What makes Illmatic that great?
- Thread starter Yagirlcheatinonus
- Start date
Chronic and Doggystyle set the stage for hip hop in the 90s because it had catered to each crowd. Ready 2 Die influence came from The Chronic like Diddy said. And don't say nothing about the album covers. Nas was a kid on his cover and BIG was a baby. Illmatic didn't Influence RTD like that.
Mike Statik
Pro
Doggystyle and Chronic mightve set the stage for west coast hip hop in the 90s... but im pretty sure the G Raps and Rakims from the late 80s set the stage for 90s east coast boom bap
Alexander Wiggin
All Star
For me Illmatic's greatness goes beyond its technical flawlessness. Illmatic is greater than the sum of its parts. If you think of it just in terms of hot beats and hot lyrics then yes, I suppose it can be matched by a few other albums. But what sets it apart in my eyes is just the....I don't know, the mood it creates when you're listening to it. It's what sets it apart from IWW, who was technically perhaps even better than Illmatic. But Illmatic has that X factor about it. It goes beyond just entertainment.
The core purpose of art is to sensitize, to provoke thought and emotion. And no album does that as good or better than Illmatic. Illmatic is the only album I’d praise for reaching the artistic and philosophic heights of literature.
The dude Nas caught lightning in a bottle with Illmatic. I don't think what he did will ever be achieved again.
Yeah, I'm a stan. What?
exactly, it's hard to put words on it, but it's like what pete rock was saying on the illmatic footage, "i can't even explain"
All 90s east coast wasn't boom bap. And when I say set the stage for hip hop I mean structure of albums. After Doggestyle and Chronic dropped you knew you had to appeal to more than one demographic if you were going to sell records, which is why Nas didn't go plat until his second album. Illmatic appealed to hip hop purist and fans of lyrics which is cool. But it wasn't accepted on all markets. Snoop came out and broke sells records. Chronic and Doggystyle were blueprint albums for a rapper to obtain success in the
90s.
Smokin Rider
I been official
The 7 Day Theory 
Both nas and big admitted to borrowing from each other, illmatic came first so
in my opinion both the chronic and doggystlye where very limited in their appeal and subject matter. Illmatic appealed to fans of both of those albums and the fans of RTD.
ZEB WALTON
ayo! - BEZ
i feel bad for younger fans who cannot discern difference between the albums from back in the late 80s-90s because of the over saturation/change in the market.
because its one of a kind. no matter how many times a rapper trys to remake it
because its one of a kind. no matter how many times a rapper trys to remake it
the rhyme king
truth.com
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
his rhyme schemes were more advanced then anybody else at the time
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
his rhyme schemes were more advanced then anybody else at the time
JoelB
All Praise To TMH
That album will forever be the benchmark EVERY other album will be compared to for the rest of time.
In order for you to claim that an album is G.O.A.T u must first make an argument for why its better than Illmatic....
18 years Later and nobody has done it yet....except for certain people who prefer IWW over it ....either way Nas wins and Life Is Good
In order for you to claim that an album is G.O.A.T u must first make an argument for why its better than Illmatic....
18 years Later and nobody has done it yet....except for certain people who prefer IWW over it ....either way Nas wins and Life Is Good
Fo me, what makes illmatic great, and i like IWW more, but what Nas did with illmatic is he made me feel like i was in NYC. The sounds, the flow, takes you there
Not many Hip hop records did that. I can put that album on now and it takes me to 90's
like i'm really there. It was a complete body of work, and it showed me that a rapper could be an artist. The way he painted his pictures with his words with thoses beats...
Not many Hip hop records did that. I can put that album on now and it takes me to 90's
like i'm really there. It was a complete body of work, and it showed me that a rapper could be an artist. The way he painted his pictures with his words with thoses beats...
JulesWinfield
TheBrehdrenMovement
The masterful lyrics and production.
this. nas struck gold on every verse and q-tip, premier, pete rock, extra p, les hooked him up nice with production. if someone doesn't understand what makes illmatic great it's their problem 
even the genesis is classic.
I came in here ready to say it's not that great until I realized how much I play the hell out of this album and it's amazing......plus dude was a damn teenager when he dropped this....a TEENAGER.