So why is Nas’ Illmatic on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Illmatic ranks as the “highest” Nas album on this here best 1,000 albums ever project*. While I don’t have it quite in the hallowed ground where Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking has it (#44), I fully acknowledge that it’s an iconic 1990s rap record, brimming with the raw underground energy and vitality of New York City – which I moved to several years after Illmatic was released, post-college.**
* Also see Hip-hop Is Dead (#312 of best 1,000 albums ever) and Distant Relatives (#380), a collaboration between Nas and Damian Marley.
** Shoutout to Steve Huey at All Music for calling Illmatic “a return to street aesthetics.”
By way of Spotify plays, “Represent” is the fifth most popular song on Illmatic (with a very healthy 84 million+ plays as of this writing), but for me this is the towering achievement from the album. The chiming, pulsing beat and monumentally great raw-but-smooth flow from Nas makes this track hypnotically addictive.
And like all great writing, there’s a specificity to the lyrics that comes across as inherently authentic.
Every day’s a different plan that had us running from cops
If it wasn’t hanging out in front of cocaine spots
We was at the candy factory, breaking the locks
But that’s not to say there isn’t a reason that four other songs on Illmatic have more than 84 million plays as of this writing. If you’re curious, “N.Y. State of Mind” tops them all with 288 million and change, a rough-and-tumble number that’s akin to an ever so slightly more polished cousin of New York hip-hop legends Gang Starr (see: Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr, #503). The sinister, jumping bass and tinkling piano samples are expertly deployed here as well.
“Halftime” is my second favorite song on Illmatic because it’s broody and yet driving and relentless. And then the jazz samples give it just enough levity to provide the perfect mix.
And likewise, the jazz piano sample on “The World Is Yours” is just fantastic.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with Nas’ Illmatic
It occurs to me that I don’t think I’ve yet written about what may well be my favorite Nas song of all, which is “Nas Is Like,” off of the I Am… album from 1999. This one puts together all the things that makes Nas great: majestic, bombastic strings and a booming hip-hop beat underlie Nas’ supremely confident prowess on the mic. In short, it crushes.
Some stats & info about Nas – Illmatic
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Hip Hop, Rap, East Coast Rap, Hardcore Rap, Jazzy Hip Hop
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #44
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Illmatic released? 1994
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #209 out of 1,000
Nas’ Illmatic on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Nas’ Illmatic that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Represent represent.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.