NAS: "Illmatic XX" Stream and Documentary Trailer
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Nassir Jones' classic Hip-Hop album Illmatic. Today, Nas drops Illmatic XX, the 20th anniversary edition of the '94 debut of one of the most prolific rappers of our generation. Nas not only dropped a classic album, but changed hip hop as a whole with his gritty poetic street rhymes with a real message. Illmatic appears on best hip hop albums lists and many note the rapper as being one of the most influential rappers. This past weekend, Nas performed the classic album front to back at Coachella (video below), bringing out Hova to assist on a few tracks. That performance couldn't have been better, as you can see that no matter what, the Queensboro MC, 20 years later after dropping his debut, is still one of the most relevant hip hop artists today.
I was 11 years old when Illmatic dropped, and I remember listening to it like it was yesterday. My older brother had it on cassette, and I used to sneak into his show box of tapes while he was gone and listen to them on my Sony Walkman (remember those kids?). Not until a few years later did I really understand what Nas was rhyming about and really understand the rhymes and message he was conveying. 20 years later, the albums is still as relevant as it was in '94. Not only did he shape his career, but Nas shaped and changed hip hop culture as a whole.
To continue the celebration of the 20th anniversary, Nas will be premiere the documentary Time is Illmatic at the opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival tomorrow. If you can make the opening night, I would suggest it or just wait until it hits Netflix like the rest of us. You can buy Illmatic XX now on iTunes.
"I gave you what the streets felt like, what it tasted like, sounded like, smelled like, all on that album, and I tried to capture it like no one else could," the rapper says in the trailer.
Stream Illmatic XX and the trailer for the documentary below.
[youtube id="dhPigi-5ZPA"]
Illmatic XX Tracklist:
Disc 1: Remastered original album
01. The Genesis
02. N.Y. State Of Mind
03. Life’s A Bitch
04. The World Is Yours
05. Halftime
06. Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park)
07. One Love
08. One Time 4 Your Mind
09. Represent
10. It Ain’t Hard To Tell
Disc 2: Demos, Remixes & Live Radio
01. I’m A Villain (previously unreleased)
02. The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show on WKCR October 28, 1993 (previously unreleased freestyle)
03. Halftime (Butcher Remix)
04. It Ain’t Hard To Tell (Remix) (promo single)
05. One Love (LG Main Mix)
06. Life’s A Bitch (Arsenal Mix) (promo single)
07. One Love (One L Main Mix)
08. The World Is Yours (Tip Mix)
09. It Ain’t Hard To Tell (The Stink Mix) (UK single)
10. It Ain’t Hard To Tell (The Laidback Remix) (UK single)
[SXSW Interview] Bishop Nehru Embodies 'The Twenty Year Loop'
Photography by Asia Ashley
For the length of my career covering music, one theory has always stayed planted firmly in the back of my mind. Explained to me in one of my first interviews, with 9th Wonder in 2009, the 'Twenty Year Loop' has shaped much of the way I have consumed and understood music, culture and art since. The idea is somewhat simple, that every two decades, themes, aesthetics and ideas will re-emerge and manifest themselves once again in popular culture. It can explain the current 90s trend we're enjoying, the bell bottom craze of the late 90s and even bridge to presidents No. 41 and 43. I've never been more eager to sit down with an artist to discuss this phenomena than I was last week in Austin as I arrived at The Omni Hotel to talk to 17-year-old NYC phenom Bishop Nehru. The young artist from Rockland County, NY has a distinctly Nas-like flow that is easily recognizable throughout his breakout project, Nehruvia which was released last year. If we're following the Twenty Year Loop to a t, then that would put us in 1994. On April 19 of that year, Nas released a little project by the name of Illmatic, which can be fully felt on every rhyme Nehru spits. In essence, Bishop Nehru is the Twenty Year Loop personified. This is not to say he is a carbon copy of Nasir Jones, far from it. Instead, the point is to draw a map of the way influences work and how they manifest in music today. To be sure, Nehru has set himself up for a productive career in hip-hop, having been tapped by WorldStarHipHop as their 'Rap Act of the Week' in July 2012 at age 15 for an 8-bar freestyle over Mos Def's "Mathematics". Since then he has garnered co-signs from his idol, Nas, opened for Wu Tang Clan on their 20th Anniversary Tour and positioned himself as the true boom-bap artist to be reckoned with. Currently working on his MF Doom-produced project which he calls 'the first project he's been proud off all the way through,' epect to hear Bishop Nehru's name talked about a couple decades from now when influences get brought up. Check out my Q+A with the budding east coast MC.