Guest post by Nunneh Nimley
Today we celebrate the 21st anniversary of the OLD testament of the Hip Hop Bible.
At this time 21 years ago, hip hop more or less resided on the west coast. The voice of the culture was being solely represented by those on the streets of Los Angeles. When a young man from the Queensbridge Housing Projects used his GOD given ability of penmanship to make what still is the quintessential hip hop album.
The importance of Illmatic is hard to grasp for those born in the 90s and beyond, because for the most part they were born INTO hip hop culture. As a proud 80s baby this album will always be near and dear my heart. For one, I'm a hip hop junkie. For two, Nasir Jones is my FAV rapper of ALL time.
Illmatic is important because it singlehandedly takes everything hip hop represented from its inception, up until April 19th of 1994 and personified it in less than 40 minutes. It's the young black man's manifesto of sorts. It's the story of hop hops earliest influence, and all of the problems surrounding the coming of age of one of the cultures brightest stars. From park jams, to project hallways. From park benches to Rikers Island's visiting room, this is the soundtrack to close to 20 years of the streets poetic culture.
From the intro which samples 'Wild Style', to the final reminance of the Michael Jackson sample on "It Ain't Hard To Tell" Illmatic is a walk through 1990s New York, in the middle of the crack epidemic, in the epicenter of violence and poverty. It's unapologetic, it's poetic, it's captures the very essence of the culture of Hip Hop.
It's the norm now, but at the time of Illmatic, most rap albums production was handled in house, Illmatic changed that. This was the first album that brought the BEST producers on the east coast and put them on one album. DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, and Q-Tip formed a dream team and there's still room for an unknown producer, L.E.S. to shine bright. He would go on to become a frequest collaborator with NaS throughout the 90s and early 2000s.
Illmatic paved the way for the Life After Death's & Blueprint's and pretty much every album since then. Beforehand the idea of putting together album with several producers was unheard of maybe because of the crew mentality of the late 80s and 90s, maybe because the budgets being given to rap artists.
So as we celebrate 21 years of Illmatic, "Lemme take trip down 'Memory Lane...
Comin outta Queensbridge"
By Nunneh Nimley.
