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Nas’ ‘Illmatic’ Album: All 10 Songs Ranked
The Queens MC's groundbreaking debut turns 30 today.
The teenage phenom hailing from Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens had already made waves in 1991 with a guest feature on Main Source’s song “ Live at the Barbeque.” He sounded like a newer version of Rakim and Kool G Rap and his verse was talked about like a mythical treasure like the Lost Scrolls. Nas was the Second Coming, the Chosen One, and Large Professor, DJ Premier, L.E.S., Pete Rock, and Q-Tip were the wise men following the North Star in search of the true and living god emcee. The lines “I keep some E&J, sittin’ bent up in the stairway/ Or either on the corner bettin’ Grants with the cee-lo champs/ Laughin’ at baseheads tryna sell some broken amps, G-packs get off quick, forever niggas talk sh—t/ Reminiscin’ about the last time the task force flipped” are so cinematic, you can close your eyes and smell the pissy project stairways.
Or read this on Billboard
