I'm the young city bandit hold myself down single-handed

1994 was a year like none other in the realm of rap and hip-hop records: Common’s Resurrection, Warren G’s Regulate…G Funk Era, Gang Starr’s Hard to Earn, Digable Planets’ Blowout Comb, The Roots' Do You Want More?!!!??!, Scarface's The Diary, Method Man’s Tical, Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth's The Main Ingredient, Outkast’s Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Biggie’s Ready to Die, and my favorite rap album ever, the LP that encompasses everything rap represents to me, Nas’ Illmatic.

Months ago I had an unforgettable night in Oakland at The Fox Theatre. It was late 2014, and it was the 20th anniversary of Illmatic. The Fox had a screening of Time is Illmatic, a documentary chronicling Nas’ life up through the release of the groundbreaking album. It followed Nas’ path along with his family and friends growing up in Queensbridge, NY.

Amidst some of the chaos that Nas narrates in Illmatic, the documentary shows the musical influence Nas received from his father who was a jazz musician as well as stories of his beloved mother’s sacrifices and influences on Nas and his brother, Jabari. “It’s in my blood,” Nas says about his musical abilities.

The documentary interviewed producers of the album, including Large Professor (“Halftime,” “One Time 4 Your Mind,” “It Ain’t Hard to Tell”), DJ Premier (“N.Y. State of Mind”), Q-Tip (“One Love”) and Pete Rock (“The World is Yours”), who all detailed the genius of Nas with his lyrical prowess and a flow that stopped everyone in their tracks. Nas' youthful genius and storytelling still propels him to continue to make great music and be renowned as one of the best rappers ever.

After the documentary ended, the big screen went up, and Nas strolled onstage with his arms crossed as the crowd went nuts. He then played Illmatic in its entirety from front to back! It was a killer performance - there was no hype man, just Nas, his DJ, and the people. The crowd was so amped, rapping along, dancing, and Nas fed off all of the energy. People were constantly taking their cameras out, and at one point before he played “Memory Lane,” Nas said we should be soaking this up and relying on our memories of the night. It was a poignant statement and an idea we can all take to heart with our obsession to chronicle all we do (hypocrite alert AS I WRITE ALL ABOUT IT) instead of living in the moment. But it was a night I won’t ever forget, and I look forward to telling my kids that I got to see my favorite rap album performed in its entirety as they beg me to turn the music down.

People talk about complete players in sports all the time. But in rap, I think that Nas is the epitome of the complete rapper. He does everything incredibly well: lyrics, flow, wordplay, voice, discography, enunciation, storyteller, and choice of production. I think there are rappers that you could argue do specific things better (i.e. Biggie's flow), but I think he's the total package. There was one anecdote from Time is Illmatic that I loved: An unknown Nas walked into a recording studio where Large Professor was recording a track and without pause entered the recording booth and rapped the first verse of “The World is Yours” acapella. It blew everyone away and was really the start of his career.

I have a soft spot for beats with pianos in them, and “The World is Yours” is not only my favorite beat with a piano in it, but one of my favorite beats ever. Pete Rock sampled The Ahmad Jamal Trio’s “I Love Music” (listen to the whole song but check 5:00 for the beat). Over the beat, Nas’ flow bleeds through the whole song, a cut that never stops gushing. The first verse is a microcosm of every talent and touch Nas has:

“I sip the Dom P watching Gandhi ’til I’m charged / writing in my book of rhymes all the words pass the margin / To hold the mic I’m throbbin’ / mechanical movement / understandable smooth shit that murderers move wit / The thief’s theme - play me at night, they won’t act right / The fiend of hip-hop has got me stuck like a crack pipe / The mind activation / react like I’m facing time like Pappy Mason / with pens I’m embracing / Wipe the sweat of my dome / spit the phlegm on the streets / Suede Timb’s on my feets / makes my cypher complete / Whether crusin’ in a six-cab / or Montero jeep / I can’t call it / the beats make me fallin’ asleep / I keep fallin’ / but never fallin’ six feet deep / I’m out for presidents to represent me (say what?) / I’m out for dead presidents to represent me / Who’s world is this? / The world is yours.”

That line, “I’m out for president’s to represent me,” was infamously sampled by Jay-Z on Dead Presidents II and was actually the reason behind one of the biggest beefs in rap. Apparently, Nas was supposed to record that line in the studio with Jay-Z, but he never showed up. (My Best of Jay-Z write-up to come…).

“The thief’s theme” is the reason I try terribly to unsuccessfully use alliteration.

Verse two:

“Yet I’m the mild, money-gettin’ style, rollin’ foul / the versatile, honey-sticking, wild golden child / Dwelling in the Rotten Apple / you get tackled / or caught by the devil’s lasso / shit is a hassle / There’s no days for broke days / we sell it, smoke pays / While all the old folks pray to Jesus / soaking’ their sins in trays / of holy water / Odds against Nas are slaughter / Thinking a word best describing my life / to name my daughter / My strength, my son / the star will be my resurrection / Born in correction / all the wrong shit I did / he’ll lead a right direction.”

My words don't do his any justice. To be a poet and perform like this is mind boggling to me. It's the main reason I revere music so much: it brings together word, sound, and story, and when done perfectly like Nas exhibits, there's nothing like it in the world.

During the documentary, Nas spoke about growing up in the projects of Queensbridge and how it was incredibly difficult from a mental standpoint to live in an area where danger was basically a constant part of life. He said “N.Y. State of Mind” was written to give people an idea of the reality of Queensbridge. Nas wanted a dark, pulsing, foreboding beat, and fortunately one of the masters, DJ Premier, didn’t disappoint. Premier sampled Joe Chambers’ “Mind Rain” (Listen to the buildup! But the beat starts at 1:13), and Nas did what he does best:

“Rappers, I monkey flip ‘em with the funky rhythm / I be kickin’ musician / inflicting composition of pain / I’m like Scarface sniffin’ cocaine / Holding an M16, see with the pen I’m extreme…I’m taking rappers to a new plateau / through rap slow / My rhyming is a vitamin held without a capsule / The smooth criminal on beat breaks / Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes / The city never sleeps / full of villains and creeps / That’s where I learned to do my hustle / had to scuffle with freaks / I’m an addict for sneakers / 20’s of buddha and bitches with beepers / In the streets I can greet ya / about blunts I teach ya / Inhale deep like the words of my breath / I never sleep / cuz sleep is the cousin of death / I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times / Nothing’s equivalent to the New York state of mind.”

Illmatic makes up more than a third of this Best Of for good reason. But the remainder of tracks spans his whole discography of 20 years. “If I Ruled the World” pairs Nas with the incomparable Lauryn Hill who sings the hook on the chorus. “Got Ur Self A…” is classic Nas - infectious beat with Nas surely swaggering throughout: “My first album had no famous guest appearances / The outcome? / I’m crowned the best lyricist.” Then there's "Ether," Nas' response to Jay-Z's "Takeover." It's a masterful and ruthless takedown of Jay-Z, and I think most people proclaimed Nas the winner of the feud based on this song alone.

Nas’ most recent album, Life is Good, had a number of great tracks on it. But my favorite is “Cherry Wine,” a track with the late, great Amy Winehouse about the search for a soulmate. Winehouse pleadingly sings, “Where is he? / The man who is just like me? / I heard he was hiding / somewhere I can’t see / And I’m alone / and I realize when I get home / I’m gonna go through my red and my cherry.” Nas adds his take on his search for her: “As long as there’s no selfishness / as long as her love for the people is deep rooted and evident / You can be easily recruited / you’re heaven sent / your smile put me at ease / you’re the woman I need / but where is she?”

After Nas’ played all of Illmatic that night at The Fox, he came back out to play an encore. He started with the first track of this Best Of, “Made You Look,” and the crowd gave one of the loudest cheers of the night. It’s one of my favorite songs and clearly one of the crowd’s favorite as well.

Nas walked off the stage to a standing ovation, smiling and acknowledging all the fans who have followed and loved his work for the past 20 years. We’ll see what he does for the 40th anniversary - I’ll be waiting.