Yes, Illmatic indeed sparked impact. In spring of 1994, the entire hip hop dominance belonged to the west coast, most notably Death Row Records. And even before then, hip hop at the time was more about style and flow than lyricism and poetry. So when Nas was introduced, most of the critics automatically fell in love because of the kind of lyricism that they never heard from any other emcee at that time. However, it took the nation to full grasp because of the conditioned state of west coast influence. This was exactly why Biggie's debut made such a commercial splash, whereas Nas was such a slow burner. Biggie's production, sound, and overall style was significantly west coast influenced. Inspite of the critical acclaim out the gate, Nas' impact came through word of mouth and people actually redevelopment their rhyme schemes, develop more focus on lyrics, and got more people than any other emcee aside from Rakim to inspire to be a rapper themselves. There is a REASON why Illmatic is still herald today. It's the one album that touched people who came from that era the most. It's that one album that defined an era. Not Snoop's album, not Biggie's album, not even Wu's album. If that's not true, then why are we even having a dicussion about it today when it is apparent that it cause an impact. We can all agree it wasn't an immediate impact, but it was indeed the pinnicle LP that change a course in hip hop history.
A QUESTION FOR THE OLD HEADS.....DID ILLMATIC REALLY HAVE AS MUCH OF AN IMPACT AS PEOPLE SAY.....
- Thread starter How Sway?
- Start date
Taadow
The StarchBishop™️
In '94, did I know who Nas was? No.
Was the album known? Not by me, and I never heard anyone talk about it.
Were people quoting tracks? No. No one I knew.
Did it make me pay attention to Nas? No. See question one.
So no - I wouldn't say Illmatic had much of an impact.
I say this with no malice, maynes. It just wasn't hittin' anywhere I went...
RIAA certs are released the day the label pays for them. Not when the album actually sells that amount. You could sell 1 mill in 6 months, if your label doesn't pay for the certs until 10 years later RIAA will show you went plat a decade later. Trying to gauge when an album went gold or plat is
Fred.
Eh....whether or not it had impact on you personally isn't the same as "did it have impact?". Nobody I know went and seen/cared about "Avatar" but it made close to $3 bill and was covered everywhere. So obviously it had an impact totally separate from my disinterest in it.
Fred.
Taadow
The StarchBishop™️
Dig though - I didn't say "I wasn't interested in" Nas or Illmatic. I said "I hadn't heard of" them at that point.
Those are very different things.
Still FloW
Gawd Of Shinobi
simple analogy... Same nikkas ALWAYS saying no one bumps J cole outside of the internet and that Sean gets more love yet Cole has gone GOLD twice while smedium sean is on aluminum..
Basically.. dont listen to nikkas on the internet telling you no one outside of the internet listens to an artist.. statistics and facts speak for themselves...
Basically.. dont listen to nikkas on the internet telling you no one outside of the internet listens to an artist.. statistics and facts speak for themselves...
illmatic didn't reasonate with the kids.
i say this as a 4th grader at the time. aside from some of us who were already heavy into rap and other things, your average kid at that point is just now getting hooked on the mainstream radio and/or video shows. and theres still a selection of kids who just wanted to watch cartoons.
simply put. nas was a rap city rapper. if you were mainly video soul, the box, mtv jams, etc; then nas was pretty avoidable. especially if you didn't have older kids or adult rap fans around you like that.
no offense but this is a terrible analogy.
i say this as a 4th grader at the time. aside from some of us who were already heavy into rap and other things, your average kid at that point is just now getting hooked on the mainstream radio and/or video shows. and theres still a selection of kids who just wanted to watch cartoons.
simply put. nas was a rap city rapper. if you were mainly video soul, the box, mtv jams, etc; then nas was pretty avoidable. especially if you didn't have older kids or adult rap fans around you like that.
no offense but this is a terrible analogy.
The War Report
NewNewYork
Why the fukk would Illmatic resonate with a fukking 4th grader?
Even so, you not hearing about him is a completely separate topic from "did he have impact?". By '94 he was all over The Source, Rap City, YO! MTV Raps, etc. So somebody was checking for him on a mainstream level. Honestly I don't know how people avoided Nas in '94, unless they completely ignored all forms of rap media for a good 2-3 years.
How old were you in '94? That also has a lot to do with it, like Wacky D said.
Fred.
LunaticVillage415
All Star
Most "Hip Hop heads" ain't even hear Illmatic until 2001 when he started beefing on wax with Jigga. 
Outside of NYC, no one was really fukking with Nas like that in 94'. Snoop and the West Coast influenced the game nationwide. Everybody was wearing big ass flannel shirts and chucks from Cali to Cleveland in 94' rapping over knock off Dre beats with heavy bass and whiny synths. Doggystyle went Platinum instantly. But thats mostly because Doggystyle was the sequel to The Chronic and Dre's legendary status had been on the map since 88'. Illmatic was a commercial failure in 94'. They didn't even play songs from Illmatic on the radio. Tribe Called Quest? Yes. Wu-Tang? Yes. But Nas? Not really. Biggie, on the other hand, was huge in 94'-95'. Why? Because his music sounded hella West Coast 
. "Big Poppa" sounds like a classic Cali track with its whiny synths and Bay Area player subject matter. Nas was basically a Kool G Rap clone spitting over Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr and Main Source beats. Russel Simmons refused to sign Nas to Def Jam because he said Nasir sounded too much like Kool G Rap. End of story.
Nas is the most overrated rapper of all-time. If he hadn't beef with Jay in 2001 he would be remembered as an average rapper with an average career. Nastradamus was one of the worst fall offs in Rap history. I'm from the Bay and our best rappers were also severely overlooked, mostly because they weren't signed to major labels. But being signed to a major label, being from New York and being backed by the biggest most respected NY producers of the era and your album goes wood? That is some funny shyt.
Outside of NYC, no one was really fukking with Nas like that in 94'. Snoop and the West Coast influenced the game nationwide. Everybody was wearing big ass flannel shirts and chucks from Cali to Cleveland in 94' rapping over knock off Dre beats with heavy bass and whiny synths. Doggystyle went Platinum instantly. But thats mostly because Doggystyle was the sequel to The Chronic and Dre's legendary status had been on the map since 88'. Illmatic was a commercial failure in 94'. They didn't even play songs from Illmatic on the radio. Tribe Called Quest? Yes. Wu-Tang? Yes. But Nas? Not really. Biggie, on the other hand, was huge in 94'-95'. Why? Because his music sounded hella West Coast . "Big Poppa" sounds like a classic Cali track with its whiny synths and Bay Area player subject matter. Nas was basically a Kool G Rap clone spitting over Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr and Main Source beats. Russel Simmons refused to sign Nas to Def Jam because he said Nasir sounded too much like Kool G Rap. End of story.Nas is the most overrated rapper of all-time. If he hadn't beef with Jay in 2001 he would be remembered as an average rapper with an average career. Nastradamus was one of the worst fall offs in Rap history. I'm from the Bay and our best rappers were also severely overlooked, mostly because they weren't signed to major labels. But being signed to a major label, being from New York and being backed by the biggest most respected NY producers of the era and your album goes wood?
That is some funny shyt.Most "Hip Hop heads" ain't even hear Illmatic until 2001 when he started beefing on wax with Jigga.
Nas is the most overrated rapper of all-time. If he hadn't beef with Jay in 2001 he would be remembered as an average rapper with an average career. Nastradamus was one of the worst fall offs in Rap history. I'm from the Bay and our best rappers were also severely overlooked, mostly because they weren't signed to major labels. But being signed to a major label, being from New York and being backed by the biggest most respected NY producers of the era and your album goes wood?
the bolded has to be shock-posting.
why would you do it?
OG Talk
Archived
Can't speak for the NYC and the tri state area because I wasnt there.. But down South only the trendy and hip n1ggas were into Illmatic....The hood wasn't on it since they were most still caught on that Death Row wave...
One of my best friends that put me onto Illmatic (R.I.P. Omari, he died in 2004) was the first n1gga to have a certain new jacket, jewelry or pair of sneakers...He was always one of those ahead of the curve dudes that was always hip to what was "next"....When he was telling us about Illmatic everyone was into Bone Thugs and didnt really pay it any mind...
Thats how I remember it....I remember him picking me up to go take some chicks to see The Inkwell when I was an early teen and he was bumping "Rappers I monkey flip em with the funky rhythm" in his whip...
I was like
"Who is that?!?!"
One of my best friends that put me onto Illmatic (R.I.P. Omari, he died in 2004) was the first n1gga to have a certain new jacket, jewelry or pair of sneakers...He was always one of those ahead of the curve dudes that was always hip to what was "next"....When he was telling us about Illmatic everyone was into Bone Thugs and didnt really pay it any mind...
Thats how I remember it....I remember him picking me up to go take some chicks to see The Inkwell when I was an early teen and he was bumping "Rappers I monkey flip em with the funky rhythm" in his whip...
I was like
"Who is that?!?!"
LunaticVillage415
All Star
I was 11 in 94', but I'm from the hood where kids don't have a real childhood, so Illmatic definitely would have resonated with me and my peers where I'm from. Ever heard of Robert yummy Sandifer? He was living the life Nas was talking about on Illmatic as a ten year old in Chicago and every hood across America is full of Yummy's. Yummy was all over the media like Trayvon Martin in 94'. In 94', I was listening to Doggystyle, 36 Chambers and lots of local underground Bay Rap that I was surrounded by. I understood what they were talking about because people were really living that life all around me in the ghetto unlike some of these suburban Nas stans who ain't never even seen QB with their own naked eyes.
As for Yo MTV raps and shyt, I grew up without cable TV potna, but I saw the Bay Area version Menace II Society live with my own eyes when I was only four feet high on the block where I used to reside. 
If you ain't from NY, I have no idea why you dikkride Nas so much because I'm sure Nas looks down on wherever you are from because everybody from NY thinks they've "seen everything" when they ain't never see a palm tree or smoked anything resembling Cali bomb weed .