The 500 - #402 - Illmatic - Nas

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

(On September 14, 2020, Rolling Stone released an updated version of The 500 List. I am sticking with the 2012 edition and, when I get through it, I'll circle back and discuss the new additions to the list.)

Album # 402

Album Title: Illmatic
Artist: Nas
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Jazz Rap
Recorded: Unique Recording Studios, New York City, New York
Released: April, 1994
My age at release: 28
How familiar was I with it before this week: Fairly
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Life's a Bitch

It will likely surprise many who know me, or who have been following my journey through The 500, that I am quite familiar with this record. My taste in music is well documented and "East Coast Hip Hop" is not what most would expect to see under the Jeopardy category: "Things Hodgy Listens To". 

Here's the story: I was an early adopter of the Facebook social media network. My friends are "techie", so we were already on the My Space platform. When Facebook came around in late 2007 we made a quick transition. 

As Facebook gained mainstream popularity, I, like many others, was eager to build my "friend" base and added nearly anyone who asked. Wisely, I did not accept requests from the students in my Grade 8 class. However, less wisely, I agreed to add them post-graduation. I also accepted requests from former students and the parents of any student. Clearly, I hadn't thought this through. Now, my social media world and professional world had been linked, and I had to maintain a "professional teacher presence" at all times. This meant, I had to:

• refrain from commenting on any post that could be considered controversial
• tread lightly when it came to humour and
• remain apolitical (as much as possible).

However, there was one positive. With more than 300 diverse "friends" available for commentary, I could curate a wide range of opinions and ideas when I posed a question about music. Such was the case when, in the summer of 2010, I was preparing for a lengthy road trip (London-Toronto-Ottawa-Albany-Boston-Salem-London) and I posted the following:

"Road Trip Coming Up - Post your favourite song from your favourite album and I'll put it on my playlist."  

I had just purchased my first iPod Touch music player and these were the early days of inexpensive music downloading through iTunes. A world of music was, virtually, at my fingertips.

Responses came in quickly and many were familiar songs already in my collection. Then, I got a direct message (DM) from a brother of a former student -- a person I had never met but, somehow, had been added to my Facebook Friend roster. He wrote..."Anything from Illmatic by Nas. It's the greatest record of all time." 

Over the next few days, we conversed online about the record, hip-hop music and "great records" in general. I agreed to give the album a listen and played it on my computer headphones from YouTube links. At the time, I was working on my Master's Degree, so many weekend days and nights were spent hunched over a keyboard with headphones plugged in.

I didn't like Illmatic at first. Well, I didn't "get it" is probably a better way to contextualize the experience. The lyrics seemed unnecessarily vulgar and the themes appeared to celebrate violence. Then, late one night, the closing section of Life's a Bitch was playing and I found myself lost in the groove and mesmerized by the jazz trumpet that was beautifully layered into the background. The song won me over and I immediately gave it another listen. Slowly, I came around. I wasn't about to put Illmatic in my Top 10, but I was willing to say that I genuinely liked it.

Revisiting this record over the past week has rekindled that flame. This is a terrific album and I better understand the themes Nas was exploring. These are highly personal, first person explorations of the troubled life of an inner-city teenager surrounded by poverty, isolation and the strife created by gang violence. Violence, that Nas managed to minimize through his passion for music.

In 2018, Nas was invited to the Kennedy Centre to perform the entire Illmatic record backed by the National Symphony Orchestra. If you're unfamiliar with East Coast Hip Hop and want an introduction to this terrific record, this performance might be the perfect place to start.

Nas performs Illmatic with the National Symphony Orchestra