A special thanks to guest writer, Jay Quan for this great review. We would also like to thank Wolf Trap for giving allowing us the use of their house photographs.
This year is the 25th anniversary of what is considered a Hip Hop classic by most within the genre. In 1994 “Nasty” Nas was hailed as the second coming of Rakim (a God in the genre himself), and this sentiment was actually immortalized in the Andre Leroy Davis animated Last Word comic section of The Source magazine which was once called the Hip Hop bible.
Sonically, Illmatic was one of the first times in rap music that multiple producers were used on an album. Before IIlmatic Marley Marl, Mantronikor whoever served as the D.J. for the rapper in question would handle production duties for an album.
Nas enlisted DJ. Premiere, Q Tip, L.E.S., Pete Rock and his mentor The Large Professor (of The Main Source) to handle production on the 9-song opus. Lyrically Illmatic combined the celestial wordplay of Rakim with the gritty realities of Nas’ home, the Queensbridge Projects (immortalized almost a decade before Nas’ debut, by Queens Bridge resident M.C. Shan), and created a template for 90s cadence and subject matter.
Nas first appeared on the radar of many hungry Hip Hoppers in 1991 on the posse cut Live At The Barbecuefrom the Main Source debut release Breakin’ Atoms. On Barbecue Nas boldly declared that “when he was 12 he went to hell for snuffin’ Jesus”.
The bold, shocking and confident performance by Nas stole the show, and left fans demanding more. More came in 1991 with the Large Professor produced Half Time from The Zebra Head soundtrack. In 1994, we were blessed with the first single from Illmatic: It Aint Hard To Tell, again produced by The Large Professor. Over a loop of Human Nature by Micheal Jackson and a rugged drum pattern, Nas solidified his greatness and left us eagerly awaiting IIlmatic.
Illmatic is a journey into the mind of the streets disciple. Whether it’s the grim realities in Life’s A Bitch where he shares verses with AZ, or the pure griminess of Represent, Nas paints a vivid picture of NYC crack and street culture. The World Is Yours and One Love put Nas on top of some of the best Jazz based Hip Hop production to date courtesy of Pete Rock & Q Tip respectively.
For Illmatic’s 25th anniversary, Nas is performing the entire Illamtic LP backed by the National Symphony Orchestra. The set opens with a cinematic replaying of the Wild Style Subway Theme from the intro to the Illmatic album. Nas runs through the Gap band inspired “Life’s A Bitch” almost flawlessly. Nas sensors himself these days, mainly where the N word is concerned and that is where the flaw lies. He mostly substitutes the word dude, cat or brother, but at times that section is mute, so it appears that he made a mistake. The self-censorship grows irritating quickly, as Illmatic is riddled with the use of the N word.
The upright bass line of New York State Of Mind lets us know that things are about to get serious, and Nas doesn’t disappoint. Dressed like he just came off of Summer vacation in a Hawaiian short set and white sneakers, Nas effortlessly flows through the DJ Premiere produced classic.
Much of the sonic magic of The World Is Yours is the Ahmad Jamal looped piano line that is the central theme of the song, but it’s replaced here by strings. Even though it’s competently executed, it robs the song of its original rich texture. The omission of the Heath Brothers vibraphone line on One Love is equally disappointing. The orchestra-based performance is an interesting and entertaining musical translation of a full length release that was fully created using samples from vinyl records.
Re playing rap songs by an Orchestra is a lofty and new move, which will likely get better once the move is perfected. It was definitely enjoyable to hear this new translation of the songs, and the fact that Nas had a D.J. actually reenacting all of the scratches kept the hooks sonically authentic.
After Nas performed the 9 songs with the NSO he was left with a drummer, his instrumental tracks and his D.J. The energy level in the auditorium exploded as he ripped through The Message, Nas Is Like, Got Yourself A Gun, Street Dreams, Made You Look, If I Ruled The World, One Mic and I Know I Can.
Once Nas’ self-censorship is tightened up, and the orchestra is able to play renditions of his songs that are musically closer to the originals, the first half of the show will better match the latter half.
All photographs copyright and courtesy of Scott Suchman for Wolf Trap.
