Ben’s review of Illmatic > Likes and Comments
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Ugh, that whole authenticity issue kind of bugs me. Take Mobb Deep - you couldn't possibly believe they'd lived everything on The Infamous, but you know they know (or have some idea) what it's like to live like that. That to me is authentic enough. As to Tupac, man I agree he could be a hothead and was definitely paranoid, but he had been shot 5 times at close range by fuck knows who and I'd say a lot of people would be paranoid after that. I think his main problem was he ended up unable to escape his persona or, perhaps, to really tell the difference between it and his true self, because by that stage he'd lived out so many of his thug fantasies.
But enough about Pac. I just listened to Pitch Black on youtube and it rocks. Thanks! My internet is shit at the moment so I'll leave Mobb Deep for later, and I'll get into Liquid Swords when I can.
But, oh yeah, hip-hop more detailed than other music? I think that proves you listen to the lyrics more than the music, cos a lotta people would say the exact opposite. Premier's actually a good example of this. To me it's not so much that he's samey, but that once he's found a good sample he tends to just let it run for the whole track, not do a whole lot with it, not layer it with other stuff, not break it down and build it up again. Which is fine (I mean, you could hardly say Havoc's productions were complex), but it's not really detailed. That said, he's a legend!
Can tell you are a true Nas fan! For me though Stillmatic will always be one of my fave albums but that is generally more to do with it being the first album that really got me in to Nas, plus Rewind is one of the best Nas tracks in my opinion, along with Undying Love (the imagery and story telling is just next level on that track). Mobb Deep kill it too, great review!
Hey thanks Helena. Unfortunately by the time I got hold of Stillmatic I was listening to a lot of soul and early rock 'n' roll and didn't have so much time for rap. (Funny, I got into Street's Disciple.) But I'll check out Rewind and Undying Love. Did you ever see Nas live with Damien Marley? That was a show!
Defo check them out, rewind is the only song i know of where the whole story is written backwards! no, did you?! I love the distant relatives album as well, ive seen Nas twice in the past year but im praying he does another album with Damian so I can try and catch them on tour!
Yeah I didn't get so much into the album (Distant Relatives), but the gig was great: Marley's band had learned tonnes of Nas hits and played 'em with live instruments. I've definitely heard Rewind, just don't remember it right now. Street's Disciple was the last big Nas album for me, then I got Stillmatic a bit later (filling in the gaps) and I just wasn't so interested anymore. But like I say, everything he does has something good about it.
This review seems to critique the album more than the essay, but hay-ho. As to your comments, I completely agree that It Was Written is a superb album. I’m not sure why ‘gangster rap’ has become a pejorative in recent years but I think the main reason that it doesn’t get the adulation it deserves is because it followed Illmatic. I entirely respect your opinion on the album however it will, in my eyes, always be the greatest achievement in hip-hop and I can’t see an album coming within a mile of surpassing it in the future. I guess beat-wise, it merely comes down to preference. I think both One Time For Your Mind and It Ain’t Hard To Tell could be improved upon but other than that i’d say the album is produced flawlessly. You rightly herald One Love as coming closest to lyrical realism and coupled with the beat I would be so bold as to assert that it is perhaps one of the greatest songs ever made, regardless of genre. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this review, keep the tables turning and the boom-bap bumping man. The golden age will never die, it lives through us.
Hey thanks for that Gabe. You’re totally right that this review critiques the album more than the book: it’s actually just an excuse to discuss Nas’s first two albums. As to the whole question of whether Illmatic is the greatest album in hip-hop, I can certainly see why you’d think that, and if we’re talking influence and historical significance I might even agree with you. I guess I just got tired of folks saying it and not even listening to It Was Written. And for a while there I’d just have It Was Written, The Infamous and All Eyez on me on high rotation.
To me, the greatest Nas track is “I Gave You Power”. Of course I dig “One Love” but even Premier said he was disappointed in the beat; it was just something Nas wanted him to loop and wasn’t Premo’s own style.
Yeah the Golden Age!
Just realised I mixed up Premier and Q-Tip in my last comment. It was Tip that did “One Love”, right?
Hey Ben! I hope you have been well, my brother!
Since you're revisiting this at the moment, I figured I would take the opportunity to point out that, in 'NY State Of Mind' Nas says "Mach 10" and refers to the weapon as a "Mach" throughout. This has bothered me since I first saw those lyrics- it should be "MAC-10", which is a submachine gun/machine pistol which was fairly obscure before rappers started talking about them in the late '80s...
Those guys were probably reading the same gun magazines I was at the time, hahaha!
I just thought I'd post this in case someone thought Nas was talking about the (alleged) airspeed of hyper-sonic missiles or something.
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Ugh, that whole authenticity issue kind of bugs me. Take Mobb Deep - you couldn't possibly believe they'd lived everything on The Infamous, but you know they know (or have some idea) what it's like to live like that. That to me is authentic enough. As to Tupac, man I agree he could be a hothead and was definitely paranoid, but he had been shot 5 times at close range by fuck knows who and I'd say a lot of people would be paranoid after that. I think his main problem was he ended up unable to escape his persona or, perhaps, to really tell the difference between it and his true self, because by that stage he'd lived out so many of his thug fantasies. But enough about Pac. I just listened to Pitch Black on youtube and it rocks. Thanks! My internet is shit at the moment so I'll leave Mobb Deep for later, and I'll get into Liquid Swords when I can.
But, oh yeah, hip-hop more detailed than other music? I think that proves you listen to the lyrics more than the music, cos a lotta people would say the exact opposite. Premier's actually a good example of this. To me it's not so much that he's samey, but that once he's found a good sample he tends to just let it run for the whole track, not do a whole lot with it, not layer it with other stuff, not break it down and build it up again. Which is fine (I mean, you could hardly say Havoc's productions were complex), but it's not really detailed. That said, he's a legend!
Can tell you are a true Nas fan! For me though Stillmatic will always be one of my fave albums but that is generally more to do with it being the first album that really got me in to Nas, plus Rewind is one of the best Nas tracks in my opinion, along with Undying Love (the imagery and story telling is just next level on that track). Mobb Deep kill it too, great review!
Hey thanks Helena. Unfortunately by the time I got hold of Stillmatic I was listening to a lot of soul and early rock 'n' roll and didn't have so much time for rap. (Funny, I got into Street's Disciple.) But I'll check out Rewind and Undying Love. Did you ever see Nas live with Damien Marley? That was a show!
Defo check them out, rewind is the only song i know of where the whole story is written backwards! no, did you?! I love the distant relatives album as well, ive seen Nas twice in the past year but im praying he does another album with Damian so I can try and catch them on tour!
Yeah I didn't get so much into the album (Distant Relatives), but the gig was great: Marley's band had learned tonnes of Nas hits and played 'em with live instruments. I've definitely heard Rewind, just don't remember it right now. Street's Disciple was the last big Nas album for me, then I got Stillmatic a bit later (filling in the gaps) and I just wasn't so interested anymore. But like I say, everything he does has something good about it.
This review seems to critique the album more than the essay, but hay-ho. As to your comments, I completely agree that It Was Written is a superb album. I’m not sure why ‘gangster rap’ has become a pejorative in recent years but I think the main reason that it doesn’t get the adulation it deserves is because it followed Illmatic. I entirely respect your opinion on the album however it will, in my eyes, always be the greatest achievement in hip-hop and I can’t see an album coming within a mile of surpassing it in the future. I guess beat-wise, it merely comes down to preference. I think both One Time For Your Mind and It Ain’t Hard To Tell could be improved upon but other than that i’d say the album is produced flawlessly. You rightly herald One Love as coming closest to lyrical realism and coupled with the beat I would be so bold as to assert that it is perhaps one of the greatest songs ever made, regardless of genre. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this review, keep the tables turning and the boom-bap bumping man. The golden age will never die, it lives through us.
Hey thanks for that Gabe. You’re totally right that this review critiques the album more than the book: it’s actually just an excuse to discuss Nas’s first two albums. As to the whole question of whether Illmatic is the greatest album in hip-hop, I can certainly see why you’d think that, and if we’re talking influence and historical significance I might even agree with you. I guess I just got tired of folks saying it and not even listening to It Was Written. And for a while there I’d just have It Was Written, The Infamous and All Eyez on me on high rotation. To me, the greatest Nas track is “I Gave You Power”. Of course I dig “One Love” but even Premier said he was disappointed in the beat; it was just something Nas wanted him to loop and wasn’t Premo’s own style.
Yeah the Golden Age!
Just realised I mixed up Premier and Q-Tip in my last comment. It was Tip that did “One Love”, right?
Hey Ben! I hope you have been well, my brother! Since you're revisiting this at the moment, I figured I would take the opportunity to point out that, in 'NY State Of Mind' Nas says "Mach 10" and refers to the weapon as a "Mach" throughout. This has bothered me since I first saw those lyrics- it should be "MAC-10", which is a submachine gun/machine pistol which was fairly obscure before rappers started talking about them in the late '80s...
Those guys were probably reading the same gun magazines I was at the time, hahaha!
I just thought I'd post this in case someone thought Nas was talking about the (alleged) airspeed of hyper-sonic missiles or something.
I'm thinking people reading Ellis and Bukowski and watching thrillers don't get that rappers are acting to some degree. Fuck knows why not - I mean, the crossover from rapping to film is so widespread, and so often well achieved, it's pretty obvious. But I'd say it's a cultural thing: the usual signifiers that tell you 'this is acting' or 'this is fiction' are not in place in most rap music - but that's part of why I love it! It's like Orson Welles doing the War of the Worlds hoax!
Anyway glad you like It Was Written, and I agree Street Dreams is probably the worst cut on there. As to Illmatic's toughness, yeah I get that, and I do like it, but for me it just too often sounds a bit clunky, a bit too busy. I realise much of It Was Written is the opposite - too much sheen - but if I want grit I go for The Infamous Mobb Deep, which to me shits all over Illmatic beatwise. (Right Back at You - now that is a track.) Still, I was exagerrating when I said it was all downhill after One Love: Represent I like, but Ain't Hard to Tell and One Time 4 Your Mind I just don't have much time for.
I'm not really into God's Son. I love Nas is Like (by Premier) off I Am, and there's usually 2-3 tracks on every Nas album that I like. I love Premier (Gang Starr: Soliloquoy of Chaos!). Liquid Swords I need to listen to again, though I'm not a fan of Raekwon's Cuban Linx and I generally find RZA's productions kinda clunky as well. As to Tupac's All Eyez on Me, half of it's shit but it's a double album and there's some kickass production on it: Trading War Stories is an all-time classic, also Only God Can Judge Me, Heartz of Men, All Eyez on Me (it uses the same sample as Street Dreams, but to far better effect). And Pac has a story to tell, even if his skills aren't up there with Nas or Big.
Oh yeah, re It Was Written: I Gave You Power to The Set Up, for me, is the crux of the album. Then skip to Live Nigga Rap and play it to the end.
Good to know ya.