Why Nas' Illmatic is One of The Greatest Rap Albums Ever | 1994 Hip Hop Series

[@RAakaCHI-191]

Ice Cube said to NaS on his 'The Bridge' podcast, "Back then we were doing our penmanship, then you came and put it in Cursive". Highest compliments from 1 of Hip-Hop Greats! Illmatic is like New Testament to Catholics, it is like BC & AD, Before Illmatic and after Illmatic! Facts!

[@BooHefner]

Yup

[@JefferyPowell-cp5mv]

Why are you so NY when youre from Texaz?! Ugk has 2 albums better than Nas's and biggies!!

[@JefferyPowell-cp5mv]

Fuck NY.

[@JEFFMAN90]

​@@JefferyPowell-cp5mv Stop trolling you fool. You don't know shit about hip hop

[@coolcalmcloud363]

Memory lane is a masterclass in story telling.

[@louinsights]

Man listen

[@stmattobkproductions]

My all-time favorite!

[@mr.reliable8123]

My favorite song by Nas!!! I think that "Store Run" is a son of "Memory Lane". I love them both.

[@coolcalmcloud363]

@@mr.reliable8123 yo, i never saw it like that but I see it!

[@ADSTHEBARBARIAN]

Yeah my all time favourite joint from Nas and preemo killed it on that beat!

[@medesrevenge9192]

Lol. Correction Bo. After Live at the Barbeque Nas threw us a few bars on MC Search's "Back To The Grill Again". After that Halftime dropped.....

[@bigfamsmusic]

Serial killer that kills by the phone book

[@dariusmcnair601]

Then he dropped "It Ain't Hard To Tell" in December of '93.

[@medesrevenge9192]

@@bigfamsmusic "I got ta have it, I miss Mister Magic. Versatile; my style switches like a f****t......."

[@ChiefRxcka]

Literally was just bumpin that Serch album yesterday.

[@XavierCoolDude]

He’s is correct. Back to the Grill came out summer 92. Halftime came out late 92.

[@blackspider1405]

Illmatic is a rarity.. its flawless.. There is no flaw on it. Bought it the day it came out. One of those 63,000 was mine.

[@OKG1979]

Nas's style and flow were so distinct that he reached mythical levels in hip-hop lore nationwide

[@TMGettingMoney]

Powerful and well said!💯‼️🏆👑💪🏾

[@MRBBALLMAN10]

Illmatic is so good that even with Hov dissing Nas he’d find ways to still compliment him on that Album

[@hiphop-ht7sh]

He is the most purest to the original artform, the most skillful rapper ever. His legacy now transcends all genres. In my opinion Nas is the true Goat!!!

[@tatertots0046]

I love Nas but purest to the original artform? No. That would be LL Cool J.

[@Judahscattered4corners-d4g]

​@@tatertots0046dude stop lol

[@tatertots0046]

@@Judahscattered4corners-d4g you don't know hip hop

[@Judahscattered4corners-d4g]

@tatertots0046 I do but LL is not Nas and Nas aint LL. Nas is his own lane and so is LL. I like both! Don't turn then against eachother. Thats not hip hop!

[@tatertots0046]

@@Judahscattered4corners-d4g none of that matters. What Nas does(poetic storytelling) is NOT the original art form. Hip Hop started at the block parties and the MC's job was to compliment the DJ, talk shit and keep the energy high

[@ChiefMac]

Bone Thugs even dropped in 94. That year was crazy good. Glad i lived it and still have all albums in my collection

[@jiveturkey9494]

94 probably the best year for hip hop you have gang Starr Tical so many classics

[@lovememoremeticulous4378]

And he delivered at the age of 19, it was so fascinating. How can a young kid be this so intellectual.

[@TheSupremeDunk]

Most rappers were young in that era delivering masterpieces

[@IslandGoMTG]

This album is a complete representation of what the genre is to me and why I love it

[@universoullifebalance]

YES !!! WITHOUT QUESTION!! And NAS is the 🐐

[@THATBOISHAD]

Illmatic is the greatest album. But Lil Wayne is the Goat.

[@universoullifebalance]

@@THATBOISHAD wayne up there definitely one of my favorites but I’ll Take Esco over every one

[@THATBOISHAD]

@@universoullifebalance I would take Esco too. However the volume of lyrics from weezy that can't be skipped over is crazy. Volume and quality is the reason for my judgement.

[@universoullifebalance]

@@THATBOISHAD I would give it to wayne he’s the mixtape goat 🐐 but Nas storytelling and Catalogue is better. Wayne has better punchlines

[@THATBOISHAD]

@@universoullifebalance That's fair. I can't disagree with that.

[@mmiller7615]

I'm 34, but I wish I could have been outside when Illmatic dropped. Illmatic is the reason why I put Nas above Jay. The replay value of Illmatic is unmatched when compared to his East Coast contemporaries. Also, Nas only had ONE guest appearance! There is nothing else to say...

[@JonathanPereiraDaFranca]

Illmatic is #1 and greatest rap album of all time. But Reasonable Doubt is my #2. Is close.

[@NEWYORKSTATEOFMIND-e1s]

It's really quite simple it was everything New York that even outsiders and fans wanted and still wants to hear this is the reason New York rap died down because New York in some ways (not everyone) changed their sound which hurt New York to a degree

[@DJAmuur]

I remember the day it dropped. Like Labron James' arrival in the NBA, Nas was like our Labron when he arrived in Hip Hop and dropped "Illmatic".

[@courtneywalker1582]

Great Series on 1994 Rap. U should do one on 8ball&MJG on Southern Rap in 1993 Comin Out Hard Album Sauve House Record Label

[@al5603]

One Nas joint that people forget about is The World Is Yours the Q Tip remix. Check out the song and video. That's how we rocked back then!

[@lamontbrown1773]

That’s my joint Q Tip killed that beat’ the best Hip Hop album ever in my opinion

[@jeanbeasley4736]

NAS IS THE GOAT 🐐

[@Originalman360]

Lyrically? NAW…the GOD MC Rakim is the GOAT

[@solaodebunmi9492]

It is EASILY the GOAT hip hop album. Like many commentators have said on here, there is the ‘Before Illmatic’ era and the ‘After Illmatic’ era. He beautifully curated the art form before him and has remained the platform for everything after. Top 5 album in ALL genres.

[@Marco.of.Substance]

A time when bars mattered.

[@anthonythomas4375]

Hands down one of the best albums ever

[@trg-7506]

word the arrival of Nas was truly an event when you think back. 94 - 95 had MAAAAAAAD heat

[@eddiemik2356]

I’m from Newark and we didn’t give a damn how many mics the Source gave it. We was waiting to cop that joint

[@al5603]

Brick City! Grafton and Broadway!

[@tedhill2095]

Ilmatic is an essential recording something we haven’t got in the 21st century

[@billydeedre]

Man, I remember hitting the story that Tuesday morning to buy this. Still my favorite hip-hop album to this day. Beginning to end, this album is a certified classic.

[@youngtdubl]

This is def one of my all-time favorite albums. I didn't listen for the first time until 1997 and I thought it was the greatest music I've ever heard in my life. The rhyme schemes. The flow. And the content had me stick for months. Still listening to it to this day. Shout out to the big homie. Peace King.

[@tracyworobe8699]

I LOVE these deep dives. Hope Bomani discusses the importance of Dre's Chronic and Ice Cube's first solo album...

[@ThingOfOursCommission]

“Congratulations, you know you got a son I heard he looks like ya, why don't your lady write ya? Told her she should visit, that's when she got hyper” Sad truth about what happens when u get booked. Out of sight out of mind. She’s has to survive w/o you.

[@moneyjordan8789]

Q Tip production credits is flawless

[@pike8840]

Are you talking his whole career or just on this album cause if u talking career then LL new album should be phenomenal

[@moneyjordan8789]

@@pike8840his whole career

[@aaronbloom8401]

The point you made about 90's rap drums is such a great point. Grew up in the last two decades then back tracked to older stuff and it just feels different. Great video as always.

[@KMO325]

Easily the most lyrically influential Hip-Hop album ever made. There are kids now who unknowingly recite lines from Illmatic because their favorite rapper’s favorite rapper quoted from this album.

[@yo3rdtier128]

That’s a lie, no it’s not

[@marvinolds6671]

Eric B. and Rakim: Paid in Full

[@godsparticle5289]

Nas is my favorite rapper... This was the most interesting breakdown of his work I've ever listened to

[@vincentwelch8577]

94 was such a great year you start with Snoop and Wu Tang debuts that came out the end of 93 then Illmatic, Outkast Southernplayalistic, Method Man Tical, Nas Illmatic, Biggie Ready to Die, Craig Mack album, Keith Murray The Most Beautifullist, Da Brat Funkdafied, Warren G Regulate, The Fugees Blunted on Reality, Thug LIFE those were just debuts. You also get albums like Scarface The Diary, Gang Starr Hard to Earn, Common Resurrection, UGK Super Tight. So Illmatic being the top album out of that year says alot

[@reggienoble3195]

I got chills when Bomani reminded me of Halftime...but I was a huge Main Source fan. That Nas verse blew my mind!!! But that entire Main Source album. Is classic. It's not mentioned enough. #ImLookingAtTheFrontDoor

[@al5603]

I got to give you an upvote for your handle being reggienoble aka Redman the greatest from my hometown Newark aka Brick City!

[@chriswright2568]

Illmatic completely changed the format. NY State of Mind? The World Is Yours? One Love? memory Lane? Not a single song that is not brilliant. And he pulled his own dad's jazz into it? 5 Mics. 6 Mics. Jay-z switched his style to Nas' style. Also, you hit EVERY point.

[@spenser6353]

represent is my favorite track

[@RAakaCHI-191]

"Biggie's Ready to Die album came out several months after Illmatic, and Biggie was crowned king of New York in the popular culture of Hip Hop heads, Ready to Die unfairly over-shadowed Illmatic, which is truly a classic album. Though they were quite distinct artists, they innovated in analogous ways. Biggie merged language that was high and low, vernacular and vocabulary words, in a way that sounded natural. He did this with a sophisticated understanding of the patterns of black language. When a different or unusual word or phrase could be introduced while still maintaining the aesthetics of black language, he inserted it. NaS, in contrast, merged concepts that were high and low, vernacular and metaphysical, in a manner that was whole rather than pieced together, thus presenting a complex that is unusual in any music outside of jazz. What Biggie started to do with language in 1994, NaS had already begun to do with ideas on Illmatic. He carries us through the "Righteous steps" of the cosmic, oceanic, and literal dimensions of his person. He transcends." - Imany Perry (Born To Use Mics)

[@imsofocused4678]

Biggie was copying Nas and WuTang's slang on Ready To Die. And The Source magazine called Biggie the king, not the people. Biggie even admitted backstage at the 95 Source Awards that he didn't expect to when lyricist of the year over Nas. We know Puff paid for those awards.

[@thewatersavior]

Thank you for mentioning Infamous!

[@ballin565]

Gotta 1998, 99 and 00 next. 94 was a great year for music and movies.

[@sirjer73]

1988

[@siniister710]

Album is incredible.

[@ZMSportsnShorts]

Memory Lane the underrated killer on the LPa

[@lovememoremeticulous4378]

That’s the thing people don’t understand Hip-Hop in 94 haven’t really gathered its wings, it was still HATED, low brow, then here comes this kid from New York. It was a in AWE moment.

[@Dr.Sunshine]

Nas is TRULY your favorite rappers favorite rapper!!! Illmatic is the greatest hip hop work ever. No debating

[@taronneal7645]

I still remember the day I copped the cassette, didn’t even have a cd player yet. Classic album. One Love is still my favorite joint on there.

[@brotherdandy]

One of the other reasons why Illmatic is only nine tracks is that the bootleggers and got to it so fast that the record company had to beat them to market. More songs that were featured on the album were cut for the sake of getting a legitimate record into music stores. That definitely helped the impactful because it was a spartan, but so amazingly produced.

[@fanonk]

Dope review Bo. I’d only add one more point, like you said Nas had the Hip Hop universe waiting to hear his joint and could have had any feature he wanted. He chooses an unknown AZ as the only feature and he drops an iconic verse and AZ goes on to build a 30 year career from that verse…magic. Keep them coming🔥💯🎤 #94tilinfinity

[@dontecool21]

as someone who was born almost 10 years after illmatic the first time i heard it honestly made me realize why people hold 90s rap to such a high bar, stuff he talked about still hit today deep bars and beats that’s still hitting today id say life’s a bitch,memory lane and ain’t hard to tell are the tracks that stood out the most

[@spenser6353]

Represent was good too.

[@Shysta30]

The undisputed album from the undisputed 🐐.

[@TMGettingMoney]

Excellent analysis and breakdown of all the producers and the impact that New York hip-hop had on the world, especially during the 90s! Very good journalism, my brother,salutes!💯‼️💪🏾🏆👑

[@scole4545]

47 years old and one of those 63,000 was me! The World is Yours is my favorite track with my all time favorite producer. So glad to be alive at that time

[@rashawnmoore-b7i]

When you listen to that album, you can imagine every track in your head like a movie and see it.🎙️🔥🎙️🔥💯

[@peacelight9640]

Yo Bomani you really opened up a time capsule and was on point in your breakdown of the time of Illmatic and the 90s.!!!

[@bornkinguniversal]

Excellent breakdown Bomani! And I’m even more impressed coming from a man from the south! The only slight critique is no mention of an unknown unheard of AZ who was a guest feature and this sky rocketed his career. Salute Bomani‼️🫡💯

[@iamcent7726]

Mr. Bomani, regardless of how much sponsorship or how little you end up getting out of this segment obviously as long as you're not coming out off pocket, please continue.

[@splatter5737]

Bomani a real hip hop head. Saw him at a Freddie Gibbs show years ago.

[@kbop]

As a suburbs white guy born 3 years before this came out, I didn’t have any exposure to nas till Tony hawk underground came out and the world is yours is on that soundtrack and absolutely blew my mind into a whole other realm of rap. All the rap I heard at the time when I was really becoming a music fan was the bling lil Jon era which wasn’t quite my speed

[@Turner4Judge]

Hey Bo! I love your stuff. I’ve been a supporter for a minute. I enjoy your perspective on things. Anyway I want to put in a suggestion for an album in 1994. Lethal Injection not only had a few bops for the summer such as You How We Do It and Bop Gun, it also was one of Cube’s last legit hip hop album. He was still dangerous and not just controversial on this one. Cube was talking about the dangers of LA when most artists were talking about the parties. The production was grand funk infused and was among the first hip hop albums to bring George Clinton on in real life as opposed to just sampling him. And the bars! The bars were so West Coast G Funk. I hate this narrative that folks on the West can’t rhyme because what they rhyme about is being hard. It starts……To G or not to G is the question and like Smith told Wesson, I’m shady with the three eighty, old school diploma. I leave that ass in a coma. Anyway this was one of my favorite albums of 1994 and is SLEEPER. Please consider featuring it

[@SandMclain]

Also, with regards to sales...Illmatic was bootlegged something serious. And the emphasis on first week sales was a new thing, so to speak.

[@SDeezy593]

This is one one-word response to why the 90s are the golden age of hip hop... ILLMATIC. This is an all-time great project for sure. Most of mine come from this Era 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@sauldula]

Still to this day best ever, even Elzhi cover of it was excellent

[@bandheadhbcu]

Yes, Illmatic is a Hip-Hop classic. I became an instant Nas fan after I heard it. 🎧🎶🔥🔥🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙

[@rafaelsantiago9760]

Dope show my brother keep speaking the real 💯

[@ronaldbaker5201]

Illmatic is the greatest rap album of all time, and one of the greatest all time in any genre!

[@solaodebunmi9492]

Simple!

[@DJAmuur]

Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" is the greatest Hip-Hop album of all time, period! Nas 'Illmatic" is a great album. I'll give it the #2 spot, but I would pick the top 10 songs on Mobb Deep's "The Infamous" album to put them up against Nas' "Illmatic" album anytime.

[@imsofocused4678]

Mobb Deep used the cheat code on The Infamous that a lot of rappers couldn't use...they got Nas, Rae and Ghost as features. Where as, Illmatic has no famous rappers as features. Only AZ and he slayed it which makes Illmatic even more special.

[@DJAmuur]

@@imsofocused4678 I feel ya but from watching numerous interviews of AZ and Nas over the the years, and listening to the Illmatic album over the years, I think, AZ was a ghost writer for some of those songs on Illmatic. just my opinion.

[@imsofocused4678]

@DJAmuur Nah... I don't think so. I took Nas a few years just to make that album. Then, on top of that, It Was Written went to another level.

[@imsofocused4678]

Illmatic forced all rappers in NYC to step up their game. Nas had respect from listeners, and a lot of his peers in NYC wanted him on their album because of Illmatic.

[@dblshotz75]

First song i heard was "It ain't hard to tell" on a friends mix tape and we were blown away and played it over and over. In December of 94 my brother and me went to live with our family in the Bronx from CT and my cousin had a library of tapes and my cousins personally knew a lot of these dudes and it was one of the best years of my life.

[@loggizzo]

This album is literal poetry. Imagery in every line

[@CampFireCEO]

I remember I was 8 years old in ‘92 and I was so captivated by hip hop so much that I started to rap as well. I’m just a kid… I didn’t know what to do, lol… I was just rhyming words with no structure at all. Fast forward to ‘94 and I’m over my aunts house. My older cousin was a hip hop head as well. I used to go through all of his cassettes of what will catch my eye. Not much so of titles and names. Then I stumbled crossed Nas’s Illmatic… the artwork… how his face was blended with the background of the city, I’m like who is this? Popped that joint in and was like 🤯🤯🤯. So this is how it’s done? The structure, the storytelling, the cadences, etc… I was blown away! Needless to say, I was a student. Nas gave me a master class in the art of rap and it changed the whole trajectory of my penmanship to where my peers and old heads from around the way couldn’t believe I’ve written any of what I was going around the hood spittin’. They had me rapping for everyone lol. I appreciate Illmatic and what it has done for me 🙏🏾. That’s why Nas is my favorite rapper and will always be the goat to me. Oh yeah, and I stole the tape from my cousin 😂

[@dewrite504]

1994 was a pivotal year for Hip-Hop It Ain't Hard To Tell!!!!!💯🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Tommy_Montana]

This was a great video. I started listening to music on my own about 10-11 in 2001 (parents passed me down their stereo system) and while I heard about illmatic, It wasn’t until Nas biggest competition used the greatness of this album to shit on the rest of his catalog as well as Nas claiming to be Stillmatic that I eventually went back and got this album an saw the hype

[@guerillastatusmedia8682]

great analysis. excellent commentary!

[@TrevorCarter-h1o]

Paid in full is the greatest album ever!

[@hannibal090]

Yes period

[@IknowMoreThanYou]

Nas was 16 on live at the bbq

[@korbymarks]

Loved listening to this review.

[@nelsonrivera764]

this is beautiful, Bomani...you told it like it happened. I purchased the cassette from the WiZ ...

[@TrentStanley-q3t]

I'm soo grateful that I came up from Rap since the very beginning so I ABSOLUTELY KNOW what it is & has been since time & memorial & just like JORDAN,, there hasn't been another one since !!!!!!!!!! NAS.

[@mc365mc]

No question Musically a masterpiece, lyrically a masterpiece, super production team, no filler, only one feature that was from an unknown and was fire, he changed the definition of lyricisim with triple internal rhyme schemes, and he lived up to the hype without being commercial!

[@TMGettingMoney]

Nas is a lyrical genius hands down! 💯‼️👑🏆💪🏾🎤🔥💙

[@t-god2439]

Something so interesting about early hip hop. Is how fast the flow changed and evolved. Like it went from “clap ya hands everybody” to big daddy Kane, rakim and nas real quick.

[@TexasRibeye817]

I listened to this record in 2013 as a 19year old; it changed my standard of music lol

[@kuulie5220]

I have had a physical copy of this album in my possession for like the past 20 years.

[@troylee76]

What up classmate?! Yeah we were bumping these in. High school

[@troylee76]

This

[@ryanbrandt3374]

It’s not one of the greatest rap albums it’s the best album ever. It’s perfect. I remember when it dropped I just listened to it straight for months.

[@santoro19782]

bomani, you should include in this series november 9th, 1993 the day midnight marauders and 36 chambers were released

[@hemeheru6219]

READY TO DIE is also flawless and I will add just as many radio hits...MAYBE more...R.I.P Biggie

[@doe_ez6305]

Fire Series can't wait for the Down South Albums being a 41 yo from NY.

[@trevorjames4619]

It took nas a whole year to make illmatic. He gave himself time to properly curate and craft the vibe and the direction he wanted it to go. So of course it was bound to be THEE classic of all classics. Pac said he would listen to this riding from LA to Vegas. That’s the impact this had on people. People still bump in the whip this till this day.

[@t.breeze8659]

The 63K initial sales number is crazy. I bought it the week it released and didn’t know a sole that did not have it. In North Carolina, back then, NY artists were still completely outpacing artists from everywhere else. One correction Bomani. OutKast and UGK didn’t usher in southern hip hop. That’s disrespectful to the Geto Boys and DOC. That said, Illmatic is perfect.

[@76albertsmith]

Grew up in So Cal and NY State of Mind is still the Greatest song ever!!!

[@musicstreet2635]

Personally I started with It Was Written….then listened to illmatic for the first time and I’m fine with It Was Written instead. Personal not public opinion. Yup!

[@h.g.2046]

Great video Gentlemen. Love the series Bo'.

[@s.omarjobe1068]

#1 reason, Imagery! Nas’ verses had imagery and made you feel like you were there with him. And producers were also in their bags so much that if you removed Nas’ vocal, the beats themselves had imagery. The sounds of the train on the tracks in “The Genesis” made you feel like you were standing at the platform waiting to board the train or the train passing.

[@ab-gy3yl]

Bomani even though I know this album came out in summer of 96 you're gonna have to do one on DE LA!!..STAKES IS HIGH!!... 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@gregorybaynard6320]

Great review

[@TrentStanley-q3t]

Nas is Still to this day one of the most Greatest Lyricists of our generation & beyond !!! The things that he has spoken on a plethora of mixtapes along is like ??? Holy Shit how did he come up with that ??? The lyrics just flow like a river of warm butter to him !!!!! One of the GREATEST of ALL TIME !!!!

[@TMGettingMoney]

Happy 30th anniversary for Illmatic! This was The most historic, the most iconic, and the most legendary Hiphop album of all time! Nas is the fxcking GOAT! QB stand the fxck up yu erd!💯‼️🏆👑💪🏾💙🎤🔥🔥‼️

[@cardsandrecreation6983]

Honestly I think the length of the album plays a big part in Illmatic’s greatness. With zero fat, nothing that you want to skip, when the album ends you’re left wanting more. Illmatic isn’t my favorite hip hop album (it’s close, but E.1999 Eternal takes that honor for me), but it is the greatest hip hop album IMO.

[@smokemon3000]

One of the greatest! Yes sir!

[@jaydonwil1604]

My favorite album ever. Please talk about Scarface's "The Diary" you talked about the south arriving and showed OutKast but the south already arrived with Scarface and The Geto boys. The Diary is a classic and was the 3rd best hip hop album that year in my opinion behind "Illmatic" and "Ready to die". AND YOUR FROM HOUSTON !!!

[@reggiemiller1176]

Whew...Life's A Bitch...that AZ verse...

[@edwardwainwright2444]

Bomoni….you are dead on target. I’m 61 years and has been a Rap fan of the goood stuff since the inception. DJ Premier is the best. Can you do a review of Gang Star please…

[@davidgutter2710]

There you go my boy. This is what the culture wanted

[@BCros2390]

In that last section I would argue Lil Wayne was kind of annointed in the same way KDot and Drake were as next. Having all of Cash Money kind of behind him lends itself somewhat to what you're saying although we did hear him through that transition so I guess some of the anonymity was gone. This was a great watch Bo, can't wait for the others in the series.