illmatic: lyrical masterpiece or fraud?

[Mr. Pink]

nas hosting baby showers for his hoodrat daughter and IRS audits, while mega revolutionized the independent game and made more money off rap than naux...not to mention he came in the game rich off cocaine

meanwhile nas could only afford to give mega $100 when he came home, because he was getting extorted by steve stoute and dr. dre

He got snuffed, he got shot in the thigh, he did nothing.

 

[intilectual recipricol]

Straight up shyt is real and any day could be your last in the jungle
Get murdered on the humble, guns'll blast, nikkaz tumble
The corners is the hot spot, full of mad criminals
who don't care, guzzlin beers, we all stare
at the out-of-towners (Ay, yo, yo, who that?) They better break North
before we get the four pounders, and take their face off



The streets is filled with undercovers, homicide chasin brothers
The D.A.'s on the roof, tryin to, watch us and knock us
And killer coppers, even come through in helicopters
I drink a little vodka, spark a L and hold a Glock for
the fronters, wannabe ill nikkaz and spot runners

its alright I guess... at least if flowed... kinda

Thinkin it can't happen til I, trap em and clap em
and leave em done, won't even run about Gods
I don't believe in none of that shyt, your facts are backwards
Nas is a rebel of the street corner
Pullin a Tec out the dresser, police got me under pressure

We throwin words together again... "a bunch of you aint do before" - the Gawd

Yo, they call me Nas, I'm not your legal type of fella
Moet drinkin, marijuana smokin street dweller
who's always on the corner, rollin up blessed
When I dress, it's never nuttin less than Guess
Cold be walkin with a bop and my hat turned back
Love committin sins and my friends sell crack
This nikka raps with a razor, keep it under my tongue
The school drop-out, never liked the shyt from day one

this shyt is hardly something that says great rapper much less lyricist...

cause life ain't shyt but stress fake nikkaz and crab stunts
So I guzzle my Hennesey while pullin on mad blunts
The brutalizer, crew de-sizer, accelerator
The type of nikka who be pissin in your elevator
Somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game
Used to sport Bally's and Gazelle's with black frames
Now I'm into fat chains, sex and Tecs
Fly new chicKs and new kicks, Heine's and Beck's

more incoherent trash.... nicca talkin bout Hennessey AGAIN.

No doubt; see my, stacks are fat, this is what it's about
Before the BDP conflict with MC Shan
Around the time when Shante dissed the Real Roxxane
I used to wake up every mornin, see my crew on the block
Every day's a different plan that had us runnin from cops
If it wasn't hangin out in front of cocaine spots
We was at the candy factory, breakin the locks

not good not terrible... just some ol filler bars like the par with this album

Nowadays, I need the green in a flash just like the next man
fukk a yard God, let me see a hundred grand
Could use a gun Son, but fukk bein the wanted man
but if I hit rock bottom then I'ma be the Son of Sam
Then call the crew to get live too
with Swoop, Hakim, my brother Jungle, Big Bo, cooks up the blow
Mike'll chop it, Mayo, you count the profit
My shyt is on the streets, this way the Jakes'll never stop it
It's your brain on drugs, to all fly bytches and thugs
Nuff respect to the projects, I'm ghost, One Love

trash

I got one more song niccaz. I want yall to know that this endeavor was extremely painful. I dont know if Ive ever listened to a worse album. And I'm bein honest. There may be worse, but I just havent listened to it.

 

[HendriX]

nas hosting baby showers for his hoodrat daughter

olu dara

At least he aint a deadbeat dad

while mega revolutionized the independent game and made more money off rap than naux...not to mention he came in the game rich off cocaine

So we spreadin lies? Mega was crying like a hoe on records talmbout "everyone on the record, everyone 'cept me

meanwhile nas could only afford to give mega $100 when he came home, because he was getting extorted by steve stoute and dr. dre

Nas is still a multi-milli rapper bubba


you my dude tho but stfu about that bum mega

 

[charmander]

He got snuffed, he got shot in the thigh, he did nothing.

cormega snatched nashawn's chain and gave it back PAUSE

nas honestly aint want no part of mega in the streets...mega was knocking Nature out just for existing on this earth, robbing Bravehearts on a weekly basis, and putting out classic albums

meanwhile nas was in a studio tryna rap like a woman named scarlett

 

[keon]

nikkaz be runnin through the block shootin
Time to start the revolution, catch a body head for Houston
Once they caught us off guard, the Mac-10 was in the grass and
I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin

nicca WTF are you talkin about, really?

houston = geto boys = assassin

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66Tuirx98Qk[/ame]

 

[Mr. Pink]

cormega snatched nashawn's chain and gave it back PAUSE

nas honestly aint want no part of mega in the streets...mega was knocking Nature out just for existing on this earth, robbing Bravehearts on a weekly basis, and putting out classic albums

meanwhile nas was in a studio tryna rap like a woman named scarlett

So we're gonna act like Mega wasn't feeling himself in interviews, talking about "Nas won't say my name, he's afraid to say my name. I dare Nas to say my name."

Then Nas was like "Mega, for the record you can SUCK MY dikk."

What did Mega do? Nothing, just like the Dips.

 

[the rhyme king]

Ima continue on even though this shyt is VERY hard to listen to... I'm used to lyricists...


Be havin dreams that I'ma gangster -- drinkin Moets, holdin Tecs
Makin sure the cash came correct then I stepped
Investments in stocks, sewein up the blocks
to sell rocks, winnin gunfights with mega cops

"wakin up in cold sweats they just dreams"... anyways more of the same. a weak nicca puttin words together just to match... the fukc is "mega cops"? is that the mufukcaz that police Mega Man?

But just a nikka, walking with his finger on the trigger
Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger
I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin
Give me a Smith and Wessun I'll have nikkaz undressin

Wow... exquisite... no one coulda rhymed nicca, finger, trigger, and bigger... and the way he used it was simply actually it was garbage, some of the worst rapping I have ever heard.

Thinkin of cash flow, buddah and shelter
Whenever frustrated I'ma hijack Delta
In the P.J.'s, my blend tape plays, bullets are strays
Young bytches is grazed each block is like a maze

This nicca still ramblin on about nothing... get to the point nicca. Still havent seen a lick of lyricism yet.

full of black rats trapped, plus the Island is packed
From what I hear in all the stories when my peoples come back, black
I'm livin where the nights is jet black
The fiends fight to get crack I just max, I dream I can sit back

trapped, packed, back, black, black, crack, max, back... someone get @the rhyme king is this lyrical b? And where in the US arent the nights 'black'? this nicca still puttin words together just to match. Hasnt said anything profound yet.

and lamp like a pole, with drug scripts sewn
Or the legal luxury life, rings flooded with stones, homes
I got so many rhymes I don't think I'm too sane
Life is parallel to Hell but I must maintain

lamp like a pole huh? drug scripts huh? How does having rhymes = not sane? and as weve seen so far most ya rhymes are complete garbage. WTF does parallel to hell mean? this nicca is just sayin shyt no matter how much it doesnt make sense.

and be prosperous, though we live dangerous
cops could just arrest me, blamin us, we're held like hostages
It's only right that I was born to use mics
and the stuff that I write, is even tougher than dykes
I'm takin rappers to a new plateau, through rap slow
My rhymin is a vitamin, held without a capsule
The smooth criminal on beat breaks
Never put me in your box if your shyt eats tapes

blamin you for WHAT nicca? how did we get from cops blamin you to bein born to use mics? why dont you use mics better if its what you were born to do? Its like sayin you were born to be great at parenting, then we look at your life naS, show us the proof. Stuff you write is tougher than dykes? We still actin like this shyt is lyrical or what? plateau, rap slow. How are you taking anyone anywhere through "rap slow"? Words just to match.

The city never sleeps, full of villians and creeps
That's where I learned to do my hustle had to scuffle with freaks
I'ma addict for sneakers, twenties of buddah and bytches with beepers
In the streets I can greet ya, about blunts I teach ya
Inhale deep like the words of my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times
Nothing's equivalent, to the new york state of mind

come on man, at least make sense... scuffle with freaks? addict for bytches with beepers? I remember the early 90's everyone had a beeper dumb ass. What are the words of your breath? Shyt is incoherent. WTF is this shyt even about? This whole shyt is just terrible.

So we're one song in and have nothing to show for it other than me being sleepy even though Ive had a cup of coffee and a good nights rest. This is literally one of the worst songs Ive ever suffered through.

nas is lyrical one of the best imo but to say illmatic is the best album lyrically is just lagughable because their are more albums out there to me that are more lyrical imo


so i agree with intilectual recipricol and his thread.

 

[intilectual recipricol]

It ain't hard to tell, I excel, then prevail
The mic is contacted, I attract clientele
My mic check is life or death, breathin a sniper's breath
I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps

WTF is this? Still throwin words together with no actual point or meanin...

Deep like The Shinin', sparkle like a diamond
Sneak a uzi on the island in my army jacket linin
Hit the Earth like a comet, invasion
Nas is like the Afrocentric Asian, half-man, half-amazin

The fukc does the last line even mean?

Cause in my physical, I can express through song
Delete stress like Motrin, then extend strong
I drank Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell
From the spliff that I lift and inhale, it ain't hard to tell

whatever nicca... I'm bout done expectin for this shyt to have a point

The buddha monk's in your trunk, turn the bass up
Not stories by Aesop, place your loot up, parties I shoot up
Nas, I analyze, drop a jew-el, inhale from the L
School a fool well, you feel it like braille
It ain't hard to tell, I kick a skill like Shaquille holds a pill
Vocabulary spills I'm +Ill+
plus +Matic+, I freak beats slam it like Iron Shiek
Jam like a tech with correct techniques
So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me
Scannin while you're plannin ways to sabotage me
I leave em froze like her-on in your nose
Nas'll rock well, it ain't hard to tell

im analyzin you dog... and not findin any redeemable qualities. ya word play is fukcin atrocious.

This rhythmatic explosion, is what your frame of mind has chosen
I'll leave your brain stimulated, nikkaz is frozen
Speak with criminal slang, begin like a violin
End like Leviathan, it's deep well let me try again
Wisdom be leakin out my grapefruit troop
I dominate break loops, givin mics men-e-straul cycles
Street's disciple, I rock beats that's mega trifle
And groovy but smoother than moves by Villanova
You're still a soldier, I'm like Sly Stone in Cobra
Packin like a rasta in the weed spot
Vocals'll squeeze glocks, MC's eavesdrop
Though they need not to sneak
My poetry's deep, I never fell
Nas's raps should be locked in a cell
It ain't hard to tell

this is my favorite part cuz its over....

garbage from the opening track where this nicca said he shoots lyrics like a rifle all the way to the ending where it aint hard to tell.

This is lyrically and musically one of the worst projects hip hop has ever seen and I hope to never listen to it again.

 

[ISO]

Straight up shyt is real and any day could be your last in the jungle
Get murdered on the humble, guns'll blast, nikkaz tumble
The corners is the hot spot, full of mad criminals
who don't care, guzzlin beers, we all stare
at the out-of-towners (Ay, yo, yo, who that?) They better break North
before we get the four pounders, and take their face off



The streets is filled with undercovers, homicide chasin brothers
The D.A.'s on the roof, tryin to, watch us and knock us
And killer coppers, even come through in helicopters
I drink a little vodka, spark a L and hold a Glock for
the fronters, wannabe ill nikkaz and spot runners

its alright I guess... at least if flowed... kinda

Thinkin it can't happen til I, trap em and clap em
and leave em done, won't even run about Gods
I don't believe in none of that shyt, your facts are backwards
Nas is a rebel of the street corner
Pullin a Tec out the dresser, police got me under pressure

We throwin words together again... "a bunch of you aint do before" - the Gawd

Yo, they call me Nas, I'm not your legal type of fella
Moet drinkin, marijuana smokin street dweller
who's always on the corner, rollin up blessed
When I dress, it's never nuttin less than Guess
Cold be walkin with a bop and my hat turned back
Love committin sins and my friends sell crack
This nikka raps with a razor, keep it under my tongue
The school drop-out, never liked the shyt from day one

this shyt is hardly something that says great rapper much less lyricist...

cause life ain't shyt but stress fake nikkaz and crab stunts
So I guzzle my Hennesey while pullin on mad blunts
The brutalizer, crew de-sizer, accelerator
The type of nikka who be pissin in your elevator
Somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game
Used to sport Bally's and Gazelle's with black frames
Now I'm into fat chains, sex and Tecs
Fly new chicKs and new kicks, Heine's and Beck's

more incoherent trash.... nicca talkin bout Hennessey AGAIN.

No doubt; see my, stacks are fat, this is what it's about
Before the BDP conflict with MC Shan
Around the time when Shante dissed the Real Roxxane
I used to wake up every mornin, see my crew on the block
Every day's a different plan that had us runnin from cops
If it wasn't hangin out in front of cocaine spots
We was at the candy factory, breakin the locks

not good not terrible... just some ol filler bars like the par with this album

Nowadays, I need the green in a flash just like the next man
fukk a yard God, let me see a hundred grand
Could use a gun Son, but fukk bein the wanted man
but if I hit rock bottom then I'ma be the Son of Sam
Then call the crew to get live too
with Swoop, Hakim, my brother Jungle, Big Bo, cooks up the blow
Mike'll chop it, Mayo, you count the profit
My shyt is on the streets, this way the Jakes'll never stop it
It's your brain on drugs, to all fly bytches and thugs
Nuff respect to the projects, I'm ghost, One Love

trash

I got one more song niccaz. I want yall to know that this endeavor was extremely painful. I dont know if Ive ever listened to a worse album. And I'm bein honest. There may be worse, but I just havent listened to it.

He said its the worst album he ever heard! I can't believe you wasted your time blasting those great lyrics. Your dismissing entire verses calling them trash, it's just your radical ass opinion. Stop wasting your time nobody agrees with you.

 

[menaceiisociety]

ban this threadstarter for talking trash about the best lyricist ever to grace the stage

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

I don't know if I agree, but this is the first time i've seen one back their arguments up in this regard.

 

[intilectual recipricol]

houston = geto boys = assassin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66Tuirx98Qk

Yes, but WTF is he talkin about? I'm lookin for coherency and lyricism, I find neither. Listen to "If I Ruled the World" that shyt is coherent and damn good music.

 

[Johnny Kilroy]

In the 1st fukcin bar we get probably one of the corniest moments EVER laid on a beat

Rappers I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm I be kickin

what funky rhythm nicca? who have you "monkey flipped?" this shyt is a straight throw away...

Your critique doesn't even make sense. He's not talking about physically monkey flipping somebody. It's a metaphor. This is hip hop.

Musician, inflictin composition
of pain I'm like Scarface sniffin cocaine
Holdin a M-16, see with the pen I'm extreme, now
Bulletholes left in my peepholes

The fukc are you talkin about nicca? this is some incoherent bullshyt. How do you inflict composition of pain? Shyt doesnt make sense b. He might be like Scarface sniffin coke though... but is it dope or even well written? Not even close.

Incoherent if you're a fukkin retard. What doesn't make sense? Do you speak English? He's inflicting pain through his composition. Again, this is metaphorically speaking. Again, are you retarded or something?

I'm suited up in street clothes
Hand me a nine and I'll defeat foes
Y'all know my steelo with or without the airplay
I keep some E&J, sittin bent up in the stairway
Or either on the corner bettin Grants with the celo champs

Are you suited OR are you in street clothes? Make up your mind dumb ass. Hand you a nine and you'll defeat foes? sounds like youre just sayin anything to rhyme actually... "hand me a beat i'll put words together just to match" shoulda been his lyrics. So whether or not they play him on the radio he keeps Erk in the stairway? more incoherent rhymes.

Suited up in street clothes?
That's your complaint? He's.... SUITED UP IN STREET CLOTHES or DRESSED IN STREET CLOTHES. Wow. You can't be this fukkin stupid.

Hand me a nine and I'll defeat foes? What's wrong with this again? Oh nothing? Just incoherent hate from an internet nobody? Ok. Just checking.

Then he's telling you whether he's getting airplay or not he's gon be the same nikka doing the same shyt. But your dumb ass can't understand that? It's Nas' fault that you're dumb as fukk? lol

Laughin at baseheads, tryin to sell some broken amps
G-Packs get off quick, forever nikkaz talk shyt
Remeniscing about the last time the Task Force flipped

This is lyrical to you dumb asses? More incoherent rhymes. All throw aways by the way.

This isn't even a real critique. More incoherent hate from an internet nobody.

nikkaz be runnin through the block shootin
Time to start the revolution, catch a body head for Houston
Once they caught us off guard, the Mac-10 was in the grass and
I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin

nicca WTF are you talkin about, really?

You don't follow? I swear you gotta be the dumbest nikka on Earth. He said nikkas run through his block shooting. Starting a revolution he's talking about a war, not necessarily a revolution. He's gonna kill or catch a body (that's slang you fukkin retard lol) and dip to Houston to lay low. Then he begins reminiscing about a time he was caught slipping and they ran through his hood. He had to run to get the mac.

You don't follow? Must be from the South or something.

Pick the Mac up, told brothers, "Back up," the Mac spit
Lead was hittin nikkaz one ran, I made him backflip
Heard a few chicks scream my arm shook, couldn't look
Gave another squeeze heard it click yo, my shyt is stuck
Try to cock it, it wouldn't shoot now I'm in danger
Finally pulled it back and saw three bullets caught up in the chamber

how did this nicca magically appear in this situation? and this nicca is just ramblin on about nothin... we several bars in and this nicca has said anything lyrical or written anything noteworthy.

Yeah, you're just dumb, nikka. It's that simple. Again, he went into reminisce mode and started talking about the "nikkas runnin through his block shootin" and about the time he got caught slipping. This is a continuation of that. Dumb ass lol.

So now I'm jetting to the building lobby
and it was filled with children probably couldn't see as high as I be
best thing I can say about this was it flowed, but does it make sense? Was it or was it not filled with children... nicca through probably in there just to rhyme, nothing about it is lyrical nor does it add to the story.

How does this not make sense. He was in a gunfight and ran into the building lobby. There were children there. He's saying he gets so high that these kids can't see that high. I guess he should have kept it V-E-R-Y S-I-M-P-L-E for dumb nikkas like you. You got lost bars ago so I can see how going off topic real quick would complete cause your miniature brain to swell. fukkin dumb ass lol.

(So whatchu sayin?) It's like the game ain't the same
Got younger nikkaz pullin the triggers bringing fame to they name
and claim some corners, crews without guns are goners
In broad daylight, stickup kids, they run up on us
Fo'-fives and gauges, Macs in fact
Same nikkaz'll catch a back to back, snatchin yo' cracks in black

Again, no real critique. Just incoherent hate from an internet nobody. It's garbage because a fukkin retard who can't follow a verse for 2 bars said so? And he doesn't even say why, it's just garbage and we're supposed to believe this fukkin retard because he says so. Ok, whatever you say, you fukkin retard.

There was a snitch on the block gettin nikkaz knocked
So hold your stash until the coke price drop
I know this crackhead, who said she gotta smoke nice rock
And if it's good she'll bring ya customers in measuring pots, but yo
You gotta slide on a vacation
Inside information keeps large nikkaz erasin and they wives basin
It drops deep as it does in my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
I think of crime when I'm in a New York state of mind

and of course what a garbage way to end a garbage verse. WTF is this nicca ramblin on about? Fukc is this nicca talkin about a vacation for? this is all incoherent word salad. All of it is of little to no value...

1 verse in and we have nothing but incoherent trash ramblings

Dude. There's no way you're this fukkin stupid. Did the man just say there was a snitch on the block? He's saying take a vacation as in chill till the block isn't hot anymore.

One verse in and you've lost all credibility because your IQ can't be higher than an 80.

The problem isn't with Nas. The problem is you're a fukkin retard.

 

[intilectual recipricol]

but I gotta jet... got shyt to do, cant listen to terrible music ALL day

 

[TheNig]

In the 1st fukcin bar we get probably one of the corniest moments EVER laid on a beat

Rappers I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm I be kickin

what funky rhythm nicca? who have you "monkey flipped?" this shyt is a straight throw away...

Musician, inflictin composition
of pain I'm like Scarface sniffin cocaine
Holdin a M-16, see with the pen I'm extreme, now
Bulletholes left in my peepholes

The fukc are you talkin about nicca? this is some incoherent bullshyt. How do you inflict composition of pain? Shyt doesnt make sense b. He might be like Scarface sniffin coke though... but is it dope or even well written? Not even close.

I'm suited up in street clothes
Hand me a nine and I'll defeat foes
Y'all know my steelo with or without the airplay
I keep some E&J, sittin bent up in the stairway
Or either on the corner bettin Grants with the celo champs

Are you suited OR are you in street clothes? Make up your mind dumb ass. Hand you a nine and you'll defeat foes? sounds like youre just sayin anything to rhyme actually... "hand me a beat i'll put words together just to match" shoulda been his lyrics. So whether or not they play him on the radio he keeps Erk in the stairway? more incoherent rhymes.

Laughin at baseheads, tryin to sell some broken amps
G-Packs get off quick, forever nikkaz talk shyt
Remeniscing about the last time the Task Force flipped

This is lyrical to you dumb asses? More incoherent rhymes. All throw aways by the way.

nikkaz be runnin through the block shootin
Time to start the revolution, catch a body head for Houston
Once they caught us off guard, the Mac-10 was in the grass and
I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin

nicca WTF are you talkin about, really?

Pick the Mac up, told brothers, "Back up," the Mac spit
Lead was hittin nikkaz one ran, I made him backflip
Heard a few chicks scream my arm shook, couldn't look
Gave another squeeze heard it click yo, my shyt is stuck
Try to cock it, it wouldn't shoot now I'm in danger
Finally pulled it back and saw three bullets caught up in the chamber

how did this nicca magically appear in this situation? and this nicca is just ramblin on about nothin... we several bars in and this nicca has said anything lyrical or written anything noteworthy.

So now I'm jetting to the building lobby
and it was filled with children probably couldn't see as high as I be
best thing I can say about this was it flowed, but does it make sense? Was it or was it not filled with children... nicca through probably in there just to rhyme, nothing about it is lyrical nor does it add to the story.

(So whatchu sayin?) It's like the game ain't the same
Got younger nikkaz pullin the triggers bringing fame to they name
and claim some corners, crews without guns are goners
In broad daylight, stickup kids, they run up on us
Fo'-fives and gauges, Macs in fact
Same nikkaz'll catch a back to back, snatchin yo' cracks in black



There was a snitch on the block gettin nikkaz knocked
So hold your stash until the coke price drop
I know this crackhead, who said she gotta smoke nice rock
And if it's good she'll bring ya customers in measuring pots, but yo
You gotta slide on a vacation
Inside information keeps large nikkaz erasin and they wives basin
It drops deep as it does in my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
I think of crime when I'm in a New York state of mind

and of course what a garbage way to end a garbage verse. WTF is this nicca ramblin on about? Fukc is this nicca talkin about a vacation for? this is all incoherent word salad. All of it is of little to no value...

1 verse in and we have nothing but incoherent trash ramblings

I'm a Nas fan but this is funny as shyt.