NAS (@Nas) Illmatic XX: 20 Years of Greatness

April 19th 1994, the day hip-hop changed and this week marks the 20th anniversary of the hip-hop clas­sic album Ill­mat­ic by Nas. April 15th, Nas released Ill­mat­ic XX, the reis­sue of his ground break­ing album.

The reis­sue fea­tures the ori­gin­al 10 great tracks plus, rare remixes, unre­leased demos, and freestyles.

The fact that the album is cel­eb­rated 20 years on speaks volumes of the qual­ity of Ilmat­ic and Nas. No spe­cial fea­tures, 10 fant­ast­ic tracks, great pro­du­cers and a young New York rap­per­’s first album. Ill­mat­ic made his­tory in the hip-hop game. One of the only few albums to be cel­eb­rated and remembered sev­er­al years after it’s release.

“My first album had no fam­ous guest appear­ances the out­come, I’m was crowned the best lyricist”

Although it was­n’t a com­mer­cial suc­cess, the cre­ation of Ill­mat­ic changed the hip-hop scene, through how albums were pro­duced, how stor­ies were cre­ated, rap­pers flows and even through the album art­work cre­ated by rap­pers in the future. In USA today Nas was quoted saying:

“I think I was a real ser­i­ous guy at a young age,” says Nas. “I was a kid who came up in the ’80s, and I was into always writ­ing, and then rap came into my life. So when I look back now, it all makes sense – this is what I was sup­posed to do.”

Ill­mat­ic is seen as the bench­mark for rap­pers if they want to be a great.“It’s not an ill­mat­ic” will be a phrase which will haunt many rap­pers, includ­ing Nas. This album will con­tin­ue grow and influ­ence musi­cians and will remain immor­tal as an undeni­able classic.

For hip-hop, we salute you Nas! And if you’ve always wanted your own Ill­mat­ic art­work, go to Nas’ Ill­mat­ic XX web­site to cre­ate your own Ill­mat­ic cov­er:

http://illmaticxx.nasirjones.com/

Ill­mat­ic XX Tracklist:

Disc 1: Remastered ori­gin­al album
01. The Genesis
02. N.Y. State Of Mind
03. Life’s A Bitch
04. The World Is Yours
05. Halftime
06. Memory Lane (Sit­tin’ In Da Park)
07. One Love
08. One Time 4 Your Mind
09. Represent
10. It Ain’t Hard To Tell

Disc 2: Demos, Remixes & Live Radio
01. I’m A Vil­lain (pre­vi­ously unreleased)
02. The Stretch Arm­strong and Bob­bito Show on WKCR Octo­ber 28, 1993 (pre­vi­ously unre­leased freestyle)
03. Half­time (Butcher Remix)
04. It Ain’t Hard To Tell (Remix) (promo single)
05. One Love (LG Main Mix)
06. Life’s A Bitch (Arsen­al Mix) (promo single)
07. One Love (One L Main Mix)
08. The World Is Yours (Tip Mix)
09. It Ain’t Hard To Tell (The Stink Mix) (UK single)
10. It Ain’t Hard To Tell (The Laid­back Remix) (UK single)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZXtabqDY‑c&feature=share&list=UUATuR6v6DRf0tz0ww6V66LA[/youtube]

 

@Aaron3000_

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Aaron3000

Digit­al Mar­ket­ing and You­Tube chan­nel man­ager who loves that good hip-hop.

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About Aaron3000

Digital Marketing and YouTube channel manager who loves that good hip-hop.

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