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Omar Hoblos
12/8/13
Critical Paper
Illmatic Itinerary: History and Lessons from Hip-Hops Reality Storybook

[Hector]: And you're sitting at home doing this shit

I should be earning a medal for this
Stop fuckin' around and be a man, there ain't nothin' out here for you
[Zoro]: Oh yes there is...this
The start of Illmatic begins with this dialogue from the 1983 film Wild
Style, effectively setting the tone for the album as a whole. In the movie, Hector is
criticizing and putting down Zoro for not doing anything important with his life and
only being a graffiti artist, but Zoro thinks its much more than just art, its his way
of life. Like Zoro, Nas, being a young African American male in the 90s, felt trapped
in a hopeless world with no real way out. With crime at every corner, drugs in every
alley way, and racist cops on every street, Nas only had one way to escape it all,
and it was through his rapping. His innate ability to rhyme and tell stories got him
noticed at a young age, and he never looked back. Illmatic was his first album and
widely considered the greatest hip-hop album of all-time. The 90s was known as
the Golden Age of Hip-Hop and for this album to be known as the best ever is
making quite the statement. Illmatic was more than just a regular rap album, it was,
in a way, a narrative of the urban areas in New York City. The way Nas was able to
depict his surroundings in his songs was unheard of at the time. The amount of
details and imagery from line to line can place any listener at the heart of an NY
ghetto in the 1990s. The nine songs featured on Illmatic seemed more like poems

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than traditional rap songs. Although he never earned his high school degree, Nass
interests in poetry and literature were prevalent on Illmatic. Nas incorporated
different rhyme schemes and internal rhymes throughout his songs as well as
making use of such poetic mechanisms as alliteration, anapest, couplets, similes,
hyperbole, and metaphors to name some. In this simple couplet Nasty Nas has to
rise, kid, surprise/ This is exercise til the microphone dies, Nas shows his ability to
have smooth flowing internal rhyme scheme while incorporating simple
personification with the microphones death. Illmatic did not necessarily feature too
many life lessons that Nas was trying to directly teach the listener, but more like
observations from an adolescent teen going into young adulthood. All throughout
Illmatic, Nas discusses many contradictions from his reality compared to fantasy,
being good and bad, and even glorifying the place hes from, only to wish he could
get to a better place in the future. Illmatic is a product of Nass influences at the
time, from music to environment, combined with his observations from his daily life
to bring together an album that very closely depicts the routine lifestyle and point
of view of an African American male living in the ghetto. Nas explains that the word
illmatic was slang at the time meaning beyond ill or better than good. The album
was appropriately titled.
Nasir Jones was born on September 14, 1973 and was raised in the
Queensbridge housing projects, which was known to be one of the most violent
areas in New York. A great deal of his inspiration came from both of his parents. His
father, Olu Dara Jones, was a jazz musician who was frequently on the rode with his
band but always made sure to come back. In the VH1 documentary Behind the
Music: Nas, Nas himself discusses the importance of having a father figure always
around and how it steered him in the right direction. Nas said many of his friends

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lacked a father figure and therefore did not having a nurturing family to always fall
back on when they made mistakes. Nass mother, Fannie Ann Jones, was also key in
his life. She was a very nurturing and loving mother who worked at the postal office.
In the documentary, Nas recalls a time when his mother found a gun and drugs he
had intended on selling in the top drawer of his dresser. Wanting her son to stay
safe, Ann Jones threw out the drugs but left the gun showing just how dangerous
their living area was. Nas had one sibling, Jabari, who goes by the nickname Jungle.
Both Nas and Jungle were very influenced by music, especially with jazz and blues
from their father. Nas learned how to play the trumpet at the age of 4, and by 9,
Nas had started to rap and write down rhymes. In 1985, things started to change for
Nas as his parents elected to get divorced due to his fathers constant infidelity.
Although Olu was still always around his sons lives, after the divorce, the visits
came more sporadically. Nas, however, looking back was very thankful to have his
father in his life at all.
A year later, Nas made another major decision to drop out of school in
the 8th grade to pursue being a rapper. His closest friend at the time, Willy Ill Will
Graham, influenced the music Nas was listening to and showed Nas a lot about hiphop. At an early age, Nas went by the nickname Kid Wave and his best friend and
neighbor Ill Will, was his DJ. Along with rapping, Nas also read many books from
classic literature to religious texts. Despite dropping out of school, Nas still wanted
to remain educated and would even read the dictionary quite often, according to his
brother, allowing him to amass an impress vocabulary. Kid Wave then formerly
changed his name to Nasty Nas and eventually just Nas. Nas started taking his
rapping ability more seriously and caught a break at the age of 15 when a friend
introduced Nas to up and coming producer, The Large Professor. Nas would go daily

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to meet up with Large Professor at his studio where he would get studio time after
hip hop icons Rakim and Kool G Rap were also recording their albums. Large
Professor and his group Main Source were working on their 1991 album Breaking
Atoms, and Nas was there at the right place at the right time and was allowed to
drop his debut verse on the song Live at the Barbeque. This single verse
singlehandedly launched the career of Nasir building massive hype around him and
his debut album. The verse was very braggadocios with the most famous line from
the verse being Verbal assassin, my architect pleases/ When I was twelve, I went to
hell for snuffing Jesus. No one in rap was saying anything Nas said, which gave
him a major appeal factor. A year later, 1992, a tragedy occurred in Nass young
life. His brother and Ill Will were hanging out outside and got shot by an unknown
gunman. Jungle was shot in the leg and managed to survive but Ill Will was shot
three times in the back, dying instantly. This was a major moment for a young Nas,
not only losing his best friend, but his DJ and partner in this music business they
were trying to get into. While he mourned, Nas also had an enlightenment moment
that life is short and he needs to do something now to get out of the projects.
A much more motivated and focused Nas bounced back strong after
the death of his closest friend. In the middle of 1992, he met MC Serch who was
looking to drop his own solo album without his group, 3 rd Bass. Serch recruited Nas
to drop a verse on his album and instantly recognized his talents on the mic. MC
Serch would give Nas even more spotlight allowing him to drop his first solo hit,
Halftime, of his career on the soundtrack for the movie Zebrahead which MC
Serch was in charge of the soundtrack for. This gained Nas much recognition in the
music business. Serch would go on to become Nass official manager and managed
to land him a deal with Columbia records. For the next two years, Nas collaborated

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with different producers, some established and some new. All of the producers that
worked on Illmatic with Nas are considered legendary today which include DJ
Premier, The Large Professor, L.E.S, Pete Rock, and Q-Tip. Although Nas was not the
first to do so, he certainly perfected the use of multiple producers on a single
album. Prior to Illmatic, the producer and rapper worked together on a single album,
so in this sense, Illmatic was revolutionary in this concept. Nas recorded nine total
songs for the album with a short skit in the beginning titled The Genesis. Finally,
on April 19, 1994, Illmatic was released, and Nas made his official debut.
Appropriately titled, The Genesis is the perfect start to a classic
album. It starts with the sound of a train passing by and transitions into the skit
from the first authentic hip hop movie Wild Style, with the Nas verse from Live at
the Barbeque also playing faintly in the background. A conversation ensues with
Nas and some friends which sets the tone for the rest of the album. Ian Carsia
writes that The Genesis is not merely an intro track, but a definitive statement
about what even is Illmatic (Carsia). This introduction shows one of the major
themes throughout the album. In their conversation, Nas and his friends discuss
fakeness in hip hop and making sure to always keep it real even without a deal.
Carsia writes Ultimately, spurred by the images of The Genesis, Illmatic paints a
picture of a young black man trapped inside the margins of inauthenticity and lack
of communication. And rather than being simply another album intro, The Genesis
is Nass definitive artistic statement (Carsia). As Carsia writes, Nas feels trapped in
the world, and Illmatic is his outlet to express his thoughts and show what he says
on a daily basis. This makes The Genesis truly the genesis for Nas and the
beginning of a new day and age for hip hop.

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Before diving into the different themes and styles in Illmatic, it is
important for one to have an understanding of the environment Nas grew up in. His
environment ultimately is what influenced him to make such an album. First off, Nas
grew up in a very violent project area in Queensbridge. QB, as it is called,
represented the violence of New York poverty regions on a miniscule scale. In the
Behind the Music documentary on Nas, Jungle claims gunshots were heard every
night, as if it was an everyday normal aspect of life. Nas himself said a common
belief among the people of his community was that African American males do not
make it past the age of 25. That belief alone shows the disillusionment of a whole
society especially since Nas claimed to know this fact but still not give a fuck.
Crime was very prevalent in the QB area. Based on police statistics for the city of
New York, North Queens alone, which is where Nas resided, had 151 murders in the
year 1990 which is extremely high considering it is a fairly small region of Queens.
Those murder statistics would slowly decrease through the years but by the time
Illmatic was released, the annual murder rate of North Queens was still over 100.
Also in New York in the 90s was the crack epidemic. Crack cocaine was a relatively
new drug that hit the streets of New York hard. Everywhere there was someone
looking for crack and someone selling. Jungle described the drug fiends as zombies
roaming the streets at night. Nas would even get into selling drugs for a short
period of time in order to pay for his studio time with The Large Professor. The
1990s for Blacks in urban parts of NY was an overall dark scene with inevitable
violence and a feeling of entrapment with a lack of opportunity. This was one of
Nass major influences in the making of Illmatic.
The early 90s is known as the Golden Age of Hip Hop and right at the
heart of this movement was Queensbridge. Right where Nas was living, established

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artists such as MC Shan, Marley Marl, Big Noyd, Roxanne Shante and more resided.
In the documentary, Nas recalls an atmosphere of pure hip hop as he was growing
up, with graffiti art on every corner, kids break dancing, and of course people
rapping. Having the start of hip hop begin in his metaphorical backyard is a huge
reason Nas ever got into rapping.
Religion in the 80s and 90s started to infiltrate ghetto areas in New
York, and QB was no different. Nas grew up in a household that was taught strong
Christian beliefs mostly by his mother. Nas himself does not proclaim himself to be
a Christian but when asked what faith he falls back on in a 2007 interview with
Street Knowledge Media, Nas said Christianity because In the back of your mind
thats whats embedded in your head, growing up here (America). He clarified that
But in reality, you come up with your ideas about life and God, but the foundation
thats been instilled in us since we were kids from our parents is Christianity,
whether we like it or not. Nas is also very interested in Islam especially with the
Nation of Islam led by Malcolm X influencing young black kids. The NOI is a division
of the Islamic community with the main leader and prophet being W.D. Farad
Muhammad. The NOI is very similar to Islam with minor differences. The NOI was
very popular amongst the black community for their black leaders who preached
positive messages to African Americans and had goals specifically aimed to improve
the life of black people. A variation of the Nation of Islam known as the Five
Percenters made an even stronger impact in QB. Led by a former NOI leader,
Clarence 13X (Clarence Ernest Smith) believed that Farad Muhammad cannot be
God because he is not purely black since he is b-racial. Clarence 13X instead
taught that every black man was God personified, and that each black man could
cultivate and eventually realize his godliness through meditation, study, and

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spiritual and physical fitness (Johnson). The influence of the Five Percenters is
prevalent throughout Illmatic. A common way five percenters greet each other is by
calling them God. Nas uses this slang numerous times throughout Illmatic. In the
conversation that starts The Genesis, Nas tells his friend to chill chill, thats the
shit God or on the sixth track Memory Lane he says I rap divine, God, check the
prognosis: is it real or showbiz? Both those lines show Nass use of the word God as
if a person today would use man or dude amongst other words. Religion is
another aspect of influence in a young Nas and it shows in his debut album.
On the surface, Illmatic is considered one of the greatest albums purely
based on the imagery, vividness, and pure imagination displayed by Nas on every
single song. Nas raps with a Hemingway-esc stream-of-consciousness where he
just keeps rapping about what hes saying. On the first song titled N.Y. State of
Mind, Nas raps:
Bullet holes 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, sitting bent up in the stairway
Or either on the corner betting Grants with the cee-lo champs
Laughing at baseheads trying to sell some broken amps
This is Nas almost describing a typical day in QB with a bullet hole in the door, him
drinking E&J brand alcohol in his project stairway, playing dice for money, and
laughing at crack heads trying to sell a broken radio for drug money. The way Nas
goes about describing this typical day is very fluid and unique. He paints this
picture of what he sees with his own QB flair. In the song Memory Lane, Nas once
again showcases his ability to tell a story in vivid imagery.

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It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous night times and knife fights invite crimes
Chill on the block with Cognac, hold strap
With my peeps that's into drug money, market into rap
No sign of the beast in the blue Chrysler, I guess that means peace
Again, Nas is describing his community with such a unique description from the
white chalk outlines of dead bodies on the street, to the knife fights he witnessed.
Once again, as is a common theme with Nas, he has some sort of bottle of alcohol
and a strap, which is slang for a gun, at all times. No sign of the beast in the blue
Chrysler are the police in their blue and white vehicles and since theyre not
around, its peaceful in the neighborhood. These are typical days for Nas, if not
some of his better days. Throughout Illmatic, Nas seems to be very disillusioned,
giving the listener the sense of negativity in life through his rhymes. In the same
song, Memory Lane, Nas raps My window faces shootouts, drug overdoses/ Live
amongst no roses, only the drama, for real. Here Nas is sharing with the audience
what can be seen outside of his project window which sounds like a very gloomy
scene which Nas has grown accustomed to. Roses represent beauty, peace and
tranquility, and Nas claims there are no roses in his area, only drama. Nas at this
point seems to think life is hopeless and things will not get better anytime soon. On
the fourth track The World is Yours, Nass disillusionment makes a reappearance:
I need a new nigga for this black cloud to follow
Cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow
Trying to maintain, I flip, fill the clip to the tip
Picturing my peeps not eating can make my heartbeat skip
And I'm amped up, they locked the champ up, even my brain's in handcuffs
Here Nas sees no future for himself as he claims its too dark to see tomorrow.
According to the explanation of the first line on Rap Genius, Nas feels the problems

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he faces are unique to the black community since he wants this black cloud to
hover over another black man. Nas purposely specifies a black man because he
does not believe white men have the same problems. In the third line, Nas is just
trying to maintain and live on despite his lack of purpose. In the third line, Nas
mentions a topic that he stresses over a lot. Just the thought of his friends suffering
in poverty and not being able to provide themselves with a meal worries Nas. Once
again, to cope, Nas is amped up or high and feeling powerless since they even
locked the champ up. According to Rap Genius, Mike Tyson was still in jail serving
a three year sentencing period that started in 1992 due to being convicted of rape.
The government has even locked up a champion and one of the strongest men in
America so Nas is really feeling down. He ends the line with a Tolstoy-like statement
claiming even my brains in handcuffs as if Big Brother is controlling his mind too.
This idea shows up again on the eighth track One Time 4 Your Mind where Nas
simply says My brain is incarcerated. Nas feels the government is now enslaving
their minds rather than their bodies. Throughout Illmatic, Nas mentions the police
quite a bit and depicts them as corrupt monsters always trying to put young black
males in jail for as long as possible. This adds to Nass disillusionment making him
quite the nihilist. Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and is often
associated with extreme pessimism. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have
no loyalties, and no purpose other than perhaps, an impulse to destroy (Pratt). For
a good portion of Illmatic, Nas fits this definition. He seems to be living with no
purpose and often describes random, almost impulsive acts of destruction for no
particular reason. On the ninth track Represent, Nas proclaims himself to be The
type of nigga who be pissing in your elevator. He then describes more random
acts of destruction on the third track Lifes a Bitch: When I was young at this I

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used to do my thing hard/ Robbing foreigners, take their wallets, their jewels, and
rip their green cards. Although Nas seems to be a strong nihilist, he also cherishes
life and fuels a purpose for living through the ones he loves. Contradictions from a
young Nas occur throughout his album with this struggle of being good versus bad
being one. He shows much love for the people close to him yet is destructive for no
reason at other times. On the song One Love, Nas raps as if he is writing a letter
to two of his friends who are incarcerated. Nas shows an excellent imagination as
the song starts with:
What up kid? I know shit is rough doing your bid
When the cops came you should have slid to my crib
Fuck it black, no time for looking back it's done
Plus congratulations, you know you got a son
Nas is able to write the first two verses as if they were real letters while still
maintaining rhythm and rhyme throughout. In the song, Nas is able to show his
appreciation for his friends in jail now even sending them gifts and giving them
attention by writing them a letter and claiming to visit them soon. His compassion
for his friends and family contradicts the pessimistic Nas who does not care for life.
He cheers up his locked up friends and tells them to look forward to being released
soon, as if their life has value when throughout, Nas cannot seem to find a purpose.
Then once again, Nas returns to his confusion as to why he exists in this world on
the last verse of the same song. Nas says:
Sometimes I sit back with a Buddha sack
Mind's in another world thinking how can we exist through the facts
Written in school text books, bibles, et cetera
Fuck a school lecture, the lies get me vexed-a

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Nas sometimes gets high and questions his existence. He claims school and religion
teach lies, once again touching on his Tolstoy anti-government beliefs and even his
anti-religion stance too. Nas seems to hold firm to his anti-religion and antigovernment beliefs throughout. On the song Represent, Nas says wont even run
about Gods/I dont believe in none of that shit, your facts are backwards. Once
again here, Nas goes blatantly against religion saying he does not believe in it 1.
More anti-government stance from Nas is shown at the end of The World is Yours
where he says:
I'm out for presidents to represent me (say what?)
I'm out for presidents to represent me (say what?)
I'm out for dead presidents to represent me
Nas claims to be looking for representation from the government it seems which is
very surprising hence the say what from the crowd in parenthesis. Then he
clarifies hes out for dead presidents to represent him meaning he wants the dead
presidents on U.S currency to represent him.
At the start of Lifes a Bitch, Nas starts off by talking over the beat
with the one other person to have a verse on Illmatic, rapper AZ. AZ is telling Nas
how to separate his money and Nas answers with Im sayin, thats what this is all
about right? Clothes, bankrolls, and hoes, you know what Im sayin? Yo, then what
man, what? Nass nihilism returns here as he talks to AZ saying life has no
purpose past the clothes, money, and women. AZ ensues with a classic verse that
depicts everything Nas believes about this world. AZ begins the verse with:

1 Although later in his career, Nas will become very religious in his music,
mentioning a love for all religions from Christianity to Islam. He even claims his
success came purely from his faith in God.

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Visualizing the realism of life and actuality
Fuck who's the baddest, a person's status depends on salary
And my mentality is money-orientated
I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it
AZ seems to understand that the world does not care about who is the toughest or
the scariest person but rather who has the most money. Understanding this, AZ
changed his own priority to obtaining money to be relevant and to live this dream of
living better for those that died trying to get there. This verse is an instant classic
off a classic album. Although AZ understands Nass stance that theres nothing in
this world, AZ is a survivor who will make it and adjust no matter what. AZ mirrors
more common themes from Illmatic as his verse continues:
Cause yeah, we were beginners in the hood as 5 percenters
But something must of got in us cause all of us turned to sinners
Now some resting in peace and some are sitting in San Quentin
Others such as myself are trying to carry on tradition
AZ shows the influence of the Five Percenters in his community but still his ultimate
goal of obtaining money no matter what has turned him and others like him into
sinners. Some of died and some are in jail but AZ and the other living survivors will
continue to try to get more money and carry on tradition. Although AZ adds a
positive spin to a negative situation, the chorus of the song goes Lifes a bitch and
then you die, thats why we get hight, cause you never know when youre gonna
go. The chorus follows the nihilistic beliefs that they have no purpose in life. Thats
why they are always getting drunk or high, they feel too stressed from this world
and have nothing else to live for except to wait until theyre time on Earth has
expired. Now Nas comes in with his own verse and in typical fashion, contradicts
himself. In this verse, Nas seems to be an existentialist which is a philosophy that

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claims humans do not understand their surroundings but will continue living without
the need for a true purpose other than living (Crowell). He begins the verse with:
I woke up early on my born day; I'm 20, it's a blessing
The essence of adolescence leaves my body, now I'm fresh and
My physical frame is celebrated cause I made it
One quarter through life some Godly-like thing created
Here Nas appears to be happy about living even celebrating his life for making it to
20. Nas seems to change his negative outlook for a more positive one near the end
of his verse:
Now it's all about cash in abundance
Niggas I used to run with is rich or doing years in the hundreds
I switched my motto; instead of saying "fuck tomorrow"
That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto
Nas adopts the same type of thinking as AZ here as hes only thinking about getting
money. Instead of not caring about the future, Nas is going to live life to the fullest
because each day could be one closer to success and a better lifestyle. This is a
major contradiction from the outlook Nas has for most of Illmatic. This contradiction
shows how quickly an adolescent Nas changes his thinking.
Another major way Nas contradicts himself throughout Illmatic is
through his perceived fantasy of how he is living versus the reality. On the start of
the second verse on N.Y State of Mind, Nas says:
Be having dreams that I'm a gangsta; drinking Moets, holding Tecs
Making sure the cash came correct, then I stepped
Investments in stocks, sewing up the blocks to sell rocks
Winning gunfights with mega-cops

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Nas seems to describe himself as if he is Scarface from the famous 1983 film or
perhaps The Godfather. Then Nas seems to snap back into reality and realizes that
he is not living like that at all. But just a nigga, walking with his finger on the
trigger/ Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger. He realizes that he is
walking around with a gun out of paranoia and hes just trying to get more money to
survive. Once again, Nas contradicts himself, but transitioning from fantasy to
reality almost instantly (Gasteier 60).
Illmatic is a legendary album from a legendary artist. Packed with
intense lyrics and unique stories, each song was like a movie when you listen
closely. Nas even described the album as a reality storybook as if it were not just
words, but drawings; and not just made up stories, but almost nonfiction accounts
of the street lifestyle. Illmatic can serve as a primary source in the depiction of
Queensbridge, New York since Nas was able to incorporate all his surroundings at
the time and make an album that encompassed all elements of his environment into
one. Not only does the listener learn about QB, they are able to learn about the
mind of an adolescent black male. From living in fantasy to snapping back to reality
or believing life is worthless to living for tomorrow, Nas displays it all and shows the
mind is not always consistent, even ones beliefs change at random. Nas was simply
able to display his amazing ability on his much hyped debut album. Despite its
status as a classical album, many ask me how I can even relate to Nas and why I
even listen to rap in the first place. This is a very fair question considering I have
always lived in peaceful neighborhoods with minimal violence and come from a
middle class family. In general, rap is said to target African Americans since the
artist themselves rap about their lives and they are mostly black, just like Nas and
his reflection of his life through Illmatic. However, Illmatic can appeal to other

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demographics just for its pure artistry. Listening to the way Nas is able to flow over
these smooth beats is very pleasing to the ear. Never does Nas seem to struggle to
find the right word or sound forced. He always sounds smooth and keeps an
excellent pace. Listening to the different clever similes and metaphors makes the
album very entertaining as well as educational as Nas incorporates different
subjects which may go unnoticed at times. For example, on the song It Aint Hard
to Tell, Nas shows his interest in Greek mythology as he mentions both Medusa, the
well-known snake haired creature, and shortly after Aesop, the ancient Greek fable
writer. Just listening to the lyrics alone is enough to keep me entertained. However,
deeper than that, Illmatic represents being at rock bottom with no opportunities but
still finding a way out. Nas constantly struggles with this idea as he goes back and
forth between having hope for tomorrow and then not seeing a future. But this
contradiction in thought is something we all go through and can relate to. Nas wants
to be relevant in this world but felt transparent and voiceless while making Illmatic.
The cover of the album features a transparent face of a young Nasir Jones with
Queensbridge in the background. This cover could not be more fitting as it shows
Nas lost in this world without an identity. This can be said of all of us, looking for our
place in this world. And thats what Illmatic represents to me, the finding of ones
identity amidst the chaos that is this world. When you think you have failed with no
place to go, Illmatic reminds you that The World is Yours.

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P a g e | 17

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