April 2025 marks the 31st anniversary of Nas’ smashing debut album, “Illmatic” that came out on the 19 of April 1994. Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 44 of the list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020 and also was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
This album has been recognized by writers and several music critics as a notable work within East Coast hip hop and has been praised for its lyricism as well as the revival of the New York City rap scene.
Nas paints a picture for the listeners of the streets of Queensbridge, N.Y., reflecting on struggles and triumphs he witnessed first hand. The intro “The Genesis” acts as a prelude to the rest of the tracks, opening with a monologue sampled from the movie “Wild Style” (1982).
The film revolves around a group’s journey throughout the streets, railyards and projects of N.Y., paralleling the life of Nas himself.
The song acts as a major nod to the movie, as it was one of the first major hip hop films created. The clanking of train tracks can also be heard in the background of the track, helping tie together both the film and track.
The other side of Nas’ reality can be seen in “One Love” as it is a message to a friend of his incarcerated, offering words of encouragement and acting as a tribute to the concept of brotherhood. Displaying the idea that no matter how hard things got, these tight communities would support one another through thick and thin. The title also plays into the letters Nas and his friend would send back and forth.
“The way he ended the letter I would be like ‘sincerely’ [or] whatever. [Instead] it was ‘one love.’ People were saying ‘one love’ everywhere so it was ‘one love’ just felt strong,” Nas said in a video posted on Complex.com.
As it moves into track two, the initial reaction to the beat is that it is rather eerie and haunting, which is pretty on theme as Nas explains a gritty story of street life and gun violence in the projects of Queensbridge. There is no detail left out, serving a brutal wake-up call of what this sort of life-style entails.
“Represent”, which is the ninth track of the album, holds the same vibe as “New York State of Mind”. The opening line is an immediate attention grabber, reiterating the harsh reality of streetlife. Nas’ intense and urgent flow matches his impactful lyricism seamlessly in this production.
With Nas’ powerful flow and strong delivery in “New York State of Mind,” it is no surprise that it is considered to be one of the greatest songs of all time. It has been sampled by several well-known artists, such as Eminem, Jay-Z and Wu-Tang Clan and has been featured in different areas of media as well.
It is not the only song that has held influence in the industry for quite some time. Bits and pieces of “The World is Yours” and “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” have been sampled numerous times in hip hop by artists such as Mac Miller, J Cole and several others. It is clear that Nas’ talent is absolutely timeless and carries on generational influence in several different aspects of artistic works.
The hip-hop artist’s own influential pulls stands out the most in the fourth track “Halftime.” Nas’ creativity shines through as he uses several different samples layered on top of one another, hallmarking the classic East Coast sound and inspiring producers to experiment with larger ranges of sources.
It serves as a turning point in the artist’s career, as the title refers to none other than the idea of being in the middle of a game or even battle, establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with in the game of hip hop.
“Really, the topics that I talk about were topics that were around before ‘Illmatic’; streets, social economic status, people’s struggles…I just told it crazy real, and it just talks about how to live in the circumstances and goes beyond, dreaming at the same time. Never just stay in the situation that you’re in,” he said in an interview with Clash Music.
All in all, it is not just the lyricism and production Nas put into this work but the emotions he is able to convey. Whether it be the pain in loss or the victory is even the smallest celebrations, the way listeners are able to connect no matter how parallel each verse is to them is something extremely unique.
It is a true masterpiece of hip hop, with some of the greatest artists once in the game or currently paying constant homage to the geniusness behind his musical abilities.