Izdavač: Ostalo
Žanr: Džez, Rep i Hip-Hop
Poreklo: Strani izvođač

Original, made in Austria

Knjizica od 12 str.

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Studio album by Nas
Released April 19, 1994
Recorded 1992–1993[1]
Studio
BatteryUniqueChung KingD&D Recording (New York)[2]
Genre
East Coast hip-hopboom baphardcore hip-hopjazz rap[3]
Length 39:48
Label Columbia
Producer
DJ PremierFaith N.Large ProfessorL.E.S.NasPete RockQ-Tip
Nas chronology
Illmatic
(1994) It Was Written
(1996)

Illmatic (stylized in lowercase) is the debut studio album by the American rapper Nas, released on April 19, 1994, by Columbia Records. After signing with the label with the help of MC Serch, Nas recorded the album in 1992 and 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording Studios in New York City. The album`s production was handled by DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and Nas himself. Styled as a hardcore hip-hop album, Illmatic features multi-syllabic internal rhymes and inner-city narratives based on Nas` experiences growing up in the Queensbridge Houses in Queens, New York. He started working on the album when he was 16 years old.[4][5]

The album debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 59,000 copies in its first week. Initial sales fell below expectations and its five singles failed to achieve significant chart success. Despite the album`s low initial sales, Illmatic received rave reviews from most music critics, who praised its production and Nas` lyricism. On January 17, 1996, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, and on December 11, 2001, it earned a platinum certification after shipping 1,000,000 copies in the United States. As of February 6, 2019, the album had sold 2 million copies in the United States.

Since its initial reception, Illmatic has been recognized by writers and music critics as a landmark album in East Coast hip-hop. Its influence on subsequent hip-hop artists has been attributed to the album`s production and Nas` lyricism, and contributed to the revival of the New York City rap scene, introducing a number of stylistic trends to the region. The album is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential hip-hop albums of all time, appearing on numerous best album lists by critics and publications.[6] Billboard wrote in 2015 that `Illmatic is widely seen as the best hip-hop album ever`.[7] In 2020, the album was ranked by Rolling Stone at number 44 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and in the following year,[8] it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being `culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant`.

Background
As a teenager, Nas wanted to pursue a career as a rapper and enlisted his best friend and neighbor, Willy `Ill Will` Graham, as his DJ.[9] Nas initially went by the nickname `Kid Wave` before adopting the alias `Nasty Nas`.[9] At the age of fifteen, he met producer Large Professor from Flushing, Queens, who introduced him to his group Main Source. Nas made his recorded debut with them on the opening verse on `Live at the Barbeque` from their 1991 album Breaking Atoms.[10] Nas made his solo debut on his 1992 single `Halftime` for the soundtrack to the film Zebrahead. The single added to the buzz surrounding Nas, earning him comparisons to the highly influential golden age rapper Rakim.[11] Despite his buzz in the underground scene, Nas did not receive an offer for a recording contract and was rejected by major rap labels such as Cold Chillin` and Def Jam Recordings.[10] Nas and Ill Will continued to work together, but their partnership was cut short when Graham was murdered by a gunman in Queensbridge on May 23, 1992;[12] Nas` brother was also shot that night, but survived. Nas has cited that moment as a `wake-up call` for him.[13]

In mid-1992, MC Serch, whose group 3rd Bass had dissolved, began working on a solo project and approached Nas.[14] At the suggestion of producer T-Ray, Serch collaborated with Nas for `Back to the Grill`, the lead single for Serch`s 1992 solo debut album Return of the Product. At the recording session for the song, Serch discovered that Nas did not have a recording contract and subsequently contacted Faith Newman, an A&R executive at Sony Music Entertainment.[15] As Serch recounted, `Nas was in a position where his demo had been sittin` around, `Live at the Barbeque` was already a classic, and he was just tryin` to find a decent deal [...] So when he gave me his demo, I shopped it around. I took it to Russell first, Russell said it sounded like G Rap, he wasn`t wit` it. So I took it to Faith. Faith loved it, she said she`d been looking for Nas for a year and a half. They wouldn`t let me leave the office without a deal on the table.`[16]

Once MC Serch assumed the role of executive producer for Nas` debut project, he attempted to connect Nas with various producers. Numerous New York-based producers were eager to work with the up-and-coming rapper and went to Power House Studios with Nas. Among those producers was DJ Premier,[16] recognized at the time for his raw and aggressive jazz sample-based production and heavy scratching, and for his work with rapper Guru as a part of hip-hop duo Gang Starr.[17][18] After his production on Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth`s Funky Technician (1990) and Jeru the Damaja`s The Sun Rises in the East (1994), Premier began recording exclusively at D&D Studios in New York City, before working with Nas on Illmatic.[17][19]

Recording
[Nas] didn`t know how he was gonna come in, but he just started going because we were recording. I`m actually yelling, `We`re recording!` and banging on the [vocal booth] window. `Come on, get ready!` You hear him start the shit: Rappers .... And then everyone in the studio was like, `Oh, my God`, `cause it was so unexpected. He was not ready. So we used that first verse. And that was when he was up and coming, his first album. So we was like, `Yo, this guy is gonna be big.`

—DJ Premier on the recording of the song `N.Y. State of Mind`[20]
Prior to recording, DJ Premier listened to Nas` debut single, and later stated: `When I heard `Half Time`, that was some next shit to me. That`s just as classic to me as `Eric B For President` and `The Bridge`. It just had that type of effect. As simple as it is, all of the elements are there. So from that point, after Serch approached me about doing some cuts, it was automatic. You`d be stupid to pass that up even if it wasn`t payin` no money.`[16] Serch later noted the chemistry between Nas and DJ Premier, recounting that `Primo and Nas, they could have been separated at birth. It wasn`t a situation where his beats fit their rhymes, they fit each other.`[16] While Serch reached out to DJ Premier, Large Professor contacted Pete Rock to collaborate with Nas on what became `The World Is Yours`.[10] Shortly afterwards, L.E.S. (a DJ in Nas`s Queensbridge neighborhood) and A Tribe Called Quest`s Q-Tip chose to work on the album.[16] `Life`s a Bitch` contains a cornet solo performed by Nas` father, Olu Dara, with features by Brooklyn-based rapper AZ.[16]

In an early promotional interview, Nas claimed that the name `Illmatic` (meaning `beyond ill` or `the ultimate`) was a reference to his incarcerated friend, Illmatic Ice.[21] Nas later described the title name as `supreme ill. It`s as ill as ill gets. That shit is a science of everything ill.`[22] At the time of its recording, expectations in the hip-hop scene were high for Illmatic.[16] In a 1994 interview for The Source, which dubbed him `the second coming` (referring to Rakim), Nas spoke highly of the album, saying that `this feels like a big project that`s gonna affect the world [...] We in here on the down low [...] doing something for the world. That`s how it feels, that`s what it is. For all the ones that think it`s all about some ruff shit, talkin` about guns all the time, but no science behind it, we gonna bring it to them like this.`[16] AZ recounted recording on the album, `I got on Nas` album and did the `Life`s a Bitch` song, but even then I thought I was terrible on it, to be honest. But once people started hearing that and liking it, that`s what built my confidence. I thought, `OK, I can probably do this.` That record was everything. To be the only person featured on Illmatic when Nas is considered one of the top men in New York at that time, one of the freshest new artists, that was big.`[16] During the sessions, Nas composed the song `Nas Is Like`, which he later recorded as a single for his 1999 album I Am....[23]

Regarding the album`s opening song `N.Y. State of Mind`, producer DJ Premier later said, `When we did `N.Y. State of Mind,` at the beginning when he says, `Straight out the dungeons of rap / Where fake niggas don`t make it back,` then you hear him say, `I don`t know how to start this shit,` `cause he had just written it. He`s got the beat running in the studio, but he doesn`t know how he`s going to format how he`s going to convey it. So he`s going, `I don`t know how to start this shit,` and I`m counting him in [to begin his verse]. One, two, three. And then you can hear him go, `Yo,` and then he goes right into it.`[20]
Illmatic track listing
No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. `The Genesis`
Nasir JonesFred Brathwaite
NasFaith N.
1:45
2. `N.Y. State of Mind`
JonesChristopher Martin
DJ Premier 4:53
3. `Life`s a Bitch` (featuring AZ)
JonesAnthony CruzOlu Dara JonesRobert WilsonOliver Scott
L.E.S.Nas (co.)
3:30
4. `The World Is Yours`
JonesPeter Phillips
Pete Rock 4:50
5. `Halftime`
JonesWilliam Paul MitchellGary Byrd
Large Professor 4:20
6. `Memory Lane (Sittin` in da Park)`
JonesMartinReuben WilsonPeg Barsella
DJ Premier 4:08
7. `One Love`
JonesJonathan DavisJimmy Heath
Q-Tip 5:25
8. `One Time 4 Your Mind`
JonesMitchell
Large Professor 3:18
9. `Represent`
JonesMartin
DJ Premier 4:12
10. `It Ain`t Hard to Tell`
JonesMitchell
Large Professor 3:22
Total length: 39:48

Sample credits
The Genesis

Dialogue from the 1983 film Wild Style[166]
N.Y. State of Mind

`Mind Rain` by Joe Chambers[166]
`N.T.` by Kool & the Gang[167]
`Flight Time` by Donald Byrd[168]
`Mahogany` by Eric B. & Rakim[169]
`Live at the Barbeque` by Main Source[170]
Life`s a Bitch

`Yearning for Your Love` by The Gap Band[166]
The World Is Yours

`I Love Music` by Ahmad Jamal[171]
`Dance Girl` by The Rimshots[172]
`It`s Yours` by T La Rock[173]
Halftime

`Dead End` by Japanese Hair cast[174]
`School Boy Crush` by Average White Band[175]
`Soul Travelin` Pt. 1` by Gary Byrd[174]
Memory Lane (Sittin` in da Park)

`We`re in Love` by Reuben Wilson[64]
`Get Out of My Life, Woman` by Lee Dorsey[176]
`Pickin` Boogers` by Biz Markie[177]
`Droppin` Science` by Marley Marl and Craig G[177]
One Love

`Smilin` Billy Suite, Pt. II` by The Heath Brothers[166]
`Come in Out of the Rain` by Parliament[68]
`One Love` by Whodini[178]
One Time 4 Your Mind

`Walter L` by Jimmy Gordon & His Jazznpops Band[179]
Represent

`The Thief of Bagdad` by Lee Erwin[180]
It Ain`t Hard to Tell

`Human Nature` by Michael Jackson[169]
`Slow Dance` by Stanley Clarke[70]
`Long Red (Live)` by Mountain[181]
`N.T.` by Kool & the Gang[71]

Personnel
Nas – lead vocals, co-producer
AZ – co-vocals (3)
Olu Dara – trumpet
Q-Tip – vocals, producer
Pete Rock – vocals, producer
DJ Premier – producer
Diego Garrido – engineer, mixing
Jack Hersca – assistant engineer
Large Professor – producer
Tim `The Funky Red` Latham – engineer
L.E.S. – producer
Faith N. – executive producer, producer
MC Serch – executive producer
Anton `Sample This` Pushansky – engineer
Kevin Reynolds – engineer
Eddie Sancho – engineer
Jamey Staub – engineer
Louis Tineo – assistant engineer
Jason Vogel – engineer
Stan Wallace – engineer
Aimee Macauley – art director
Danny Clinch – photography
Tony Dawsey – mastering engineer