UPDATE: Comments open. This song always described what 1988 felt like to me. Or rather what it felt like to be a kid, living in a city at the height of the crack era. It's really all there, the violence, the excitement, the drugs the inevitable downfall. The thing about Nas is he could be nostalgic without being sentimental. And so you get lines like:
I reminisce on park jams, my man was shot for a sheep coat
Childhood lessons make me see him drop in my weed smoke.
It's real, grew up in trife life, to times with white lines
to hype bikes, murdereous night-times, to knife-fights invite crime.
And then the imagery of lines like, "Poetry that's a part of me, retardly bop\I drop the ancient manifested hip-hop straight off the block." That first line makes me think of being a kid and trying to imitate my older brother's bop, hoping I could look as cool as him. On this cut, and really on this whole album, Nas was just so good about saying more with less. It really was like rap was his first language. That's how you get classics like:
My intellect prevails from a hanging cross with nailsThe whole time I was writing my memoir, I just wanted to do something that sounded like that.
I reinforce the frail, with lyrics that's real.
Word to Christ, a disciple of streets, trifle on beats
I decipher prophecy through a mic and say peace.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
The thing that always struck me about the song, and the album as a whole, was how absolutely perfect the beats compliment the verses. I mean damn, Life's A Bitch has a free-flowing, almost breezy rhythm that matches the stream of concious flow nas and AZ deliver on it, yet it also as asubtle, reflective quality to it that becomes more amplified once the trumpet kicks in at the end. Memory lane is the perfect example of this quality though, wow. Premo made a perfect, sepia-tinged backing track for nas share his recollections. Illmatic was, imo, is a perfect album that i've been listening to for years without tiring of. I gotta know though TNC, did you manage to listen to his newest album? If so, what'd you think?
A tremendous track from the best Rap album of all time. My favorite track from this album is actually Halftime:
Back in eighty-three I was an MC sparkin
But I was too scared to grab the mics in the parks and
kick my little raps cause I thought niggaz wouldn't understand
And now in every jam I'm the fuckin man
I rap in front of more niggaz than in the slave ships
I used to watch "C.H.I.P.S." now I load glock clips
So. Nasty.
Completely agree about the beats. It Aint Hard to Tell has one of the best beats ever. I also feel like Nas' subsequent albums have failed to measure up to Illmatic because, among other things, the beats just have not been as consistent through an entire album since. While Stillmatic was very good and Hip Hop is Dead was solid, there were too many tracks that were throw aways. Illmatic is just so incredibly complete. NY State of Mind anyone?
Funny coincidence--earlier today, I put up my post for the ELEction Day countdown, and I chose some Nas from his latest album. I've been listening to Illmatic a bit more lately--I fell off the Rap wagon for a while a few years ago, but got back on a couple of years ago and am having to catch up--and it's tight all the way around.
I haven't CV, and that's my loss.
Yo. Nas is one of the all time favorites.
I’m an true elitist when it comes to hip hop, nada nunca of much quality outside of NYC post the 90s with a few really good exceptions. NYC B-Boy late 70s-early 80s turned into the birth of crack era when my hood was named drug capital of the world in the NY Times. Hip Hop during those years was something we all looked forward to, it was like a lifeline or a serious sanity check. We all used to huddle around the box in Highbridge park or on the corner by the bodega to check what Red Alert was gonna drop on KISS every Sat. night, he was bigger than the mayor on my block. You couldn’t go to sleep without hearing shots or cops or some craziness. Nas is one of those transcendent artists that just got that and understood us and what we were living. I’m not sure he can be felt and understood the same way without the crack ghetto experience of the early 90s, sure it’s still hot beats and smooth lyrics but you know what I’m saying.
“Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne
I'm deep by sound alone, caved inside in a thousand miles from home”
Unlike most hip hop artists from back in the day time hasn’t lessened his impact. Even recently with “Made U Look” he made us old school heads wake up for a minute realize what was broken with hip hop, invoked Big Pun and took me back in time. It’s hard to compare anything to Illmatic but all his jams have at least flashes of greatness on them, all worth owning. How sick were the JayZ dis records that crushed him with Ether and ended the beef with Made U Look?
Yea, CD, NY State of Mind is the Jam.
"I'ma addict for sneakers, twenties of buddah and bitches with beepers
In the streets I can greet ya, about blunts I teach ya
Inhale deep like the words of my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times
Nothing's equivalent, to the new york state of mind"
this is one of the reasons TNC's blog is one of the best....the mans taste in music is...how should i put it....the ish!
the fact that i'm gonna see the brother live on tuesday night here in stocktown (home of the original head scratchers). It's gonna be LIVE...Nas, Mos Def, De la Soul on the same stage, is a thing of beauty, and to top it of, a couple of friends of mine, are going to stay up all night, watchin' CNN on the bigscreen, and see ya'll elect Barack Obama (hope i don't jinx it) Prez of the US. Now Hows THAT for an election night coverage. Nas' unadulterated comments ringin' in my left ear. Mos Defs classic Ms Fat booty in my right ear. Almost makes me cry....i've seen nas maybe 4 times now, de la a couple of times also, but mos has always eluded me, i've always had something else to do... midterms, work, one time the brother got sick and had to cancel. I was dissapointed to say the least.
Now, As for Illmatic, it's simple...Nas, Jay (check out dead presidents) , Biggie (Machine gun funk), and alot of other hiphop greats have all had their first albums blessed by one man. If u a head, u know....it's that simple. Primo's beats have always mezmerized, and i count him as one of the greats...probably the greatest producer in the five boroughs. His jazzy but yet raw sound, is a perfect complement to a rapper like nas...eloquent...but not to softspoken, Hood, but in a sophisticated way.
In my own opinion, he was always one level higher, when he did collabos with other artists than Guru ( i know, it's sacraligious to say so, but hey...it's post millenium baybeeee...gotta keep it real)
Regarding my favourite track...i can't decide, seriously...i can't...it's been bugging me for 10 years now...first time someone asked me, i narrowed it down to 3 songs...
represent...because of the hook..
Memory Lane, lyrics pleeeeease
NY State of mind...because of it's status as a hiphop classic.
TNC....can u help me....i need to come to closure with this issue...
As for reminiscing...ms fat booty....i know...it's late 90's...but hey...if u've ever dated a girl like this...scratch that....every man should date a girl like this...
listen below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwp1A7mrmYs&feature=related
Yo, in she came with the same type game
The type of girl givin out the fake cell phone and name
Big fame, she like cats with big thangs
Jewels chip, money clip, phone flip, the six range
I seen her on the ave, spotted her more than once
Ass so fat that you could see it from the front
She spot me like paparazzi; shot me a glance
in that catwoman stance with the fat booty pants, Hot damn!
What's your name love, where you came from?
Neck and wrist blazed up, very little make-up
The swims at the Reebok gym tone your frame up
Is sugar and spice the only thing that you made of?
I tried to play it low key but couldn't keep it down
Asked her to dance she was like "Yo, I'm leavin now"
I remember when Ether dropped it felt like the world shook a little bit. That track was straight fire.
"You ass, went from jaz to hangin with caine, to herb, to big
And, eminem murdered you on your own shit
You a dick-ridin faggot, you love the attention
Queens niggas run you niggas, ask russell simmons
Ha, r-o-c get gunned up and clapped quick
J.j. evans get gunned up and clapped quick
Your whole damn record label gunned up and clapped quick
Shaun carter to jay-z, damn you on jaz dick
So little shortys gettin gunned up and clapped quick
How much of biggies rhymes is gon come out your fat lips?
Wanted to be on every last one of my classics
You pop shit, apologize, nigga, just ask kiss"
Illmatic is like Kind of Blue, or What's Going On, it's a seminal, perfect album that means so much to so many, and will last forever.
And I gotta say, TNC did what he set out to in The Beautiful Struggle...he created a new language, half-literary, half-hip hop. And as cool as this blog is, the truth is that TNC has got a great novel in there somewhere that's got to be let loose...
Sitting in the Park is the jam, pure greatness, but I take issue with all those who say Nas never lived up to Illmatic. People who say that just stopped listening to the man. Yes, Nastradamus was weak, but...even in that misguided album, there are lyrics that are amazing. That's why Nas is remixed so much, DJs take tracks with weak beats and flip them, and suddenly you realize there's a masterpiece you missed...because with the lyrics, Nas has always had it.
The latest album is pretty amazing stuff...
But if you love Memory Lane, you gotta check out all the remixes of Hope, the final track of Hip Hop is Dead, that Nas released without a beat, as straight acapella, and what's more hip hop than that?
Lyrics from Hope (though just as easily could be from a scene from The Beautiful Struggle):
"I was nine, coldest winter I remember
Was slippin' in December, two feet of snow
Yeah, that's the East Coast, that black ice
Symbolized the rap life
It was slick and smooth
I understood I had to come from the hood
Doin' the Pee Wee Herman, the Smurf
Before them phones chirped
The block's drugs flowin', didn't have your own work
You had to have somebody else's, a small chrome on your pelvis
Starter Jacket, Blue Georgetown or Green Celtic
Your girl's too expensive, she wants shellfish
Red Lobster was poppin', standin' on that line forever
I wish somebody would step on my Bally leather's
Now it's whatever...
hip-hop's forever"
Hope (Damn Da Man remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/50718222a331820d/
TNC, if you haven't heard We March as Millions, it needs to be heard:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/507186826117ea98/
And for the true aficionados, check:
Nas interview/freestyle from 1994 Stretch and Bobbito show:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/50718608abeab393/
@The Foulness
That was real nice dude! Keep those links coming!
long time ago i heard Bobbito too!
Michael Eric Dyson (who I enjoy hearing lecture but feel is a huge fraud) is doing a book on Illmatic. If any rap album deserves book-length treatment, Illmatic does - should be interesting at least.
Fraud is an understatement, the guy is as full of shit as McWhorter. If I was Nas I'd be insulted the guy was doing a book on illmatic....a book on Illmatic by a Princeton PHD WTF! When someone that dosen't know you calls your buddy, pal or in Dyson's case "brother" watch your wallet and don't reach for the soap. What phoney B.S.
Like Pun said you aint even in me clasa....
I love illmatic, don't get me wrong, and the lyrics are incredible, no doubt, but it sounds so...monochrome to me. His flow is so relentless: smooth and steady, but not a lot of rhythmic variety (compare to Jay-Z: "I don't follow any guidelines/ Cause too many niggas rob mine/ So I change styles every two rhymes"; at least on Reasonable Doubt--which is definitely the best hip hop cd from the nineties). And the beats to me sound a little tired these days. I think of all those great mid-nineties NY records--Reasonable Doubt, Ready to Die, 36 Chambers and the other Wu discs like Only Built for Cuban Linx and Liquid Swords--illmatic looks the worst, from this vantage point. The lyrics are undeniable, but I think the other discs are more exciting.
@MikeCee
i don't question your position...but can u elaborate? Do you have anything to base this on, besides his lack of street creds?
The beauty of this entire album beyond the flow, the beats, the griminess is the fact that there's minimal profanity....pure genius. This album and 'Memory Lane' and 'The World is Yours' in particular got me through many a rough night when I was far from home.
Wrote something, would be a highjack..search UTube, watch for a while and then match his books written with news headlines, he's an ambulance chaser with a pretty degree.
Jeff, Love the Wu. Protect ya Neck is my all time get ready to jack someone up jam but like he says in Classic..(wish Kayne wasn't on this track) or in Re: to JayZ please refer back to Ether :P
"Oh you went platinum? Yeah, that's nice
Now let me see you do the same thing twice
Three times, four times, then a couple of mo' times"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDCDrcZK4NE
Jeff wrote:
And the beats to me sound a little tired these days. I think of all those great mid-nineties NY records--Reasonable Doubt, Ready to Die, 36 Chambers and the other Wu discs like Only Built for Cuban Linx and Liquid Swords--illmatic looks the worst, from this vantage point. The lyrics are undeniable, but I think the other discs are more exciting.
Spit-take! Plenty of love for the Wu-Tang, but dissing the beats on Illmatic is like saying Velázquez is tired because Picasso is more exciting.
Sure, there's a difference between Illmatic and those other albums you mentioned. For the most part, they all had a single production team creating a specific, innovative sound particularly for that artist. Nas did something different; he got several top or up-and-coming producers to contribute a track or two, and they each turned in some of their best work.
So Illmatic doesn't deliver a unified, groundbreaking sonic palette, but (to this layman's ears) it's still the pinnacle of the early/mid 90's New York party sound.
I remember getting the cassette single of "It Ain't Hard To Tell" and blasting it at maximum volume from the windows of the apartment my man Kwaku and I shared in a notoriously ugly cylinder-shaped apartment building in Central Square in Cambridge, Mass., educating the neighborhood while we waited for the full-length album to drop.
To this day I have some dear friends versed in hip-hop who hate on Nas. I only hate on, like, everything he ever did after Illmatic, and only really because it all paled in comparison. That album was a perfect piece -- as people have said upthread -- and to my ears it still listens fresh and new to this day. My favorites are "The World is Yours" and "NY State of Mind," which I actually commented on late in the Kool G Rap thread last week: http://tinyurl.com/5ncz6t
In similar spirit, here's a recent song that reminded me of "Memory Lane" [the topic of this post] as soon as I heard it. It's Lady Sovereign doing "Those Were the Days." It's not at the same exalted level of hip-hop artistry but it has lovely energy and recapitulates familiar themes with a UK flavor and setting: http://tinyurl.com/56xumu
Anyway, Ta-Nehisi, thank you for sharing the influence "Memory Lane" has on your book. You definitely achieved that effect. Respect!
Dewd: But don't you think that, ultimately, Nas' decision to divorce his discs from a single producer or production team was ultimately a bad turn for hip hop? I don't want to sound all nostalgic (I'm only 24!), and definitely there's good work all the time. But I love the coherent sound of a 36 Chambers, and I hate the way the MC is elevated WAY above the producer. Look at the MC everyone loves these days: lil Wayne, who makes all those discs with DJ Drama. So many disc sound so scattershot, and less focused these days.
There's a lot to be said for joints with a single producer 3 Feet High and Rising or The Bomb Squad/PE albums for example but I think multi-producer efforts show the range, raw talent and skill of the artist, Nas can lay it down for whatever, whenever.
My best advice to anyone buying the lil wayne CD is to buy two and throw them both away! :P
MikeCee,
Hilarious suggestion for Lil Wayne cds.
I really don't think Reasonable Doubt is on the same level as Illmatic. Besides Nas' obvious lyrical superiority, the beats are just incredible and it is such a great listen from start to finish. Reasonable Doubt is solid, but it has a lot of filler. Illmatic is short but oh so sweet.
Great song. I grew up in Crown Heights (aka crime heights), Brooklyn in the 80's & 90's, this captures some of the stuff that was going on well
I don't really get the hate for Dyson at all. Can I get some examples of what makes him a fraud?
I thought I posted a comment on here earlier, guess not. Anyway, I'm almost finished with your book that I just started yesterday and I must confirm that it is must be written by a Superhero MC Possessed- Writer. Its unique, thoughtful and poetic. Reminds me of Jazz by Toni Morrison, the first book I read with a rhythm.
Okay, y'all can't talk about how smack-down brilliant Nas is without a nod, at least, to the root stock of said genius--the Daddy, Olu Dara. The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. "From Natchez to New York" is the operatic world-beat blues anthem of the evolution of American music in one heart-wrenching, pulse-tightening, juice-quickening epic of down-home cool. Don't y'all dare talk about the son without acknowledging the father. He the Man.