Nas- Illmatic XX(20th Anniversary Edition) Official Discussion Thread

[mobbinfms]

The cover is dope IMO.

But yeah they dropped the ball with this, Nas should have done it like the Mobb he probably doesn't have the records in the crates though. Like Mobb literally had to dig all those records up. It would have been dope if they had Deja Vu, Nas Will Prevail, Life is Like a Dice Game, Understanding with Biz Markie and AZ, Live at the BBQ to go along with the remixes and other freestyles such as the Wake Up show. I might fukk around and just make my own with an iTunes playlist. If it was up to me I would have dropped those tracks (don't know if Nas or the label has them ) with more freestyles and the Time Is Illmatic documentary.

Still copping gonna get the bundle with the sweater want a physical Illmatic. To me Illmatic and Infamous are the greatest albums of All-Time.

Sweater?

 

[ISO]

Sweater?

NAS | Shop the NAS Official Store

Yeah breh check it out thinking of copping that QB snapback too

 

[mobbinfms]

NAS | Shop the NAS Official Store

Yeah breh check it out thinking of copping that QB snapback too

That Blue QB shirt with the housing projects logo
I might cop the vinyl from that website and get the black tee.

 

[Oroko Saki]

This the best cd I heard in years. Didnt know rappers still dropped albums this nice

 

[DaHNIC82]

My first introduction to Nas was It Was Written... I wasn't listening too much to the East Coast other than Redman, Biggie, Wu Tang, and Boot Camp considering at the time I was into the South and West Gangsta shyt.. But then when I hit my later teens.. I started wanting to hear more hip hop on the creative aspect because theres only so much gangsta shyt you can digest(Which I was HEAVILY into)

I remember going through a backpacker phaise, I picked up The Roots Things Fall Apart, Eminem's Slim Shady LP, and I picked up Illmatic as a 3rd choice because I wanted to see what the hype was truly all about considering it had 5 mics and was considered revolutionary in terms of setting the bar with lyricism.

I finally listened to it after going through the Roots, Eminem and I was MESMERIZED by this whole shyt! NY State of Mind set the mood off lovely, The whole album flowed cohesively and had no filler at all. You can tell Nas was hungry and put his mind, body, and soul behind this album here.

 

[hustlemania]

My first introduction to Nas was It Was Written... I wasn't listening too much to the East Coast other than Redman, Biggie, Wu Tang, and Boot Camp considering at the time I was into the South and West Gangsta shyt.. But then when I hit my later teens.. I started wanting to hear more hip hop on the creative aspect because theres only so much gangsta shyt you can digest(Which I was HEAVILY into)

I remember going through a backpacker phaise, I picked up The Roots Things Fall Apart, Eminem's Slim Shady LP, and I picked up Illmatic as a 3rd choice because I wanted to see what the hype was truly all about considering it had 5 mics and was considered revolutionary in terms of setting the bar with lyricism.

I finally listened to it after going through the Roots, Eminem and I was MESMERIZED by this whole shyt! NY State of Mind set the mood off lovely, The whole album flowed cohesively and had no filler at all. You can tell Nas was hungry and put his mind, body, and soul behind this album here.

I remember when Illmatic dropped..

my homie had a bootleg, and for the first 30min- we had to've played "Life's A B!tch" bout 10xs back to back..

every track on Illmatic, stands on it's own.. IMO, there really isn't a bad, or ok track on there.. it's a hip-hop masterpiece.. been bangin this double album all afternoon.. it's dope.. the remixes mesh well with the project, especially considering I haven't heard many of them.. all in all- dope (re)release..

 

[Big Mel]

This has all the necessary remixes. I'm copping for that alone. Tacking on 'understanding' would have been a nice touch though.

 

[ISO]

I remember when Illmatic dropped..

my homie had a bootleg, and for the first 30min- we had to've played "Life's A B!tch" bout 10xs back to back..

every track on Illmatic, stands on it's own.. IMO, there really isn't a bad, or ok track on there.. it's a hip-hop masterpiece.. been bangin this double album all afternoon.. it's dope.. the remixes mesh well with the project, especially considering I haven't heard many of them.. all in all- dope (re)release..

The Source editors when Illmatic first dropped.

"It's about 9pm… I get to the office and I gather all the heads in the conference room. I remember who was there: @MatteoGlen [the twitter account of Matty C, then The Source's "Unsigned Hype" editor] @CeeWild [twitter account of Chris Wilder, another editor], @FrozenFiles [twitter account of Schott 'Free' Jacobs, another contemporary editor]. Everyone is nodding their heads, eyes wide, mouths open, it's hip-hop paradise. We had a pretty shytty system in there but it didn’t matter, I pop in the tape and the powerful musical magic emits from the speakers. When those funky/eerie/powerful xylophone notes from 'One Love' come on, I remember @FrozenFiles is literally lying on the floor… He can’t comprehend how good it is. None of us can. It's the best shyt we’ve heard in our lives… Internally, we start debating how we’re gonna handle this. I say right away that it's gotta get a 5."

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

may i experience with you?

 

[Big Mel]

may i experience with you?

AYO!

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

yo big mel are you watching the big fight tonight?

 

[Change]

i listened to the Butcher remix of Halftime back when it leaked. the beat is cool, i'm glad they didn't try to modernise it and make some trap beat or something. BUT why put 3 Ain't Hard To Tell remixes on there? why put no name producers on there? of all the producers fans have wanted to see Nas with over the years why the fukk choose some guy named Butcher? you're telling me there was no more pre Illmatic songs they could have put on here? there's no live versions? no live production? fukk they should have released that orchestra piece Nas did recently as the second disc, THAT would have been something worthy of a 20th anniversary

Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo is a legend. He's an engineer and producer that has been involved in hip hop since way before Nas was even around. He's not some new no name producer. That remix was out on the halftime 12" from when it was on the Zebrahead soundtrack. His remix was out before Illmatic even came out.

edit.. don't mean any of this too sound snooty. Just simply giving info.

 

[semicko82]

When I first I heard illmatic I was staying in a small town in the south. I could relate to that being trapped in your environment vibe of the album.

 

[ISO]

This has all the necessary remixes. I'm copping for that alone. Tacking on 'understanding' would have been a nice touch though.

Mel do you remember the first time you heard Illmatic?

 

[Big Mel]

yo big mel are you watching the big fight tonight?

I couldn't even tell you who's fighting. Is it that washed up Filipino?