Illmatic

by

Nas

Edit

I'll keep this as short as possible. True, Nas DID fall off a bit after releasing Illmatic, and his albums began to head towards a downward spiral of commercialized bling-bling rap (especially the dreadful Nastradamus), but come on. Give respect where it's due. This is one of the most outstanding rap albums ever made. Nine songs of pure New York hip-hop. No one, not even Nas, could have expected to surpass the greatness of this album with future releases. I mean, the production is great, but it's the rhyming skills Nas displays which will keep you focused.

I don't mean to be judgemental, but if you feel compelled to skip a track, then just forget about liking the rest of the album. Each song is equally as great as the last one. This is hip-hop in it's finest form, and since it's being sold at an extremely reasonable price, plunk down the dough and just buy the friggin' thing. Trust me. Your rap collection isn't complete without it.

If your favorite rappers are Nelly, the Cash Money Millionaires, Lil' Romeo and Master P, then you might want to look elsewhere.

Let me preface my review by saying that the original Illmatic album (Disc One of this edition) is an undeniable classic, five stars, without a doubt. But as a whole, this 10 Year Anniversary Edition only gets three stars (I really wanted to give it two), and the primary reason is Disc Two.

The bottom line: this is so much LESS than it could have been.

I love remixes, but the four remixes included here...they just don't work. I don't want to hear Illmatic-era lyrics over 2004-radio-rapper beats. The best of the four is the "It Ain't Hard To Tell" remix, which does have a hardcore, yet updated feel to it. Nas spits some different lyrics (perhaps he re-recorded them for this edition), which is cool. The worst is the "One Love" remix; it inexplicably features censored lyrics, which completely ruins the song, especially when they edit words like "nine" and "L's." Come on. What a waste.

Perhaps the biggest problem I have with including these subpar remixes is the fact that there are already some great remixes of these songs THAT WEREN'T INCLUDED! I'm referring to the remixes done back in '94 and '95 when these songs were released as singles. The Q-Tip remix of "The World Is Yours" and the Arsenal Mix of "Life's a B****" are outstanding. "One Love," "It Ain't Hard To Tell," and "Halftime" were all remixed back in the day, and quite well too. I would argue that these remixes make up a large part of the Illmatic mystique, and they should have been included in this celebratory anniversary collection. I mean, why not? OPEN UP THE VAULTS!

Another thought: if you are going to create some new remixes of these songs, why not bring in the original producers to do the job? Get Primo, Extra P, Tip, Pete Rock and Big LES and have them either remix their own songs or let them swap. It would be pretty cool to get those legends to give us an updated version of their classic tracks.

The two new songs on Disc Two (produced by Marley Marl and Extra P) are pretty good, worthy of inclusion here. Although, again, I would have liked to hear something from 10 years ago...weren't there any unreleased tracks that were scrapped when the 10-song Illmatic sequencing was finalized?

My other complaint about this collection is the lack of liner notes. A small thing, perhaps, but when I buy a greatest hits disc, anthology, or anniversary edition, I expect to get liner notes--and I am disappointed when I don't.

It basically all boils down to this: this collection doesn't live up to the greatness of the very album it was created to celebrate. Quite a disappointment.