[BestEverAlbums]

Today's album of the day

Illmatic by Nas (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 1994.
Country:
Nas discography rank: 1 (out of 22 listed on BEA)
1994 rank: 3
1990s rank: 13
Overall rank: 71
Average rating: 86/100 (from 1596 votes).



Tracks:
1. The Genesis
2. N.Y. State Of Mind
3. Life's A Bitch (Feat. AZ)
4. The World Is Yours
5. Halftime
6. Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park)
7. One Love
8. One Time 4 Your Mind
9. Represent
10. It Ain't Hard To Tell

indicates a top-rated track.

Top voted comments:

"well, ironically it's become one of my favourite albums.. perhaps it was a little unlike what i was accustomed to hip-hop-wise, even nas-wise for that matter.. and after declaring my indifference for it, i actually found myself listening to it all the time.. and it soon painted this awesome picture of what it might have been like to grow up in new york circa the early 90s.. it's definitely an albums album."
- telefunker (Rating: 90/100)
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"In the case of hip-hop, not much even gets close of touching this. Perfection. One of the 18 albums I've given perfect ratings to. Whenever I listen to it, I always find my self sitting on a park bench in the middle of new york..."
- Hayden (Rating: 100/100)
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About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.
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Bluesky · Facebook · Spotify · X

[DommeDamian]

"Greatest hip hop album ever" - everybody, includin me
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My music:
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[DommeDamian]

Hello everybody and welcome to my own part of the evergrowing lecture of why Illmatic is the greatest rap album in history. I figured that I couldn't say anything personally revealing about it since it has already been spilled out, other than I love how straightforward it is, just 10 tracks at 40 minutes and I can rap the whole album and have the time of my life.
Anyways, by looking at what makes Illmatic....well, Illmatic, is how we look at what makes a great or classic hip-hop record, other than - looking at the bigger picture - immense replay value.

First and foremost, the quintessential element to a song under the hip hop umbrella is the beat. The beat, the beat, the beat. It counts as about 60% of the song. If the beat isn't effective, you have already failed. A summarizing definition of a good hip hop beat would be raw, energetic, cutting-edge that you can dance too. Since it started from turntables sampling hard drums, and breakdancing, that is a factor that has been thrown under the bus the last two decades. That's a big reason why a lot of the acclaimed rappers like Kendrick Lamar (except a majority of tracks from good kid), Freddie Gibbs, Griselda etc falls so utterly flat for me as a hip-hop lover; despite being marketed as being rooted in the genre, they don't move me physically at all (they also use live instruments which is more cross-bred funk than hip hop). It's also why I believe some of the genre's greatest moments since the 2000s has been albums like LiveLoveA$AP, Playboi Carti (both s/t and Die Lit), Joey Bada$$ (2013-2017), and Denzel's Melt My Eyez, as these artists and albums have beats that is both grooving and fringe without boiling down to pop. Illmatic has super-beats, that are grooving, head bopping and was inventive for its era. Nas picked the best producers in New York to give him their best instrumentals and it still shows 30 years later. If you look at the way we can identify these beats, what it's musicalizing is the hummable part; N.Y. State of Mind's vehicle backing and sour piano, Memory Lane's eerie synth, One Love's nocturnal xylophone, Represent's chamber mastery, It Ain't Hard To Tell's sample of Michael Jackson singing etc. So here, Illmatic is a top-dawg when it comes to this important link.

Second of all, how the MC carries themselves on the beat. Here, it's anything vocal and rhythmic that matters. The reason Rakim is looked at as a goat is because he changed the way the folks actually rap. The way of sounding and pronounciating mixed with authentic emotion on top of the instrumental is what matters here. This counts as about 20-30%. Even though N.W.A is the more iconic rap group, the Wu-Tang Clan was better because that clan had a bunch of rappers with challenging flows and voices that somehow made the songs even harder. Nas himself has a top five if not a top three voice in all of hip hop. It's full of wit, grip, heart and passion, and obviously he was the hungriest on Illmatic. It's easy to follow, he switches his flow up without ever interrupting the core rhythm, he makes it earnest and hard, and you believe every word. That's why Illmatic also is maybe the best performance from a rapper. There is one feature on it, AZ, that also gives a verse of a lifetime, rapping like his life depends on it.

So now, that we already have established what makes a record outstanding in hip hop, the third and final piece is what you are saying; the lyrics, the poetry and how it's put together. That concludes the last 10-20%. In most of the best cases in rap, it finds a power in simplicity. I can easily pick Illmatic as being the greatest written album, period, not just in rap. Every last line from every song is remarkable, the way it was written (no pun intended) and how it's delivered:
"Here's my basis, my razor embraces many faces"
"I never sleep 'cause sleep is the cousin of death"
"That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto"
"I keep falling, but never falling six feet deep"
"On her way home from Jones' beach"
"Accelerator, the type of nigga who be pissin' in yo elevator"
"Yet Imma menace yo police wanna murder me"

Just to name a few. And those were from the top of my head, without listening, and I hear the way he vocally distributed those when I read them. Many rappers can have a nice or even really good pengame, but if the music ignores the previous two rules, the lyrics look thinner.

A bonus round that don't really count but just for fun, is what you are rapping about, the topic. In Illmatic's case, it's conscious street stuff. Considering how I am not from the hood nor New York, I cannot relate, but as a foreign lover of the music, no album has neither painted its grimy picture as poetic, as creepily on-point, nor as musically awesome as Illmatic.
Well that's it everybody. Thanks for coming to this lecture, don't forget your homework of listening to this album at least twice before next time.
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My music:
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[HoldenM]

I might get cancelled for saying this, but I must speak my truth: this is a very good album. Thank you and god bless.

Track pick
2. N.Y. State Of Mind
3. Life's A Bitch (Feat. AZ)
5. Halftime
10. It Ain't Hard To Tell
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Inversion Verses
https://thesplitinfinitives1.bandcamp.com/album/inversion-verses