Illmatic | Loppylugs

Submitted by Neil Hornsey on 17 August 2013 - 8:10pm

Cover:

Artist:

Nas

album-ID:

a_138

Nationality:

USA

Year:

1 994

Release-year:

0000

Num-of-tracks:

Track-listing:

The Genesis *N.Y. State Of Mind*Life's A Bitch*The World Is Yours*Halftime*Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park)*One Love*One Time 4 Your Mind *Represent*It Ain't Hard To Tell

Length-in-mins:

Nominator:

Bean

meeting-ID:

m_53

Now-num:

Spotify-URL:

0cszZwl0JRKHBdcFLfNX3T

Grooveshark-URL:

Illmatic/114620

Short-title:

illmatic

nominator-ID:

u_13

Meeting-date:

Thursday, 24 October 2013

MusicBrainz-URL:

28298e2c-4d70-3eed-a0f5-a3280c662b3d

Wikipedia-URL:

Illmatic

Spotify-link-type:

album

Discogs-URL:

Nas-10-Year-Anniversary-Illmatic-Platinum-Series/master/20148

Allmusic-URL:

illmatic-mw0000623739

BBC-URL:

42d3

rdio-URL:

Nas/album/Illmatic

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109

117

reviewers-IDs data

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-14-

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75

reviewed by

Glyn Lewis

Stay tuned, I assume the real rap comes at half-time

2-5-8

4

An album that draws largely on the vibe of old skool hip hop from a decade or so earlier. I'm a sucker for references to the Bronx, Brooklyn, Strong Island and any other New York district name that scans nicely, and also for the sparse rhythms and simple looped samples from those earlier rap albums. Rap has a tradition of self-reference and all these little loops and sounds and phrases that acknowledge previous work are probably more key to some people than to me but always reassuring when you recognise them.

It's good quality stuff with some great production but it's not groundbreaking – nothing like a dramatic re-invention of sound, like the big albums that appeared earlier were. I wouldnt say this lives up to those standards nor to the acclaim it seems to have received but I think it is a good quality rap album none the less.
62

reviewed by

Richard Norbury
50

reviewed by

Matthew Baker

Licence to Ill

3

..oh no, that was the Beastie Boys wasn't it? Hip Hop not my thing. Life's a Bitch the standout well known track. Rest of it didn't do much for me.
49

reviewed by

Neil Hornsey

Life's a bitch and then you get bored

The all time lists and charts of hip hop and rap albums generally have this album at the No.1 spot. The great artists themselves all seem to agree that this is an all time classic. Therefore, we had to review it to see what the fuss is about.

So what is the fuss all about? I find this pedestrian, rather one tracked, unoriginal in its choice of simple samples, and rather laboured in its vocal style. There's nothing particularly memorable, no wow moments, nothing I want to go back to and listen to again. Admittedly he's a decent rapper, the style is smooth and it flows very well, but does it stand out as one of the all time greats? Not to me. I get far more enjoyment from earlier, more 'electro' style of hip hop. This album serves as a good reminder of why I got tired of the rap scene in the early nineties.