Artist: Nas
Title: Illmatic 10th Anniversary Platinum Edition
Label: Columbia/Sony
Year: 1994, 2004

1. The Genisis 

The intro to the album. Nas and AZ are just talking about all these weak rappers and Nas proclaims he’s about to rap about that real shit. Cool intro.

2. N.Y State Of Mind 

Immediatly from the start the beat kicks in a with a nice bassline and a piano melody in the backround. One of Dj Premiers finest beat. Nas kicks into his storytelling mode rapping about how it is in New York. Classic.

3. Life’s A ***** feat. AZ 

Probably my favorite song on the album. AZ is the only guest on the album. The production is really good here. I love the jazzy sound. AZ and Nas spit amazing verses especially AZ. Another classic.

4. The World Is Yours 

I love the beat. Real old school. Pete Rock did a great job with it. He’s also on the chorus but he is not credited. Nas raps about his own feelings and stuff he’s experianced in his life.

5. Halftime 

Another tight joint. Nas’ raps are amazing and well crafted as they match the beat very well. Dope track.

6. Memory Lane 

Another classic beat by Premier. It has a nice gospel feel to it. Nas is once again spitting pure fire. His rhymes are very intelligent and very poetic.

7. One Love 

Q Tip produced this one. The production is pretty tight. Nas is rapping to his friend who is in prison telling him about everything that has happened to him. Great track.

8. One Time For Your Mind 

Good track. The production is nice here. Nas raps about the usual stuff. His experiances in Queensbridge and stuff thats happened to him. One minor problem is that the chorus is a bit dull.

9. Represent 

After the more slow tracks we get “Represent”. The beat kicks off nicely with a tight keyboard melody. Nas raps about violence in the streets and a bit off some street braggadiocio. Classic.

10. It Ain’t Hard To Tell 

A great way to end the best album of all time. The production is nice. Nas’ raps are intellignet and his flow and worldplay are awesome. It remiends you of the days when hip hop wasn’t about bling bling or fast cars.

Illmatic The Album: 5/5. The greatest album of all time. Period.

Disc 2 

1. Life’s A ***** Remix 

I like this remix. It really surprised me. Unlike the jazzy laid back original. This one has a more bouncy club feel to it. But surprisingly it’s still dope. Nice remix. It’s a lot easier for the new fans of hip hop to digest.

2. The World Is Yours Remix 

Another great remix. It can’t touch the orignal but it’s still tight. The piano melody is touching and the soft little sounds in the backround keeo the song moving. One bad thing is that the old scrathes by The large professor are taken out, and thats one of the things that I thought made the original such a classic.

3. One Love Remix 

I like the production here. The flutes in here sound really cool. Nick Fury also has a sped up sample in here which gets a little annoying. He should leave that stuff to the Diplomatic. Anyways, good track

4. It Ain’t Hard To Tell Remix 

Why oh why did we have to have this crap on the album? Nick Fury really messed up the song. It sounds like some Neptunes or Timbaland stuff. Just doesn’t work well with Nas.

5. On The Real 

KRS 1 and Marly Marl drop the beat here. Nice stuff. This song was recorded almost 10 years ago. Nas’ is terrific as usual. Nas raps about the stuff he does best: ghetto life. Great wordplay and flow.

6. Star Wars 

My favorite track on disc 2. I love the beat. The Large Professor drops some more classic shit. It has these really cool video game sounds in it. Nas raps about beef and how we need to keep it on wax and avoid the violence. Dope shit

Disc 2: 4.5 stars

 

Overall: 5 Stars. If you already own Illmatic I still say get it because of the remix’s and new songs on Disc 2. If you don’t have it, it makes it even better. The greatest hip hop album off all time. Illmatic.