Illmatic

Illmatic is an East Coast hip-hop album by Nas, released on April 19, 1994 (see 1994 in music). Illmatic was regarded by some as the touchstone of East Coast hardcore hip-hop, during a period in which West Coast G-funk maintained a virtual monopoly on the mainstream hip-hop scene. With producers like DJ Premier and Pete Rock, Illmatic began its career with advance buzz on the streets. It was among the first rap albums to be given 5 mics from The Source magazine (a prestigious achievement given the magazine?s unquestionable influence within the hip-hop community at the time). Nas and Illmatic compelled mainstream rappers to re-evaluate their rhyme schemes, and brought a focus on lyricism to hip-hop during the funk-induced and beat-orientated G-Funk period. Nas also inspired a revival of the Queensbridge rap scene, which had previously been considered one of the cornerstones of hip-hop during the 1980s, but was otherwise latent during the early 1990s.

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With tracks such as "Life's A Bitch" (featuring rapper AZ in an almost show-stealing verse), "It Ain't Hard To Tell" (which samples Michael Jackson's "Human Nature"), and "One Love" (produced by Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest), Illmatic is widely regarded as a one of the best hip-hop albums in the genre's history.

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A remastered special edition version of Illmatic was issued by Columbia for the LP's tenth anniversary in 2004, with a bonus disc of remixes and previously unreleased tracks. Many respected rappers within the hip-hop community today (both mainstream and underground) acknowledge the huge influence Illmatic had on them, making numerous references towards it.

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East Coast hip-hop: In the early 1990s, two styles of hip hop were popular. West Coast hip-hop was focused in Los Angeles, while East Coast hip-hop was based out of New York City. During the 80s, New York was the center of hip hop, which had achieved only limited mainstream success. Artists like Kurtis Blow, LL Cool...

Nas: Nas or NAS can refer to multiple things:...

1994: 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family....