(CD) Nas - Stillmatic
In 1999 legendary hip-hop artist Nas released not only 1, but actually 2 albums that were met by harsh criticism and fans accusing the rapper of selling out. In addition to this superstar Jay-Z, who had been under Nas shadow for a long time, took shots at him in the fierce diss song “The Takeover”. People thought Nas career was over, that he wouldn’t be able to rise and save his reputation one more time. Enter Stillmatic in late 2001, the title is a reference to his ’94-debut Illmatic which is the reason Nas is hailed as one of the greatest MC’s of all time. The question is if it can live up to the expectations and bring back his name to the forefront. The answer is yes… and no. Illmatic is viewed as the perfection of a hip-hop record, only containing 10 tracks – all of which stood out and are today considered classic songs. This disc is packed with 14 cuts and starts on a very strong note with the title track that also works as the intro (clocking in at just 2 minutes and only featuring one verse). Ironically this is the best out of the bunch, (since it’s actually one of his career highlights that doesn’t say much about the quality of the rest of the album though) with Nas spitting some of his finest rhymes for a long time. It’s a quick look down memory lane as he states; “They thought I’d make another Illmatic/ but it’s always forward I’m moving, never backwards stupid/ Here’s another classic” over a beautiful production by The Hangmen 3. Next up follows Ether which is a furious replay to Jay-Z starting off with gunshots and a sample of 2pac telling Jay-Z to fuck off. Lyrically Nas destroys this track, it seems that this whole situation brought back Nas to his feet instead of the other way around. More shots are fired at Jay-Z and other people that tried to take his spot on the street-single “Got Yourself A Gun” using the chorus from The Sopranos theme song without actually sampling it. The beat is really bumping and will definitely get your head nodding as Nas puts on the crown; “My first album had no famous guest appearances/ The outcome? I’m crowned the best lyricist”. The album continues in great style by paying homage to Illmatic with Nas reuniting with producers DJ Premier and Large Professor who contributes 2 songs. This is very welcome as the lack of these types of beats has been one of the main complaints about his previous two albums. Here he displays his story-telling abilities on the crazy ill “Rewind” which is a story described in reverse over a 70’s-influenced funky breakbeat. Premier’s contribution “2nd Childhood” is truly one of the greatest songs of Nas entire career, using a portion of “Born to Love” by Peabo Bryson the beat is as funky as it gets. The topic is refusing to grow up and Nas weave together three stories about people from his hood that fits the description (the first verse reflects on his growth from child to man). And in this fashion the album continues for the most part, there’s so much that could be said about every song on this album but the redline through it all is that Nas is proving himself, telling people who lost faith in him to not forget who he is.
For the most part the record succeeds, I say for the most part because unlike Illmatic this isn’t a perfect hip-hop album, on 2-3 songs the production slips up and doesn’t work. This is actually a shame because although you have all those great songs on there you know that it could have been better if he’d just cut these tracks. “Smoking” is lyrically on point but the beat doesn’t say much at all, “Rule” has too much commercial appeal to fit in with the rest of the album and “Every Ghetto” is good but doesn’