When discussing “The Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time”, there can be a lot of contenders. One of the biggest contenders of all time is Nas’ immortal and damn near perfect Illmatic. 20 years later, it’s still in the conversation and it’s still an album that rappers have yet to truly top. Released during a renaissance for Hip-Hop in the early-to-mid 90s, it stood out from the pack as something that could truly transcend the genre. But in the spectrum of transcendental Hip-Hop, it’s a fascinating subject. There are plenty of other candidates: 36 Chambers, Ready to Die, Madvillainy, Low End Theory, It Takes a Nation of Millions, MBDTF, Aquemini, Paul’s Boutique, Cold Vein, Blueprint. However, Hip-Hop is a genre where even the albums nearest to perfection have plenty of flaws. Low End Theory and Madvillainy are both a bit too long, there’s one or two just OK tracks on Aquemini and Paul’s Boutique, It Takes a Nation of Millions suffers from vaguely dated production, and MBDTF and Ready To Die are fantastic records plagued with two awkward sketches (One featuring Chris Rock yelling over a beautiful beat about pussy, the other is Biggie awkwardly fucking a girl on a washing machine). The only two Hip-Hop albums that are almost inhumanly perfect are 36 Chambers and Nas’ masterpiece, Illmatic.

What also separates Nas from the pack is that his album didn’t really do much to revolutionize the game. All those other albums innovated and twisted Hip-Hop into new places, sonically and lyrically. What Nas did wasn’t innovative, but it perfected his lane. Illmatic is the epitome of Boom Bap; it’s an album that so perfectly nails every beat and every lyric and every track that it’s almost uncomfortable to listen to. All those other albums overcome their flaws by taking those tiny problems and making them endearing. Some of those other albums are still damn near perfect, and their flaws have morphed to become integral parts of the album. Illmatic doesn’t have any of these flaws, it’s just front-to-back concision and skill. Notice that Jay-Z never came at Illmatic during that infamous Nas vs. Jay-Z beef? There’s a reason for that.

Nas collected an assortment of now-legends to produce his unwitting magnum opus: DJ Premier and Large Professor each produce 3 tracks, Pete Rock and Q-Tip appear, and L.E.S. also contributed his defining beat to Life’s a Bitch. The ominous piano plunking and dissonant beeping over NY State of Mind creates a near ghoulish mood that rivals anything from 36 Chambers, allowing Nas to debut with one of the most intimidating Hip-Hop tracks of all time. This then transitions to the silky and sexy soulful beat underneath Life’s a Bitch, which nicely contrasts the realness of the lyricism and hook supplied by an on-fire AZ (Who does a damn fine job as the album’s only vocal guest). The outro of the song also includes a stunning horn solo from Olu Dara, who is Nas’ father. There’s some amazing scratching on The World Is Yours, some great bells and horn samples on Halftime, a subtle soul vocal sample w/ organs on Memory Lane, a nice jazzy vibe on One Love, a silky and slow drum on One Time 4 Your Mind, a vintage mysterious sound on Represent, and an incredible vocal and sax sample on It Ain’t Hard to Tell. If this album was just instrumentals, it would easily have the potential to be a classic.

But what makes Illmatic one of the greatest Hip-Hop albums of all time, in addition to one of the greatest albums of any genre, is Nas himself. He opens NY State of Mind with the line “Straight out the fucking dungeons of rap/ Where fake niggas don’t make it back” with an almost sadistically satisfying snarl, leading into him absolutely ripping the track apart. Nas was young, and Illmatic made it immediately clear that Nas was someone to be reckoned with. Even if some of his street stories were clearly hyperbolic (As a kid, Nas was more of an observer of the streets around him than any actual sort of participant). It helps that Nas has a fiery and commanding flow all over the album, but this album hits an entirely new level with Nas’ incredible lyricism. There’s this line from NY State of Mind:

“It drops deep as it does in my breath/I never sleep, ’cause sleep is the cousin of death/Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined/I think of crime when I’m in a New York state of mind”

And then there’s these lines from The World Is Yours:

“While all the old folks pray to Jesus, soakin’ their sins in trays/Of holy water, odds against Nas are slaughter/Thinkin’ a word best describing my life/To name my daughter my strength/My son the star will be my resurrection/Born in correction, all the wrong shit I did, he’ll lead a right direction”

Illmatic stands out because of how hauntingly introspective Nas explores his inner city life. At every second, death is lurking around him, and he’s stuck in a place that’s damn near inescapable. New York isn’t only conveyed in the dirty boom bap sound, it’s conveyed through the extremely mortally-grounded lyricism that Nas maintains throughout the entire album. Nas does engage in some braggadocio here and there, but it’s always warranted and never truly a focus (Plus, he has some killer lines that absolutely allow him to say such things. Like, the entirety of Halftime). Nas’ street stories and introspection helped bring heavy lyricism back to Hip-Hop, opening the door for every politically conscious rapper ever to come after, as well as every extremely lyrical rapper that would follow (With all the extreme wordplay the opens itself up with repeat listens, particularly on tracks like Represent).

Illmatic is still an album that practically haunts Nas to this day. While Nas has released plenty of noteworthy Hip-Hop albums since (God’s Son is particularly good, and Stillmatic has plenty of fine tracks (Including the Jay-Z eviscerating Ether)), each album has lived in the shadow of an album so influential and so great that every Nas album since has been measured up to it. In Hip-Hop itself, it didn’t really revolutionize the sound. But it did change the dynamic of Hip-Hop in the 90s. The East Coast experienced a seismic shift with Illmatic, with Nas clearing the light-hearted vibes of A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, blasting the door open to let Diddy and Biggie to step up to the plate (As well as opening the lane for Wu-Tang to take over). After the West Coast established its firm footing in Gangster rap, Illmatic brought the East Coast to the game late, but with no less of an impact. 20 years later, Illmatic still stands as an influential and essential Hip-Hop album, the epitome of one of the greatest eras in music ever.

Summary: Illmatic is truly a classic and defining example of New York Boom Bap; A lyrically fascinating, sonically heavy, and overall intense and brilliant Hip-Hop album that retains it’s uniqueness through how perfectly and deftly it handles its street subject matter.

Choice Cuts: N.Y. State of Mind, Life’s a Bitch, The World Is Yours, Halftime, It Ain’t Hard to Tell, Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park).

Leftovers: Ha!

A++

You can watch the video for It Ain’t Hard to Tell below. Illmatic is out now on Columbia records (You can grab the latest reissue here)