“Before that, when I started doing music, there wasn’t a concept of, ‘I could work on a Public Enemy album,’ or an Ice Cube album, or A Tribe Called Quest, or Gang Starr. His song MAGIC Albumis already causing stirs in the streets leaving people in awe of his wordsmith powers. “I always joke with Nas and tell him it’s his fault, that Illmatic caused a problem,” said No I.D. Nas & Hit-Boy has gotten his fans on the edge of their seats with this party thriller. Last year when I spoke to No I.D., the main producer behind Nas' well-received Life Is Good, about how hip-hop has gone astray, he pointed to Illmatic as well.
But as great as “Nas Is Like” is, wouldn’t you trade it in a heartbeat to get a full LP from the dynamic duo? Rather than Primo and Nasty getting down to make a classic LP, Premier could bless Nasir with “Nas Is Like,” Nas could make it a single, and it would be all good. This also meant that producers weren’t tied to artists anymore.Įvery producer from The Neptunes to Timbaland to even DJ Premier was able to use this to their advantage, and started slinging hot beats to whomever had a paycheck. And like a film that has a different director for every scene, albums became unfocused affairs. Next thing you knew, rap albums started having a different producer for every song. Every song on Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was produced by RZA.
Every song on The Chronic was produced by Dr. Every song on The Low End Theory was produced (or at least co-produced) by A Tribe Called Quest. Take a look at the production credits of the classic rap albums immediately preceding Illmatic and you’ll see the same trend. Who produced It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back? The Bomb Squad.
Think about all the classic rap albums from the ‘80s: Who produced License To Ill? Rick Rubin and The Beastie Boys. That lead to an overall decline in the cohesion and quality of rap albums and ushered in the era of superproducers.īefore Illmatic came out, rap albums were created the same way albums across all genres are created: With one artist or group and one producer (sometimes a team) who create a singular vision. Illmatic did have one terrible lasting impact: It gave rise to the idea that rap albums would be better served with multiple producers. It set the gold standard for every album after it. It’s probably the greatest rap album of all time. Written by Insanul Ahmed ( and foremost, no one is saying that Nas' Illmatic is in any way, shape, or form wack. One of the greatest rap albums ever had an unintended consequence.