For my fourth album review I’ll be doing an album that is considered to be one of the best rap albums of time, if not the best. This is an album that changed the sound of rap entirely. This album is “Illmatic” by the rapper Nas.
This album was Nas’ debut album and it is without question his best album. “Illmatic” was released on April 19, 1994 and forever changed the course of Nas’ career. This album is a reflection on Nas’ life before rap as well as rapping about the current political state of America. Lines like, “I’m out for dead Presidents to represent me,” shows Nas’ stance on where he feels the state of the country was in at the time.
A few songs from the album that are personal favorites of mine are : “The World is Yours,” “Represent,” and “N.Y. State of Mind.” In “N.Y. State of Mind,” Nas raps about the struggles of his early life. He talks about his struggles and how he was forced to sell drugs to make ends meet. He talks about the dangers that come with the life he lives and how envisions a life where he moves past his current one. In “The World is Yours,” Nas pays homage to an earlier rapper by the name of “Scarface,” this song begins the trend of rap Republicans and inspires an entire generation that the, “The World is Yours.” This song may be the single most important sing in rap history. In the song “Represent,” while this song doesn’t paint as important as a message than another song from the album, this song is a personal favorite of mine. In this song Nas stakes his territory, and let’s his audience know that the he’s from Queensbridge and he is not to be messed around with.
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