. 25
In celebration of Black History Month, the Ear Candy Update intends to celebrate landmark recordings by black artists that have shaped the collective consciousness, mentality, and sense of cool the world over. Next, Nas' "Illmatic."
It took Nasir Jones just under 40 minutes to separate himself from nearly every MC to pick up a mic.
In 1994 hip hop was old enough to have a sturdy foundation and accepted canon, but not old enough to avoid turbulence in late adolescence. The Boom Bap era hadn't departed, the Gangsta era was in, G-Funk was in full effect, jazz and high-mindedness entered the arena, corny white rappers were still charting, and radio-friendly rap was all the rage. Vanilla Ice, Hammer, Insane Clown Posse, Coolio, and House of Pain all released albums that year, and Nas couldn't get a record deal.
Hindsight is a motherfucker.
You know how Boomers talk about Bob Dylan? That's how hip hop heads talk about "Illmatic." Nas is seemingly always included in any top ten list of MCs created by paid professionals and ordinary cats alike mostly because of this record. It's impossible to ignore. It's the hip hop "Back in Black," massive, imposing, seamless, and well... kinda fucking perfect.
Nas surrounded himself with some of the most renowned cratediggers in the game. Pete Rock, DJ Premier, L.E.S., Large Professor, and Q-Tip all came on board to produce. They brought a production sophistication largely unheard of before. Cultured jazz loops and brilliantly curated samples underscore Nas' absolutely staggering command of the mic. Old school rhyme schemes landed in the garbage bin. Nas was using multi-syllabic internal rhymes to paint gut-wrenching visuals.
He reminds incarcerated friends to keep their heads up and their eyes on newborn children. He extends heartfelt congratulations to a young couple getting together. There's a hard-won optimism running through Nas and he never fails to showcase it.
In my mind, a classic album does as much to define its time as it does to usher in a new one. "London Calling" did this, as did "The Times They Are-A Changin'." "Illmatic" endures as a high-water mark, perhaps even THE high-water mark for East Coast hip hop precisely for the same reasons.
In 1994 hip hop was old enough to have a sturdy foundation and accepted canon, but not old enough to avoid turbulence in late adolescence. The Boom Bap era hadn't departed, the Gangsta era was in, G-Funk was in full effect, jazz and high-mindedness entered the arena, corny white rappers were still charting, and radio-friendly rap was all the rage. Vanilla Ice, Hammer, Insane Clown Posse, Coolio, and House of Pain all released albums that year, and Nas couldn't get a record deal.
Hindsight is a motherfucker.
You know how Boomers talk about Bob Dylan? That's how hip hop heads talk about "Illmatic." Nas is seemingly always included in any top ten list of MCs created by paid professionals and ordinary cats alike mostly because of this record. It's impossible to ignore. It's the hip hop "Back in Black," massive, imposing, seamless, and well... kinda fucking perfect.
Nas surrounded himself with some of the most renowned cratediggers in the game. Pete Rock, DJ Premier, L.E.S., Large Professor, and Q-Tip all came on board to produce. They brought a production sophistication largely unheard of before. Cultured jazz loops and brilliantly curated samples underscore Nas' absolutely staggering command of the mic. Old school rhyme schemes landed in the garbage bin. Nas was using multi-syllabic internal rhymes to paint gut-wrenching visuals.
"Beef with housing police, release scriptures that's maybe Hitler'sor...
Yet I'm the mild, money-getting style, rolling foul
The versatile, honey-sticking wild golden child
Dwelling in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled
Or caught by the devil's lasso, shit is a hassle"
"Poetry, that's a part of me, retardedly bopRarely has a bleak existence refused to yield to violence as superbly as Nas on "Illmatic." Yes, he absolutely describes life in New York's Queensbridge Projects (the largest in America) as ugly and dismal, but, like Curtis Mayfield before him, he operates as a ghetto reporter. When he turns the camera inward he reminds the citizens of every borough the world is theirs for the taking.
I drop the ancient manifested hip-hop, straight off the block"
He reminds incarcerated friends to keep their heads up and their eyes on newborn children. He extends heartfelt congratulations to a young couple getting together. There's a hard-won optimism running through Nas and he never fails to showcase it.
In my mind, a classic album does as much to define its time as it does to usher in a new one. "London Calling" did this, as did "The Times They Are-A Changin'." "Illmatic" endures as a high-water mark, perhaps even THE high-water mark for East Coast hip hop precisely for the same reasons.
Comments
Post a Comment