It Ain't Hard To Tell

This April marks the 15th anniversary of the release of Nas's seminal Illmatic. The 34-year-old son of Queensbridge was a babyfaced 20 years young when the record came out. Suffice it to say, anyone who knows this blogger, knows that I've been nursing a major crush ever since. Nasir Jones is the quiet boy in your third grade class who wrote your initials just above his, with a "+" sign in between, and left it in your book bag for you to find. He's that guy with his New Era Yankees cap cocked just so, who walked you halfway home, holding your umbrella above your heads and unfurling his brilliance along the way. There's a reason rap devotees called "God's Son" a prophet. Okay, maybe the messianic language was overblown, but regardless of what issue you might take with his flow or track record, no one in the game can more densely pack metaphors, similes, Five Percenter lore, egyptian history, street knowledge... into 16 bars. In hip hop, there's really no map anymore, we don't live and die by coasts, pledge our allegiances by borough. And it's been years since New York had the market on "real" hip hop, but if you can remember the first time you heard "The World Is Yours," it's hard not to get that old feeling. It's a "New York State of Mind."