Nas’s Classic debut Illmatic is timeless – period. It’s something that has been written about and debated to death; however, with the recent release of the documentary Time Is Illmatic, we are reminded of the bigger picture the album represents. It’s more than just Nas – although he is a big part of it.
The album represents the time in history, the goldenera of modern culture of hip-hop, the upper-echelon of respected hip-hop production and the sheer unadulterated, unmanufactured love of the artform – it’s quite the story. This album is the purest representation of what hip-hop is, and should be. Even though everyone involved in this project has gone on to make amazing things – i.e Q-Tip, Large Pro, Pete Rock and Premo– this almost still reads as an opus in many respects.
To support the release of the documentary Pete Rock released an official Time Is Illmatic mix on SoundCloud. Definitely worth a spin. If you haven’t seen the movie, do so immediately.
