Track for track, bar for bar, beat for beat...can somebody explain

[FlyGuy]

It aint hard to tell is far and wide my fave track. Represent is the sleeper

One Time 4 Your Mind is the true sleeper...song never gets mentioned but that was NaS on that laid-back just flowing kickin raps type shiit

"I hold a Mac-11 then attack a reverend, I contact 11 L's and max in heaven"

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

Reasonable is superior in every category and it has more songs.

Ain't No nikka is a skippable track, there's also some tracks like 'Coming of Age ' that don't stack up when compared to Illmatic's tracks. Not trying to hate on RD, but that's comparing a top 10-15 album w/ a top 3 album in Illmatic.

Jay-Z basically made a pop version of Ready to Die mixed w/ OB4CL...

Not to mention that the best song on RD sampled Illmatic...

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

I might have 'It Ain't Hard To Tell' played at my funeral

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

I dunno, I think that The Infamous is a darker, hardcore Illmatic, if you catch my drift. Mobb Deep also rapped about the street life and whatnot, they were just darker than Nas.

The production for the most part really created that murky atmosphere, and Prodigy's rapping ability on this album was monsterous (As was Havoc's)

Epic features from Ghostface, Raekwon and Nas, Big Noyd killing every verse he had. The Infamous, like Illmatic, was dope front to back, and it managed to remain cohesive even with it's interludes and tracks like "Drink Away The Pain". The Infamous was a complete, solid album.

Illmatic and The Infamous are tied, quality-wise IMO. Would give Illmatic the nod for the influence, though.



I agree with this.

I love me some 'The Infamous' but it's not on the same level as Illmatic.

I still remember being the first time I saw the Shook Ones video.

 

[surv2syn]

3 reasons without going extremely in depth.

#1 ) its the first of its kind a blueprint. before that producers would do collaborations with MCs. illmatic was the first and most intense version of the standard album that is created today.

they take all the hot producers and put them on one album.

#2 ) your trying to recapture an essence of history by re-listening but its deeper than that. since you didnt live the experience then you can only leave it up to the heads like me who bumped nas albums when they dropped.

this is the type of question of re-living the past/trying to alter history and perception amongst other people your age who are inclined to agree with the older ones who lived it.

#3 ) illmatic is the realest album of all time. every classic you mentioned by mobb deep, biggie, 2pac, mos def etc contain large portions of fictional elements. illmatic is not the only, but it is one of the first albums that was 100% accurate as far as an artists life portrayal.

the only times nas penned a fictional line is when the bar contained what people would later call "shock rap". also being the forefather of that style he is a living blueprint as far as rhyme structure and content goes.

Well said. You cant understand the magnitude of Rakim if you werent living in that era and a true hip hop fan. Nas was much like this. Rakim was farrrrr ahead of his time...Nas came along and he was slightly ahead of his time. This is why Illmatic was great. No fillers, bonus tracks, unnecessary songs and b.s. skits. Great diversity but at the same time relatable. Not featured artists on every song...you basically just heard him. Production was almost perfect. The other thing was that Nas had so much hype being the next Rakim so it wouldve been easy for him to not live up to the expectations of his 1st album. They did it right....he lived up to and possibly exceeded expectations. Like Meta said...its a true blueprint that ushered in a new era of rap.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Almost every rap song/album since it's release has been influenced by it one way or another. nikkas is still recycling lines and themes from illmatic.

 

[Reggie]

Nas is my favorite rapper ever but i can see if someone says some other albums are better. Especially if it's one of them 90's babies. The only thing i can say is that some of those albums may have aged better than Illmatic.

 

[Ohene]

Ain't No nikka is a skippable track, there's also some tracks like 'Coming of Age ' that don't stack up when compared to Illmatic's tracks. Not trying to hate on RD, but that's comparing a top 10-15 album w/ a top 3 album in Illmatic.

Jay-Z basically made a pop version of Ready to Die mixed w/ OB4CL...

Not to mention that the best song on RD sampled Illmatic...

and can i live, bring it on, politics as usual > dead presidents

 

[dappadonna]

It was written is my favourite Nas album

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

and can i live, bring it on, politics as usual > dead presidents

No song that features Memphis Bleek is near comparable to anything on Illmatic.

However, RD is a much more influential album.

edit: b/c you highlighted where I said Coming of Age isn't as good as anything on Illmatic.

 

[BrothaZay]

Rappers I monkey flip them with the funky rhythm
I be kickin' musician, inflictin' composition
Of pain I'm like Scarface sniffin' cocaine
Holdin' a M-16, see with the pen I'm extreme, now
Bulletholes left in my peepholes
I'm suited up in street clothes
Hand me a nine and I'll defeat foes
Y'all know my steelo with or without the airplay

I keep some E&J, sittin' bent up in the stairway
Or either on the corner bettin' Grants with the CeloChamps
Laughin' at baseheads, tryin to sell some broken amps
G-Packs get off quick, forever nikkaz talk shyt
Remeniscin' about the last time the Task Force flipped
nikkaz be runnin' through the block shootin'
Time to start the revolution, catch a body head for Houston
Once they caught us off guard, the Mac-10 was in the grass and
I ran like a Cheetah with thoughts of an assassin

Pick the Mac up, told brothers, "Back up," the Mac spit
Lead was hittin' nikkaz one ran, I made him backflip
Heard a few chicks scream my arm shook, couldn't look
Gave another squeeze heard it click yo, my shyt is stuck
Try to cock it, it wouldn't shoot now I'm in danger
Finally pulled it back and saw three bullets caught up in the chamber
So now I'm jettin' to the building lobby
And it was filled with children probably couldn't see as high as I be
So whatchu sayin'? It's like the game ain't the same

Got younger nikkaz pullin' the triggers bringing fame to they name
And claim some corners, crews without guns are goners
In broad daylight, stickup kids, they run up on us
Fo'-fives and gauges, Macs in fact
Same nikkaz'll catch a back to back, snatchin' yo' cracks in black
There was a snitch on the block gettin' nikkaz knocked
So hold your stash until the coke price drop
I know this crackhead, who said she gotta smoke nice rock

And if it's good she'll bring ya customers in measuring pots
But yo you gotta slide on a vacation
Inside information keeps large nikkaz erasin' and they wives basin
It drops deep as it does in my breath
I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death
Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
I think of crime when I'm in a New York state of mind

 

[Ukbrotha]

that memory lane beat is crazy i dont think that beat can be created today with modern producers

Will Sessions did a great job, recreating the beats on illmatic.

 

[criminology]

i think people sometimes say "best" when they really mean "most important". Illmatic is often considered the best because it is probably one of the 3 or 4 most important hip hop albums of all time. It also has the added benefit of being pretty fukking good. So it was also the best at the time and raised the bar far up. So yeah, I think OB4CL is way better than illmatic and always have. I could even see people backing The Infamous or whatever, but those albums aren't quite in the same class of illmatic when it comes to Most Important albums. That's reserved for Rakim, PE, NWA, Nas, maybe kast and a few others. But being so much better than his peers at the time, such an important album and still pretty fukking good considering its 20 years old, that s how nas earns a seat at the table.

I know you said track for track, etc, but even then bar for bar, illmatic could stand up to nearly any album since its release. the most quoted album of all time.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

It's Nas. Not anyone else. That's the difference.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

that memory lane beat is crazy i dont think that beat can be created today with modern producers

whole album is pure piff