Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of 'Stillmatic'
- Thread starter En Sabah Nur
- Start date
MurderToCassette
Sa Da Tay
It was Nas' own people, they admitted it recently. They'd pass the songs to certain people and use it to trace who was leaking them. I forget the interview but it was posted here
Edit:
Lenny “Linen” Nicholson: VP of A&R of The Lost Tapes: "I put a dog barking throughout a song called “Death of Escobar” and sent that out for sample clearance. It leaked, so I knew where it came from. A lot of times we released the records ourselves though, to create a buzz and feed the base because Nas usually took a bit of time between projects."
I can’t hear that song and NOT hear barking dogs, I didn’t own this album until like 04 and every burned version I had til then sounded like this, I legit thought it was part of the song
Ayo B, I'm scarred forreal
especially the first few barksIm brain break if i dont hear it
Yikes… I was in high school 20 years ago ?
I remember this shyt like it was yesterday
iceberg on vasque gore Tex copping this shyt on white plains road …. Think I still got this cd
I remember this shyt like it was yesterday
iceberg on vasque gore Tex copping this shyt on white plains road …. Think I still got this cd
Man first media dude who ain’t dikk ride jay
HollywoodP
#LongLive24 #TMC, Lakeshow, ASU, Fukk Jerry Jones
Randomly came across this on YT
C-Styles
Superstar
i feel 
af , i was a junior in HS when i copped it first day. It feels like it was yesterday and I would bump this religiously. Greatest intro, diss track, and top 10 hip hop single of all time (one mic). The crazy thing about it is that this was the last time Preemo was listed as production credit on a Nas album. 2nd childhood was def one of those joints that you understood more as you got older. Especially after your 20's when you dealt with women in their 30s and start realizing like damn, this what the GOAT was referring to 
af , i was a junior in HS when i copped it first day. It feels like it was yesterday and I would bump this religiously. Greatest intro, diss track, and top 10 hip hop single of all time (one mic). The crazy thing about it is that this was the last time Preemo was listed as production credit on a Nas album. 2nd childhood was def one of those joints that you understood more as you got older. Especially after your 20's when you dealt with women in their 30s and start realizing like damn, this what the GOAT was referring to 
prophecypro
Hollywood North
Got this just before the winter break of my first semester in college
The radio interviews
Walking up on the Thursday, 5 days before the release and copping it from the mom and pop store along with Iron Flag and Jay's unplugged album
Hearing the cuts like You're the Da Man, One Mic, Ether before the album dropped on the radio the week leading up
Opening up the CD case and seeing the Illmatic cover on the disc
Putting it in the discman and hearing the intro while walking back up to the train station in the cold december
Bumping it the whole Saturday in line at Foot Locker to get the Bred 11's
and people being like
you got the album already?!
The radio interviews
Walking up on the Thursday, 5 days before the release and copping it from the mom and pop store along with Iron Flag and Jay's unplugged album
Hearing the cuts like You're the Da Man, One Mic, Ether before the album dropped on the radio the week leading up
Opening up the CD case and seeing the Illmatic cover on the disc
Putting it in the discman and hearing the intro while walking back up to the train station in the cold december
Bumping it the whole Saturday in line at Foot Locker to get the Bred 11's
and people being like you got the album already?!
Rapmastermind
Superstar
You really had to be there to understand how amazing this day was. Jay was still basking in the glow of "Blueprint" (He actually dropped Blueprint Unplugged the same day, lol) and 9/11 had just happen 3 months earlier. Yeah, yeah the leaks and the dogs barking are Legendary. "The General" was actually the first song we all heard. NaS had changed his website and had "The General" as the intro. Some fans complained though and the song got cut (I still liked it, got me hype). It's funny both of Swizz's songs eventually got cut. Anyways. "Your the man" and "One Mic" were the first leaks with the dogs. We all lost our sh!t. Obviously "Ether" shut the internet down and even got some radio play too. "Ether" actually charted based off radio play (Same with "You Da Man" which charted off radio play). Before Twitter or Facebook, Message boards dominated the discourse in Hip Hop discussions online. "Rule" was a promotional single but "Got Urself a Gun" was released with a video so it felt like the main single. Loved it because "Sopranos" was poppin at that time and that intro song for the show was always hard.
Anyways on the morning of Dec 18, I went to Circuit City to buy it because I heard they had better bonus tracks than Best Buy. I played the album straight through over 10 times. My CD (That I still have scratches and all) Had "Everybody's crazy", "No Ideas Original" the original version and "Bravehart Party" on it. And no I didn't want either taken off. I like that I have the original album and not the reprint without those songs. Mary asked NaS to take it off because she didn't want to take sides in the beef allegedly. Anyways as for the album, I loved it. No I didn't think it was better than "ILLmatic" but it was definitely much better than "Nastramdaus". But it felt like a more blockbuster sequel. I thought it was a great answer to "Blueprint" because it showed NaS was just a different type of emcee. I just couldn't image Jay doing "One Mic" or "Rewind". He brought back L.E.S., Premo and Large Professor (Q-Tip and Pete didn't make it). AZ came back on "The flyest" which was dope. But he added some other producers like Chucky Thompson and Trackmasters More rap features than before though. The Intro was crazy. "2nd Childhood" just floored me. I already knew NaS was one of the best storytellers but "Rewind" truly made it undebatable at that point. I thought "Smokin" was just chill and laid back, had a nice vibe.
Hearing "One Mic" and "You the Man" without the dogs made it even more Legendary. I was torn on "Destroy and Rebuild" because he was going at Mega and Prodigy but he made sure to say it was all love but I admit that was my least fav joint on it. "Rule" was like "Rule the world" part 2 with that tears for fears sample and Amerie. "My Country" and "What goes around" capped it off nicely. Not to mention "Every Ghetto" with that John Williams Sample. Going to be bumping this all day today. Can't believe it's been 20 years. Because of the Jay Beef, Critics were seriously hating on the album. It was getting low score with bias reviews. I was so happy The Source gave it 5 mics and shut everyone up. We use to joke back then it was going to be a trilogy and the next one was going to be "TRILLmatic", lol. The album remains one of NaS's highest selling as well. It ended up getting to Top 5 on the charts. The Only reason he didn't get a #1 was because he didn't really have a Pop single and the rock band "Creed". They were smashing sh!t back then going Diamond and other pop artist. It was a different time back then, Rap had more competition. It did go #1 on the R&B/Hip Hop Charts. There was no Rap Album Chart back then. Overall aged really well and when people were writing him off, he drop this Ether Napalm Bomb.
This is my ending and my new beginning, nostalgia
Alpha and Omega places, it's like a glitch in The Matrix
Anyways on the morning of Dec 18, I went to Circuit City to buy it because I heard they had better bonus tracks than Best Buy. I played the album straight through over 10 times. My CD (That I still have scratches and all) Had "Everybody's crazy", "No Ideas Original" the original version and "Bravehart Party" on it. And no I didn't want either taken off. I like that I have the original album and not the reprint without those songs. Mary asked NaS to take it off because she didn't want to take sides in the beef allegedly. Anyways as for the album, I loved it. No I didn't think it was better than "ILLmatic" but it was definitely much better than "Nastramdaus". But it felt like a more blockbuster sequel. I thought it was a great answer to "Blueprint" because it showed NaS was just a different type of emcee. I just couldn't image Jay doing "One Mic" or "Rewind". He brought back L.E.S., Premo and Large Professor (Q-Tip and Pete didn't make it). AZ came back on "The flyest" which was dope. But he added some other producers like Chucky Thompson and Trackmasters More rap features than before though. The Intro was crazy. "2nd Childhood" just floored me. I already knew NaS was one of the best storytellers but "Rewind" truly made it undebatable at that point. I thought "Smokin" was just chill and laid back, had a nice vibe.
Hearing "One Mic" and "You the Man" without the dogs made it even more Legendary. I was torn on "Destroy and Rebuild" because he was going at Mega and Prodigy but he made sure to say it was all love but I admit that was my least fav joint on it. "Rule" was like "Rule the world" part 2 with that tears for fears sample and Amerie. "My Country" and "What goes around" capped it off nicely. Not to mention "Every Ghetto" with that John Williams Sample. Going to be bumping this all day today. Can't believe it's been 20 years. Because of the Jay Beef, Critics were seriously hating on the album. It was getting low score with bias reviews. I was so happy The Source gave it 5 mics and shut everyone up. We use to joke back then it was going to be a trilogy and the next one was going to be "TRILLmatic", lol. The album remains one of NaS's highest selling as well. It ended up getting to Top 5 on the charts. The Only reason he didn't get a #1 was because he didn't really have a Pop single and the rock band "Creed". They were smashing sh!t back then going Diamond and other pop artist. It was a different time back then, Rap had more competition. It did go #1 on the R&B/Hip Hop Charts. There was no Rap Album Chart back then. Overall aged really well and when people were writing him off, he drop this Ether Napalm Bomb.
This is my ending and my new beginning, nostalgia
Alpha and Omega places, it's like a glitch in The Matrix
Last edited:
prophecypro
Hollywood North
Nas and Crate supposed to be dropping Stillmatic 20th anniversary Merch today on his merch site at 11 am eastern
always wished he would've done a vid for rewind
Metal Face
Superstar
God tier rap
You are correct sir …. My memory
due to the 20 plus years of drinking