Explores a key hip hop album marking the cross over point where the streets and the charts collided.
Contradiction, the yin and the yang, the simultaneous existence of two competing realities, and the larger than life persona that depicts populist realism are at the core of Nas's Illmatic. Yet Nas's identity - as an inner-city youth, a child of hip hop, and a Black American - predicts those philosophical quandaries as much as it does its brazen ambition. Partly because of that recklessly broad scope, the artistic impact of Illmatic was massive. The record finds its place in the greatest transition in hip hop up to that point, the spot where the streets and the charts collided.
Nas was playing a role on Illmatic, even if it was himself. By constructing this persona, Nas not only laid out his own career for the next decade plus, but the careers of dozens of other rappers who were able to use their considerable skills to develop similar personas. His brazen ambition has become a road map for every rapper who hopes to reach an artistic peak. It seems right that Nas would make Illmatic at the age when maturity begins to turn boys into men. This was, in many regards, the first album of the rest of hip hop's life.A decade and a half ago, Illmatic launched one of the most storied careers in hip hop, and cemented New York's place as the genre's epicenter. With this in-depth look at the record, Matthew Gasteier explores the competing themes that run through Nas's masterpiece and finds a compelling journey into adulthood. Combining a history of Nas's early years with interviews from many of the most important people associated with the album, this book provides new information and context for what many consider to be the greatest hip hop record ever made.
The album in question, Illmatic, is an inarguable choice...from the cover art (the portrait of the artist as a very young man), to the future-forward evolution of the music form it led, to the timeless high quality multi-syllabic rhyming, weaving complicated rhythms around those still-borrowed-from beats - author Matthew Gasteier hit it square. KEXP Seattle
Matthew Gasteier has written for various publications, including the Boston Phoenix and Prefix Magazine. He lives in Boston.
Über den Autor
Matthew Gasteier
Klappentext
Nas was playing a role on Illmatic, even if it was himself. By constructing this persona, Nas not only laid out his own career for the next decade plus, but the careers of dozens of other rappers who were able to use their considerable skills to develop similar personas. His brazen ambition has become a road map for every rapper who hopes to reach an artistic peak. It seems right that Nas would make Illmatic at the age when maturity begins to turn boys into men. This was, in many regards, the first album of the rest of hip hop's life.
A decade and a half ago, Illmatic launched one of the most storied careers in hip hop, and cemented New York's place as the genre's epicenter. With this in-depth look at the record, Matthew Gasteier explores the competing themes that run through Nas's masterpiece and finds a compelling journey into adulthood. Combining a history of Nas's early years with interviews from many of the most important people associated with the album, this book provides new information and context for what many consider to be the greatest hip hop record ever made.
A very smart book by a writer who's been covering Nas for years, and who wrote a very well regarded feature on this album, on its 10th anniversary.
