Here’s what’s really crazy about that first verse. DJ Premier said in a documentary that NAS wrote that verse and then dropped it in the booth on the first take- when he said “I don’t even know how to start this shit” , they intentionally kept that in the master track and NAS said that live- then dropped 37 flawless bars in one take!! G.O.A.T!!!
They didn't even notice the line that got one of the biggest reactions back in the day 'Smooth criminal in beat breaks, never put me in your box if the shit eats tapes'. Just an amazing album.
Illmatic is often cited as the greatest rap album of all time. It’s a landmark album that changed the entire genre as well as Nas’ debut solo album. No skips, every song is a classic. Personal opinion, Illmatic and 36 Chambers are the greatest debut rap albums ever.
They haven't a qlue what a tape is. Or what it's doing in a box. Definitely don't get why it would be eaten. Also, typing this made me feel old as shit.
Nas is one of MANY examples in hip hop of why older gods/ classic men say the new rap is not good. None of the ppl in today's generation are THAT 🔥🔥🔥 (let alone even close) at his age when he did that.
I came up during the same tim e in NAS in NYC & I felt everyone in NY felt those rhymes the way you guys did for the first time. A true legend in NY. My favorite artist ever….
I'm also from NY, and was 14 when Illmatic dropped. I still remember the exact moment hearing it for the first time. One of my older friends just bought his first [used] car, and pulled up where some other friends and I were hanging out. The beginning of NY State of Mind was playing on the car speakers, and I could hear it through the open windows. That beat hit me like a bolt of lightning, and when the first verse started, I was speechless. I bought the album the next day and have been listening to it ever since.
yeah Nas forces you to put yourself in the song, his storytelling is next level. u can see NYC when Nas does his lyrical magic, amazing lyricist, the best
Greatest rap album of all time. He released it when he was 20, but wrote most of it between the age of 16 and19. Crazy he was that great when he was just 16 years old. Nobody can touch him really. Nothing but bars.
Ya'll finally reacting to Nas again, lets go! Illmatic might just be the greatest pure hip hop album of all time, definitely top 5. Nas is in my top 3 as well... you can't fuck with how poetic he is... yet still street... you want an all time great Nas song... i got the stash... start by peeping the song "Nas Is Like"... the beat has that bounce and the lyrics are INSANE! Love yalls reactions.
This album is so great that they say Nas literally helped to build the rap game of what it is today. That's why Cole said: "Pac was like Jesus, Nas wrote the Bible"🔥🔥 yall gotta listen to "Rewind", "N.Y. State of Mind Pt. 2", "If Heaven Was A Mile Away" and "One Mic"‼‼🔥🔥
Wasn’t nothing like this in 1994 when it came out. There was G Rap, KRS, Rakim and BDK, but Nas took some of the best attributes from them and implemented them into his own style. This blew everyone’s mind back then.
@@oldlobo5654 Wu and more to the point Rae & Ghost painted similar crime/grimey portraits, but this was after Nas built on what the likes of Kool G and Rakim Allah had set up for him. Not saying Wu didn't explode on to the scene and shake the entire sh1t up, but they were in different lanes stylistically, Nas having that poetic playwright's vision.
This is arguably Nas's best song imo...It's like a movie with the way he tells the story and the beat compliments it so well. He started writing this album when he was 17 and it dropped when he was 22. "The smooth criminal on beat breaks, never put me in ya box if ya shit eats tapes" such a cold line
Shootouts from It Was Written is another wild story - "Yo, release what's in me, besides the Henny, it's eyes that seen plenty, fiends get skinny as if queens was a Craig Jenny." IMO hardest opening verse on any Nas song, and I don't say that lightly lmao
Best part of this song is when he comes out of the chorus talking about his dream and then the beats kicks back in with the verse "but just a nigga" like he woke up. It hits on so many different levels. Its the first thing he thinks when he wakes up. Like in his dream he had money and stocks winning gun fights and when he woke up he didnt miss any of that. He didnt say "now im broke" he says "but just a nigga" powerful message about what his state of mind was at that time.
You youngstas just keep digging on your Roots! All the true info is out there, and y'all are NEVER too old or too young to learn! Learning stops when you're dead!!! ✊🏿💯
Illmatic is easily, above reproach, one of the crown jewels of the golden hip hop era. That whole album has stood the test of time, and will continue to.
I'm a white boy from Europe who grew up on west coast hiphop ; but there's a reason why i have this Vinyl hanging on my wall Framed and still in the plastic. dude is on another fucking level with Illmatic, im gonna see him live this year in Belgium and i cant wait ; Nas the greatest living MC at this point
This is why nas is my favorite rapper, story telling is impeccable, lyrical mastermind. Older Em stuff you can catch the nas influence. Illmatic herald as one of the all time classics
Wow, you brothers are so young. Listening to you brothers talk about Nas is like listening to a infants first words saying daddy. And daddy is like woooooow he spoke for the first time and he said my name. Virgin ears all over again to hearing someone speak that didn't until it was time. Peace to God's and the Earth's. NYC all day young Son's.
I'm glad to see y'all finally delved into NAS classics.....NAS IS THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME🙌.....GOAT.....Illmatic got 5 mics in top hip hop magazine at the time this album dropped..... Source Magazine.... Whole album CLASSIC........Y'all should react to "Take It In Blood" or "I Gave You Power" off his 2nd album called It Was Written.....NAS has an index of straight CLASSICS🔥
Nas is also one of my favorite lyricists/emcees and story tellers - Illmatic, Stillmatic and The Lost Tapes are my favorite albums. Rewind (from Stillmatic) is the one where he is telling the story backwards - it is FIRE. Also recommend Bridging the Gap and I Gave You Power, One Mic, Made You Look (the original song and remix go hard). He has so many bangers.
This song in itself has more lyrical clout than any song dropped from the early 2000s to now... Late 80s, 90s and a small part of 2000s hip hop & rap are a another level un to themselves and where music has gone to today is sad.
That year we alot of emcees blew up. Nas, Common, OC, Biggie, Wutang, Redman, Lord's of the Underground, Onyx, Jay Z, Craig Mac, Snoop and so many more. So many great memories
There's a reason this 17yr old kid from Queensbridge projects had all the top producers in NY practically begging to produce for his album. This is one of those albums that I wish I could experience listening to for the first time again. Another one is Raekwon & Ghostface Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx
Nas should be #1 or #2 . And this is coming from someone who been listening to Hip hop even before Nas started Rapping. ( 1985) we're talking about PURE HIP HOP here, the essence of the culture. No trap music. Melody rap or mumble rap. This is not about Bias ( I like this rapper , that's why he's the #1 stuff) NO ONE. I mean NO ONE Can compare to Nas when it comes to HIP HOP. Jay z idolize Nas. 2pac was a Fan of Nas. By the way when he was gunned down. IT WAS WRITTEN was the album he was listening to. He also copied Nas track I GAVE YOU POWER and made a song out of that track. ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND. Even J Cole idolize Nas , Nas catalog is too much to handle for any Rapper in history. Illmatic, it was written, Stillmatic, Magic, , I am....God's son, Life is Good , King's Deceased 2 , and 1 etc. Too many CLASSIC ALBUMS. Then his flow ,Lyrics, creativity, punchlines, metaphors, who the fuck can come out with tracks like ..I GAVE YOU POWER, REWIND, UNDYING LOVE, etc.etc.etc... I had to recognize and accept the fact that he's In Michael Jordan Level, when it comes to HIP HOP. hip-hop-music.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_rappers_considered_the_best
This track is so good. Nas is actually reminiscing and thinking about what he grew up in. The last verse he ends saying "i never sleep cos sleep is the cousin of death, i lay puzzeld as a I back track to earlier times, nothings equivalent to the new york state of mind." Contratsed with the first verse ending in him saying "i never sleep cos sleep is the cousin if death, beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined, i think if crime when i'm in the new york state of mind." Mans a genius
5:38 Nvr put me in ur box if ya shit eats tapes 🔥 (boom boxes used to unwind the tapes and outta the cassette. We had to use pencils or something to wind em back up. Only OGs will get that bar)
The smooth criminal on beat breaks, never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes. This line has always stuck with me. I lost my laugh attack tape to a janky Casio bitd. Also, that "I can see why the old heads like it" hurt me lol
I agree .... I think when young ppl review this song that line goes over their heads because they'll never know the frustration of a cassette player eating the tape and having use a pencil to role it back up
6:07 - This is the one thing I'll disagree on "No crazy beat". I guess you could call DJ Premier's style more "simple", but Premier (along with Dr. Dre) are my favorite beat makers of all time. I love almost everything DJ Premier put out.
I still come back to this video and laugh. I’m 💯 sure these young men don’t even know what the line “never put me in your box if the shit eats tapes” even means. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣 God I’m old…. But for all the old cats like me- you remember how pissed you got when your cassette tape got all fucked up in a boom box. 🤣
I still specifically remember hearing this for the 1st time in '94. My older cousin played it for me in the tape deck of his Toyota Tercel. My pre-adolescent mind EXPLODED!
Man when I heard Illmatic at that time it was like a whole different genre of rap. He sounded nothing like the rest of rappers. Nas been my favorite rapper from the first time I heard him. It's good to see yall recognize him.
It's deeply upsetting to think there are lots of people who think Nas means "lil Nas" and not the actual Nas, the man who singlehandedly changed hiphop with this album, Illmatic, widely regarded as the greatest hip hop album of all time. It's New York hip hop at its purest and most cinematic. And of course the production by Large Professor, Pete Rock et al is amazing.
@@Anchor7 lol me too, i was so far removed from being able to do anything like write a seminal hip hop classic at 19 lol, i could barely tie my own shoe laces hahaha... Nas is a goat
Illmatic is so good that scholars have studied it and it will forever be remembered as not only one of the greatest hip-hop records of all time, but also one of the best albums ever made full stop. Nas might have insisted that “Life's a bitch and then you die”, but his legacy will always live on through Illmatic. Illmatic has been highly regarded by most fans as “The Hip Hop Gospel” & “The Greatest Hip Hop Album Ever.” It's critical acclaim of The Source Magazine's “5 Mics” rating became the bar that many rappers aspired to achieve, regardless of how the album sold.
This channel is like a bunch of your homies being in a coma for 20 years and seeing their reactions to all the music they missed 😂 dopest channel
Lol🤣😂
They have heard it it it’s just for reaction
You encapsulated this perfectly. 😂
AGREED😂❤️🔥
Facts
Here’s what’s really crazy about that first verse. DJ Premier said in a documentary that NAS wrote that verse and then dropped it in the booth on the first take- when he said “I don’t even know how to start this shit” , they intentionally kept that in the master track and NAS said that live- then dropped 37 flawless bars in one take!! G.O.A.T!!!
True story. It's also why this is an untouchable hip hop masterpiece. Like a he was possessed at 19. No one has come close at that age.
@Connorshark 😎✌🏻
if you want live perfomance, it is better to practise one-take whole song. genius
To think he wrote this song when he was only 17 is just crazy...
Lyrical genius
19*
@@jussdag4407 Actually he started writing Illmatic when he was 16 but released it when he was 20
It's not as crazy as you think. We were poets, writing the deepest shit since we was like 8.
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
@@empirestate7122 just cause it's the norm dosent mean it isn't impressive.
They didn't even notice the line that got one of the biggest reactions back in the day 'Smooth criminal in beat breaks, never put me in your box if the shit eats tapes'. Just an amazing album.
I peep the nonreaction too lol. This technology
@@ericmata3728 even my young 20 year old ass peeped that as a certified bar. That shit gave me goosebumps first time I heard it lol
lol yea I paused it to say something about that,; not surprised you already commented on it... one of my favorite bars right there...
Yea technology was lost on them
They too young 🌱 that's why they still listen to Eminem lol 😆
Illmatic is often cited as the greatest rap album of all time. It’s a landmark album that changed the entire genre as well as Nas’ debut solo album. No skips, every song is a classic. Personal opinion, Illmatic and 36 Chambers are the greatest debut rap albums ever.
Yeesss as!!! Wutang is My all-time absolute favorite!!!
Gotta add Get Rich or Die Trying, Ready to Die and College Dropout to that list imo
I'm going to sound crazy but i actually like Nas second album a lil more
@@chrisisslickAgree 100% DMX 'dark and hell is hot'. Raekwon 'only build 4 Cuban linx'. Dre 'The Chronic' Snoop 'Doggystyle'. Pun 'endangered species'
@@chrisisslick nope
The looks on these 5 Brothers faces as they discover this work of art is everything
100 . put a smile on my face. they getting to feel that feeling on a small level of what it felt like for us back then.
Play that whole album from start to finish on repeat!!
I second this...its my personal #1 album of all time of any genre. I love illmatic way to much
Just skip One Time 4 Your Mind
For real tho, but why skip one time for you're mind
@@jimmiecurrier9384 cus that song whack
@@tonylouis6072 you are crazy!!! Every song is fire
“never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes” that line went right over their head 😂
Damn I feel old. I still got my boom box
They haven't a qlue what a tape is. Or what it's doing in a box. Definitely don't get why it would be eaten. Also, typing this made me feel old as shit.
My mom said If that happened people would throw the tape out of their car and it would go all over the highway
@@jasegudat9590same here I used to turn them back with a pencil. I'm 33 Yo
@@FranJav507 the pencil was always the go too.
Nas is ridiculous! Lyrical genius
Facts he’s my number 2
Fact.
@@MikeJonesdaSecond87 On the same boat
@@MikeJonesdaSecond87 my number 3
@@justingoland1884 nothing wrong with that 💪🏽
I was a freshman in highschool when this came out and just blew everyone away. The 90s really was the golden era of hip hop.
Damn 9th grade 1994 give me your take on that summer.
Nas is one of MANY examples in hip hop of why older gods/ classic men say the new rap is not good. None of the ppl in today's generation are THAT 🔥🔥🔥 (let alone even close) at his age when he did that.
I'm in high school and I'm so glad Nas still drops music
Definitely need to do more Nas! Another great one off this infinite classic is "Life's A Bitch" Feat. AZ.
That was the first song I heard on that album in "93" in ninth grade!!!! Changed my life
That's My S*** 💯🔥🔥🔥
another underrated nas song with az is "mo money mo problems mo homicide"
Lifes a bitch and then you die, that why we get high
Classic
I came up during the same tim e in NAS in NYC & I felt everyone in NY felt those rhymes the way you guys did for the first time. A true legend in NY. My favorite artist ever….
I'm also from NY, and was 14 when Illmatic dropped. I still remember the exact moment hearing it for the first time. One of my older friends just bought his first [used] car, and pulled up where some other friends and I were hanging out. The beginning of NY State of Mind was playing on the car speakers, and I could hear it through the open windows. That beat hit me like a bolt of lightning, and when the first verse started, I was speechless. I bought the album the next day and have been listening to it ever since.
yeah Nas forces you to put yourself in the song, his storytelling is next level. u can see NYC when Nas does his lyrical magic, amazing lyricist, the best
Nas snaps on so many songs. Glad you guys are peepin him
Nas will forever be my favorite rapper because his bars and story telling places you right there in the scene.. he’s unmatched in that area.
Greatest rap album of all time. He released it when he was 20, but wrote most of it between the age of 16 and19. Crazy he was that great when he was just 16 years old. Nobody can touch him really. Nothing but bars.
it was written is better lyrically
Illmatic is one of the greatest albums beginning to end ever. No filler. Every song hit the mark. Blew my mind when it came out.
Ya'll finally reacting to Nas again, lets go! Illmatic might just be the greatest pure hip hop album of all time, definitely top 5. Nas is in my top 3 as well... you can't fuck with how poetic he is... yet still street... you want an all time great Nas song... i got the stash... start by peeping the song "Nas Is Like"... the beat has that bounce and the lyrics are INSANE! Love yalls reactions.
A poor man's dream, a thug poet. GOAT
Stop disrespecting my man. Nas is the goat by far
Nas has always been straight 🔥"I never sleep because sleep is the cousin of death" still one of the most unforgettable lines.
This album is so great that they say Nas literally helped to build the rap game of what it is today. That's why Cole said: "Pac was like Jesus, Nas wrote the Bible"🔥🔥 yall gotta listen to "Rewind", "N.Y. State of Mind Pt. 2", "If Heaven Was A Mile Away" and "One Mic"‼‼🔥🔥
It’s just heaven but yes love that song add purple on there as well
And Rakim was god but I think nas is more like Jesus tho imo
i said same thing
@@ArtoverCrackCloudsNah Tupac is more influential and is more popular and Nas is a lyrical mastermind so it makes more sense
@@bigcurry420nas is a better rapper as a whole Pac is more internationally known
Best rap album ever. I just bought the vinyl the other day.
First verse was recorded in one take - Nas my GOAT
Much love for rockin this classic! What's crazy is dude was 19 when this came out
Wasn’t nothing like this in 1994 when it came out. There was G Rap, KRS, Rakim and BDK, but Nas took some of the best attributes from them and implemented them into his own style. This blew everyone’s mind back then.
I respectfully disagree. Wu-tang and Black Moon came out just before this. illmatic just solidified the sound
This
@@oldlobo5654 Wu and more to the point Rae & Ghost painted similar crime/grimey portraits, but this was after Nas built on what the likes of Kool G and Rakim Allah had set up for him.
Not saying Wu didn't explode on to the scene and shake the entire sh1t up, but they were in different lanes stylistically, Nas having that poetic playwright's vision.
@@thetrickisirarelyrespond5945That all being said "Verbal Intercourse" classic
Rakim is god
This is arguably Nas's best song imo...It's like a movie with the way he tells the story and the beat compliments it so well. He started writing this album when he was 17 and it dropped when he was 22. "The smooth criminal on beat breaks, never put me in ya box if ya shit eats tapes" such a cold line
IMO...ONE LOVE was his best....if not, top 5 🔥
undying love is also one of the greatest storytelling songs.
I thought it dropped when he was 20?
Listen to the whole album. Then listen to ‘Rewind’ and ‘I Gave You Power’ if you want some of the best storytelling rap songs of all time
Also they need to react to Street Dreams
Shootouts from It Was Written is another wild story - "Yo, release what's in me, besides the Henny, it's eyes that seen plenty, fiends get skinny as if queens was a Craig Jenny." IMO hardest opening verse on any Nas song, and I don't say that lightly lmao
And Undying Love!
Take It In Blood, The Set Up and Get Down are a few of my favorites
I gave you power is one of my favorites
Best part of this song is when he comes out of the chorus talking about his dream and then the beats kicks back in with the verse "but just a nigga" like he woke up. It hits on so many different levels. Its the first thing he thinks when he wakes up. Like in his dream he had money and stocks winning gun fights and when he woke up he didnt miss any of that. He didnt say "now im broke" he says "but just a nigga" powerful message about what his state of mind was at that time.
It's funny when this came out, I was their age. Now, I'm the old man still enjoying Nas like it's the early 90's. Enjoy your youth.
We were as blown away as you are now when these albums came out in the 90's.
I Gave You Power Nas 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 it's gonna f*** ya head up it's one of greatest songs ever no cap💯💯💯
Only one of em since 4 of 5 miss the bars lmao
Yes they have to do that song
Tell em!
@@FilldaAgony yesssss bro💯💯
@@chrisisslick 💯💯💯💪🏿
You youngstas just keep digging on your Roots! All the true info is out there, and y'all are NEVER too old or too young to learn! Learning stops when you're dead!!! ✊🏿💯
Young people don’t sleep on Nas. One of the best lyricists of all time. Got better what time!
When Nas raps, I can SMELL the subway,
dirty water dogs and the piss on the corner😂
This is hands down the greatest album of all time
Yep!!! Sure is!!!
Rap for sure. Top in also music history.
This song changed hip hop
How?
@@dimphoshaun8940 niggas be talking out they ass 🤣
@@dimphoshaun8940 stop listening to lil pump
I wish this song changes hip hop again
Big facts
I love to see yung dudes getting they bars up! Proud of ya'll
Illmatic is easily, above reproach, one of the crown jewels of the golden hip hop era. That whole album has stood the test of time, and will continue to.
That beat was and still is insane!
Illmatic is widely considered the greatest hip hop album of all time
Shoutout DJ Premier for this fire track. Classic song. Nasty Nas
I'm a white boy from Europe who grew up on west coast hiphop ; but there's a reason why i have this Vinyl hanging on my wall Framed and still in the plastic. dude is on another fucking level with Illmatic, im gonna see him live this year in Belgium and i cant wait ; Nas the greatest living MC at this point
Your boy is correct: "Rewind" is a legendary song. Also "I gave you power"
Greatest rapper of all time…..timeless music
This is why nas is my favorite rapper, story telling is impeccable, lyrical mastermind. Older Em stuff you can catch the nas influence. Illmatic herald as one of the all time classics
Wow, you brothers are so young. Listening to you brothers talk about Nas is like listening to a infants first words saying daddy. And daddy is like woooooow he spoke for the first time and he said my name. Virgin ears all over again to hearing someone speak that didn't until it was time. Peace to God's and the Earth's. NYC all day young Son's.
If you think this track paints a picture, wait until you hear One Love. Straight poetry from the streets.
Damn...it's hard to believe so much time has passed since this dropped.
I was freshman in college when this came out.
Damn near 30 years...... It's crazy
I'm glad to see y'all finally delved into NAS classics.....NAS IS THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME🙌.....GOAT.....Illmatic got 5 mics in top hip hop magazine at the time this album dropped..... Source Magazine.... Whole album CLASSIC........Y'all should react to "Take It In Blood" or "I Gave You Power" off his 2nd album called It Was Written.....NAS has an index of straight CLASSICS🔥
Nas is also one of my favorite lyricists/emcees and story tellers - Illmatic, Stillmatic and The Lost Tapes are my favorite albums. Rewind (from Stillmatic) is the one where he is telling the story backwards - it is FIRE. Also recommend Bridging the Gap and I Gave You Power, One Mic, Made You Look (the original song and remix go hard). He has so many bangers.
This is a daily listen , nas gos hard ,flow, storytelling. A lyrical genius 👏
This song in itself has more lyrical clout than any song dropped from the early 2000s to now... Late 80s, 90s and a small part of 2000s hip hop & rap are a another level un to themselves and where music has gone to today is sad.
@@jermaineanthony7794 How so?
today isnt bad, listen to lil xan, lil pump, drake, blueface, etc
The whole album is classic!!
That year we alot of emcees blew up. Nas, Common, OC, Biggie, Wutang, Redman, Lord's of the Underground, Onyx, Jay Z, Craig Mac, Snoop and so many more. So many great memories
There's a reason this 17yr old kid from Queensbridge projects had all the top producers in NY practically begging to produce for his album. This is one of those albums that I wish I could experience listening to for the first time again. Another one is Raekwon & Ghostface Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx
From 1:17-2:17…silence and a damn near synchronized head bump to the beat….that’s when you know you’re hearing pure gold. Love it!
Nas should be #1 or #2 . And this is coming from someone who been listening to Hip hop even before Nas started Rapping. ( 1985) we're talking about PURE HIP HOP here, the essence of the culture. No trap music. Melody rap or mumble rap. This is not about Bias ( I like this rapper , that's why he's the #1 stuff) NO ONE. I mean NO ONE Can compare to Nas when it comes to HIP HOP. Jay z idolize Nas. 2pac was a Fan of Nas. By the way when he was gunned down. IT WAS WRITTEN was the album he was listening to. He also copied Nas track I GAVE YOU POWER and made a song out of that track. ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND. Even J Cole idolize Nas ,
Nas catalog is too much to handle for any Rapper in history. Illmatic, it was written, Stillmatic, Magic, , I am....God's son, Life is Good , King's Deceased 2 , and 1 etc. Too many CLASSIC ALBUMS. Then his flow ,Lyrics, creativity, punchlines, metaphors, who the fuck can come out with tracks like ..I GAVE YOU POWER, REWIND, UNDYING LOVE, etc.etc.etc... I had to recognize and accept the fact that he's In Michael Jordan Level, when it comes to HIP HOP.
hip-hop-music.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_rappers_considered_the_best
This track is so good. Nas is actually reminiscing and thinking about what he grew up in. The last verse he ends saying "i never sleep cos sleep is the cousin of death, i lay puzzeld as a I back track to earlier times, nothings equivalent to the new york state of mind." Contratsed with the first verse ending in him saying "i never sleep cos sleep is the cousin if death, beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined, i think if crime when i'm in the new york state of mind." Mans a genius
Do you see This is the standard we judge current rap by.🤷🏾♂️🙏🏿✊🏿 Glad y’all enjoyed it!
@7:40 the song he's referring to is Nas - Rewind of Stillmatic Album. Nas tells a story in reverse.
One of his most iconic songs
Use to listen to this all the time
Happy to see you young dudes show Nas love. It was like witnessing God Flow back then and he still go in as we speak !!!
"Never put me in a box if your shit eats tapes!!". Nas. What an evil line. 👌
5:38 Nvr put me in ur box if ya shit eats tapes 🔥 (boom boxes used to unwind the tapes and outta the cassette. We had to use pencils or something to wind em back up. Only OGs will get that bar)
✏️ 💯!!
The message,not for radio,the truth,everything.
Definitely not pop rap it’s hardcore storytelling hip-hop right here
Thank You Brothers, 👊🏾🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🇳🇬🇺🇸
The smooth criminal on beat breaks, never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes. This line has always stuck with me. I lost my laugh attack tape to a janky Casio bitd. Also, that "I can see why the old heads like it" hurt me lol
I’m w you man I think that may be Nas’ greatest bar ever
I agree .... I think when young ppl review this song that line goes over their heads because they'll never know the frustration of a cassette player eating the tape and having use a pencil to role it back up
Yeah that “old heads” comment hit me lol
Tha best to ever do it. I’ve been buying Nas albums since’95. I just bought KD3 🙏🏿 I’m blessed.
6:07 - This is the one thing I'll disagree on "No crazy beat". I guess you could call DJ Premier's style more "simple", but Premier (along with Dr. Dre) are my favorite beat makers of all time. I love almost everything DJ Premier put out.
I still come back to this video and laugh. I’m 💯 sure these young men don’t even know what the line “never put me in your box if the shit eats tapes” even means. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣 God I’m old….
But for all the old cats like me- you remember how pissed you got when your cassette tape got all fucked up in a boom box. 🤣
I got a pencil for you! Lol. I was just thinking man, they're making me feel old. 😂😂😂
@@YuviDee 💯🤣😂
Yall should do one of these songs. 1 being my first choice:
1. I Gave You Power
2. Shootouts
3. Street Disciple
4. Memory Lane
Illest song ever period his rhythmic lyrical tempo is perfection
0:04 ok that was funny 😆
😂😂
I still specifically remember hearing this for the 1st time in '94. My older cousin played it for me in the tape deck of his Toyota Tercel. My pre-adolescent mind EXPLODED!
probally the greatest album ever
Man when I heard Illmatic at that time it was like a whole different genre of rap. He sounded nothing like the rest of rappers. Nas been my favorite rapper from the first time I heard him. It's good to see yall recognize him.
Definitely do Life's a Bitch off this album. AZ absolutely kills his verse.
bruh, i'm 17 and i've heard this shit like 69 times
It's deeply upsetting to think there are lots of people who think Nas means "lil Nas" and not the actual Nas, the man who singlehandedly changed hiphop with this album, Illmatic, widely regarded as the greatest hip hop album of all time. It's New York hip hop at its purest and most cinematic. And of course the production by Large Professor, Pete Rock et al is amazing.
Premier also produced this, it was a star studded line up of producers, an actual masterpiece
Those producers are absolute legends to me. They had little of the technology available today. You had to put over 20,000 hours to be nearly as good
Soon as that beat starts, the heads nod. You know the song is doing something right when that’s the reaction.
One of the greatest rap songs ever made.
I love to see young heads feeling beats from the Golden Era. ✊🏾
I was in my early teens when this album dropped... times have changed but this is timeless.. it was the sound of NY and LI
you should do undying love or rewind if you want a good story track best story teller in rap
Facts, they would love undying love
Bought this album in Jr. High bro It changed my entire outlook and expectations of lyrics and flow in rap, nas was way ahead of his time.
Nas was like 19 when he wrote this
This is a fact, 19 when he wrote Illmatic, an all time great hip hop album, when you think about it that is nuts
@@RushNZ I think of my 19 year old self, then think of his ability to write illmatic and I laugh. I was just a dumb kid lol
@@Anchor7 lol me too, i was so far removed from being able to do anything like write a seminal hip hop classic at 19 lol, i could barely tie my own shoe laces hahaha... Nas is a goat
Nas is from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. You play this shit in a Brooklyn night club. It's about to get hot up in there.
Nas - Rewind. Dude did a whole song in reverse 🔥🔥
Keep enjoying the music, gents - great to see younger heads enjoying the music of my era 🙌🏼🔥
Illmatic is classic...
Beyond the walls of intelligence life is defined. You can never know enough and what you don’t know confines you more than what you know.
Illmatic is easily the best album ever made in any music genre. Total classic. Not a single wack line in the entire album.
@Jermaine Anthony of course it is. Better than any of that southern garbage in the last 25 years
Seeing this reminds me of my younger self the first time I heard this masterpiece... all tracks were fire on this album!
I know it's not a popular opinion, but I have ALWAYS put Nas better than Hova.
Me 2
Most definitely 💯
Easily Nas> Jay
It's no even close for me, Nas is a much better lyricst. Jay-z just has the pop radio friendly hits.
Plenty of people do. I do too. If we talking rapping and bars and lyrics that shouldn’t be too unpopular at all
Nas and his generation were and are still hard working beast lyrically. They handle the music with seriousness and with honor
Illmatic is so good that scholars have studied it and it will forever be remembered as not only one of the greatest hip-hop records of all time, but also one of the best albums ever made full stop. Nas might have insisted that “Life's a bitch and then you die”, but his legacy will always live on through Illmatic. Illmatic has been highly regarded by most fans as “The Hip Hop Gospel” & “The Greatest Hip Hop Album Ever.” It's critical acclaim of The Source Magazine's “5 Mics” rating became the bar that many rappers aspired to achieve, regardless of how the album sold.
Nas is still dropping great music. He’s put out three albums in the last few years and his track on DJ Premiere’s EP was nuts!
So simple yet so efective. #NYC👑
It’s crazy you guys have never heard it before, but at least your listening and educating yourself now, respect 💯
This album was the blueprint for your Jay's snd your Eminems.
"I don't know how to start this shit"
*drops one of the best rap verses ever*