Whats With These Newjacks Calling illmatic "Dated?"

[intilectual recipricol]

MJG and 8ball was my shyt. I remember when i heard Space Age Pimp, it was the coldest shyt ever to me. Now these EC revisionists actin like Da Brat wasnt way bigger. Hell, biggie was in her damn videos. I remember when my pops step dad died and we were gettin ready for the funeral and the Give It To You video came on right before we left... where yallthe think biggiethe got "baby baby" from? man i'll never forget those days. My homey bringin the bone tape over cuz he aint have no tape player lol. All that classic shyt, Illmatic just wasnt in the discussion.

 

[Julius Skrrvin]

So either Illmatic is dated and dusty, or few gave a shyt about it back then except purists and east coast hip hop heads. If the first is the case, then why is it so loved now?

Either way spit wise and song wise it holds up. I havent heard any rapping from that time as impressive except for Kool G Rap shyt and some Wu cuts.

 

[bigbadbossup2012]

theres nothing nostalgic about the props that illmatic gets. it was a groundbreaking instant classic WHEN IT DROPPED.

outside of the east coast, it was more of an adult thing. if you were still a kid or barely a teenager back then, you might not understand. it catered to the east coast, and those who were into that type of rap at the time from all over the country. also, there was no commercial value to this album whatsoever.

and on the flipside, i dont recall ever seeing the cover to that mc eiht album. and this was when mennace II society(prolly the most popular flick of my lifetime) was at its apex.

i probably didnt even know who 8ball & mjg were in 1994.

Man i like that you be on that old school celebration shyt. But once you acted like turk was some force in the hot boys,rivaling wayne,when he was clearly the most irrelevant rapper there (including the big tymers),you showed me how lost you truely were,have a seat and take your medicine nikka.

 

[bigbadbossup2012]

theres nothing nostalgic about the props that illmatic gets. it was a groundbreaking instant classic WHEN IT DROPPED.

outside of the east coast, it was more of an adult thing. if you were still a kid or barely a teenager back then, you might not understand. it catered to the east coast, and those who were into that type of rap at the time from all over the country. also, there was no commercial value to this album whatsoever.

and on the flipside, i dont recall ever seeing the cover to that mc eiht album. and this was when mennace II society(prolly the most popular flick of my lifetime) was at its apex.

i probably didnt even know who 8ball & mjg were in 1994.

Where you from? For the record,we had illmatic in 1994 cause we liked it aint hard to tell. That album as a whole was not being bumped though or discussed. We had wu's shyt in my household also. Enter the Wu-tang was popping waaaaay more than nas too,didnt list cause it came out in late 93' but that's close enough. Even on an underground level it was more popular.
As far as you not knowing eightball mjg,everyone was fukking with the album that dropped before the one i listed (1993). This album

Had better beats more classic songs,better vocal performances etc than illmatic. No video rotation but was still wildly popular.

 

[NvrCMyNut]

Depends on your definiton of dated, its mostly used in a deregotry fashion which i never understood. Thats what make its so great to me, it defines an era, a time in history. I listen to illmatic and can imagine myself walking through the jects to school on a cold grey new york morning.

 

[bigbadbossup2012]

Depends on your definiton of dated, its mostly used in a deregotry fashion which i never understood. Thats what make its so great to me, it defines an era, a time in history. I listen to illmatic and can imagine myself walking through the jects to school on a cold grey new york morning.

i get that feeling more from THE INFAMOUS than illmatic. Illmatic sounds like someone was at their folks pad,looking from their window project creating their life. Infamous sounds like nikkas was really in that life.

 

[daze23]

dudes talking about 8ball and MJG

I mean I'm sure someone here thinks Dru Down or Big Mike had the best album that year, but opinions are like a$$holes...

 

[daze23]

i get that feeling more from THE INFAMOUS than illmatic. Illmatic sounds like someone was at their folks pad,looking from their window project creating their life. Infamous sounds like nikkas was really in that life.

ironically the truth was very different. Nas really was a kid from QB, while P was frontin

 

[mobbinfms]

People seem to be forgetting rap was largely regional in the 1990s. There was also an "underground" that was far different from what that term means today. Nas was mostly regional and underground before and after Illmatic dropped. So were 8Ball and MJG. They may have been Gods in their respective regions, but there were parts of the country where they were either completely unknown or familiar only from Source ads or the occasional video seen on one of the nationally broadcast video shows (Rap City or Yo MTV Raps).

 

[daze23]

People seem to be forgetting rap was largely regional in the 1990s. There was also an "underground" that was far different from what that term means today. Nas was mostly regional and underground before and after Illmatic dropped. So were 8Ball and MJG. They may have been Gods in their respective regions, but there were parts of the country where they were either completely unknown or familiar only from Source ads or the occasional video seen on one of the nationally broadcast video shows (Rap City or Yo MTV Raps).

yep, I used to see those 8ball and MJG adds in The Source, and just wonder who the fukk they were. nor do I remember ever seeing a video of theirs on BET or MTV

 

[feelosofer]

To be honest, Illmatic was an underground record even on the East Coast. I remember Summer of 94 like it was yesterday, Nas wasn't even in the top 5 of people's radar circa 94, in Jersey. The hottest dudes were Redman, Naughty, Queen Latifah, KRS-One, Snoop and Dre, some people were getting into Bone Thugs, too. But in 94, Illmatic was something of a whisper, though some people (myself included) did cop off the strength of the Source review (keep in mind there was no internet to spread the gospel like that). I remembered Nas from the Live at the BBQ joint (tho Ack had the illest verse) and I thought Halftime was dope (came out in 92 I think), but he wasn't really a factor in 94, not initially.

Here is where Nas and people's impressions of Illmatic grew. Around 95-96, when Nas started to do some of his best guest work (Mobb Deep and Raekwon) as well as the rumblings by underground cats that Nas should be a contender for the King of NY when Biggie held that crown somewhat undisputed. Also when It was Written Dropped, a lot of people went and re-explored Illmatic and that's when the praise for the album really started blowing up and then I would say the next couple of years after that, when people were feeling Nas sold out, they then held Illmatic as the gold-standard for his work. So in short, yes it was an instant classic when it dropped, but it was a very slow burn and it took a couple of years for Illmatic to get that sort of near universal acclaim.

That being said, the album is dated, but in a good way, it hearkens back to a grimier NY, where you could still smell the crack on the streets and the gunsmoke from a shootout. Where survival of the fittest ruled supreme, and you had to look out for self.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

yep, I used to see those 8ball and MJG adds in The Source, and just wonder who the fukk they were. nor do I remember ever seeing a video of theirs on BET or MTV

exactly. at least nas had well-known singles outside of his region.

i understand the sentiments of some of these guys but when you start throwing out names like 8ball & mjg, i have to nas is bigger than most of these names.

i guarantee there were more people with illmatic in tennessee than there were people who even knew who 8ball & mjg was in new york in '94. and there definitely were way more people listening to nas on the west coast than there were dudes listening to my man mc eiht on the east.

people need to realize that rap itself was extremely regional back then. out of the countless artists that released records back then and BLEW UP, i'd be hard-pressed to come up with a list of 15 names that were poppin across the country on a serious level.

was nas regional in '94-95? yes for the most part. but he was bigger than alot of these names being tossed around in this thread.

 

[mobbinfms]

exactly. at least nas had well-known singles outside of his region.

i understand the sentiments of some of these guys but when you start throwing out names like 8ball & mjg, i have to nas is bigger than most of these names.

i guarantee there were more people with illmatic in tennessee than there were people who even knew who 8ball & mjg was in new york in '94. and there definitely were way more people listening to nas on the west coast than there were dudes listening to my man mc eiht on the east.

people need to realize that rap itself was extremely regional back then. out of the countless artists that released records back then and BLEW UP, i'd be hard-pressed to come up with a list of 15 names that were poppin across the country on a serious level.

was nas regional in '94-95? yes for the most part. but he was bigger than alot of these names being tossed around in this thread.

Most of this seems to be opinion. Were you living in TN back in 94? Even if you were, did you know serious hip hop heads throughout the state? I mean, you might be right, I just don't know how you could verify that. Anecdotal evidence is pretty much useless for this type of thing.

 

[mobbinfms]

exactly. at least nas had well-known singles outside of his region.

i understand the sentiments of some of these guys but when you start throwing out names like 8ball & mjg, i have to nas is bigger than most of these names.

i guarantee there were more people with illmatic in tennessee than there were people who even knew who 8ball & mjg was in new york in '94. and there definitely were way more people listening to nas on the west coast than there were dudes listening to my man mc eiht on the east.

people need to realize that rap itself was extremely regional back then. out of the countless artists that released records back then and BLEW UP, i'd be hard-pressed to come up with a list of 15 names that were poppin across the country on a serious level.

was nas regional in '94-95? yes for the most part. but he was bigger than alot of these names being tossed around in this thread.

Btw - I agree with your point that there probably wasn't more than 15 truly "national" artists in 94.

 

[bigbadbossup2012]

exactly. at least nas had well-known singles outside of his region.

i understand the sentiments of some of these guys but when you start throwing out names like 8ball & mjg, i have to nas is bigger than most of these names.

i guarantee there were more people with illmatic in tennessee than there were people who even knew who 8ball & mjg was in new york in '94. and there definitely were way more people listening to nas on the west coast than there were dudes listening to my man mc eiht on the east.

people need to realize that rap itself was extremely regional back then. out of the countless artists that released records back then and BLEW UP, i'd be hard-pressed to come up with a list of 15 names that were poppin across the country on a serious level.

was nas regional in '94-95? yes for the most part. but he was bigger than alot of these names being tossed around in this thread.

Being that east coast were severe haters of anyone who didnt make music exactly how they wanted it made,you're not saying much with this statement.