XXL: Nas Illmatic, 15 Years Later

thomasv · Post by **thomasv** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:50 pm

http://philaflava.blogspot.com/2009/02/ ... later.html

Yesterday, after copping the issue, I immediately skipped to the "Illmatic" article. I was stunned by seeing these old hi-res '94 pictures of Nas; there's a picture of Premier, Large Pro, Faith, Nas, Q-Tip, & L.E.S in the studio. I would like to thanks Timmotep Aku, Carl Chery, Clover Hope, Rob Markman, Starrene Rhett, Anslem Samuel for taking a trip down to memory lane and compiling a classic article on a perfect album. Below are all the representers who each took their time to talk on the making-of of their incredible work on the track which they appeared on. This isn't something that you've seen before, you will learn a lot of new trivia... Below that is the scan of the article.

Representers
Nas
Jungle
Faith Newman-Orbach(Executive Producer)

MC Serch
DJ Premier
Large Professor
L.E.S.
AZ
Olu Dara
Pete Rock
T La Rock
Busta Rhymes
Grand Wizard
Q-Tip

Download 9-Pages Scan: http://sharebee.com/7dbc71e7

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:14 pm

Gonna buy this once I see it in stores. I was at Targer earlier and actually looked for this. Nice post.

Jaz · Post by **Jaz** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:31 pm

I am going to look for this, but we might not get it for a while down here, not sure though, that photo is dope.

jazztomovethatass · Post by **jazztomovethatass** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:39 pm

pondered on picking this up (yes, we have xxl in denmark), but magazines aint what they used to be in general, so this is more or less sent from above. thank you kindly thomasv.

thomasv · Post by **thomasv** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:43 pm

Philaflava wrote:Gonna buy this once I see it in stores. I was at Targer earlier and actually looked for this. Nice post.

Yeah, they didn't have XXL at the Target close to my house. I got mines at Ralph...

About the issue, there's a back to the lab review of Mad Skillz"From Where" and interview with Busta Rhymes that I haven't read yet but It looks like he's talking "Native Tongues"...

vincentlopez · Post by **vincentlopez** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:22 am

Much appreciated!

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:51 pm

I'd like to take the time-out and say fuck XXL. I was gonna buy the magazine for the first time in over 3-4 years but when I went to pick it up I noticed Nas isn't even on the cover. Then I noticed the magazine was cut in half and is now $5. Fuck that shit, The T.R.O.Y. blog saved me $5. YES!

cairokid · Post by **cairokid** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:15 am

Good read, thanks for posting.

I'd love to hear a version of "Life's a Bitch" over "Juicy Fruit". How long before someone mixes that up? Would that even sound right, constructed as we know it now?

DJ Crimson · Post by **DJ Crimson** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:01 am

Jaz · Post by **Jaz** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:35 am

http://djpremierblog.blogspot.com/2009/ ... rsary.html

I don't think the Jaz here is me, I didn't send anybody the link, thomasv is the one that should be thanked.

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:48 am

DJ Crimson wrote:Isn't there a book coming out soon that will also go into details of the making of Illmatic? Definitely going to pick that up when it comes out.

There's a book by Michael Eric Dyson on Illmatic, and another one by some no-name to be published as part of Continuum's 33 and A Third Series, that are both supposed to drop this year. Both will fall short, in my prediction.

Tim Burton · Post by **Tim Burton** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:19 pm

I read the 33 1/3 book on A Tribe Called Quest's frist album and it was good but not great. I really hope one of those books does illmatic justice. It's such an amazing album and I would love to have a book that would be just as good.

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:43 pm

Tim Burton wrote:I read the 33 1/3 book on A Tribe Called Quest's frist album and it was good but not great. I really hope one of those books does illmatic justice. It's such an amazing album and I would love to have a book that would be just as good.

I agree and I'm working on a post about the things I hope get covered in these books (though i doubt they will).