Nas: Time Is Illmatic (Trailer)

Twenty years after the release of Nas’s groundbreaking debut album ‘Illmatic,’ NAS: TIME IS ILLMATIC takes us into the heart of his creative process. Returning to his childhood home in Queensbridge, Nas shares stories of his upbringing, his influences — from the music of his jazz musician father Olu Dara to the burgeoning hip-hop scene in New York City — and the obstacles he faced before his major label signing at age 20. Featuring interviews with his ‘Illmatic’ producers (Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and DJ Premier) and musical peers (including Pharrell Williams and Alicia Keys), NAS: TIME IS ILLMATIC is a thrilling account of Nas’s evolution from a young street poet to a visionary MC.

Nas – ‘Time Is Illmatic’ (Trailer)

Twenty years after the release of Nass groundbreaking debut album Illmatic, NAS: TIME IS ILLMATIC takes us into the heart of his creative process. Returning to his childhood home in Queensbridge, Nas shares stories of his upbringing, his influences from the music of his jazz musician father Olu Dara to the burgeoning hip-hop scene in New York City and the obstacles he faced before his major label signing at age 20.

Featuring interviews with his Illmatic producers Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and DJ Premier and musical peers including Pharrell Williams and Alicia Keys, NAS: TIME IS ILLMATIC is a thrilling account of Nass evolution from a young street poet to a visionary MC.FacebookTwitterDirector One9 Writers Erik Parker Actors Nas, Alicia Keys, Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beatz, Q-Tip, Pharrell Williams Genre Documentary Run Time 1 hour 14 minutes Copyright to Production company

Nas – Represent (Video)

Nas’ debut, “Illmatic,” dropped when I was 10 years old. I wasn’t old enough to REALLY appreciate music yet, so that album flew right over my head and I didn’t really appreciate it until I was in high school. During my high school years, the DJ Premier produced “Represent” was DEFINITELY one of my favorites off the album. 20 years later, it FINALLY has a video.

Nas to Release ‘The Lost Tapes 2′ On Mass Appeal Records (News)

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Nas is planning to release The Lost Tapes 2 later this year on the newly-formed Mass Appeal Records once his contract with Def Jam expires.

“I’m excited to be a part of creating and supporting future careers and legacy artists, promoting love and finding new genius to help the world,” Nas said in an email. “I’m going to be as involved as I need to be, but I also want to be respectful of the art and give artists the space they need to grow and become themselves.”

 

 

[MissInfo]

Nas Performs At Belasco In DTLA, Sounds By Justin Credible (Video)

I had the honor to DJ for a sold out Belasco crowd, for one of the best of all time a legend Nas! 20 years since his first album #ILLMATIC dropped and he’s still driving the culture. Nas performed ”Hate Me Now”, “If I Ruled The World”, and “Made You Look,” DTLA was on fire for Esco!

NAHRIGHT & UPNORTHTRIPS Present: #Illmatic20 Tribute (Mixtape)

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NAHRIGHT & UPNORTHTRIPS put together a pretty dope tribute tape for the 20 year anniversary of Illmatic over the weekend. Everything is below.

Twenty years ago today, a 20 year-old kid from the Queensbridge projects released what now stands as one of the most important albums in Hip-Hop history. An instant classic, Illmatic would be studied and celebrated over the next two decades, held aloft as the standard for everything Rap music was and had the potential to be. It’s one of the most flawless bodies of work ever recorded, in any genre, and it is widely recognized as the defining work of an entire era of Rap. The impact of this 10 track masterpiece is almost immeasurable, yet you can still hear it bleeding through in the bars of artists the world over to this very day.

And so we wanted to pay tribute to this remarkable record in a manner befitting a piece of art that has meant so much to all of us and to so many others for so long. We reached out to the new generation of New York MCs and asked them to join us in paying homage to Nas and his magnum opus over the same timeless tracks that underscored his historic bars back in 1994 (plus a few of the remixes). Needless to say, if you were born or raised in the boroughs, Nas’ music has touched you in one way or another, and an amazingly talented array of artists stepped up to honor Esco.

Featuring contributions from Al-Doe, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Troy Ave, Bodega Bamz, YC The Cynic, Denzil Porter, Smoke DZA, Doley Bernays, Timeless Truth, Euro League, Pete from Bitches Is Crazy, The Incomparable Shakespeare and SHIRT, this project is as much a showcase of the homegrown talent that has been reinvigorating the NY Rap scene over the last couple of years as it is a thank you letter to Nasir Jones. And really, what higher praise is there than that which comes from a generation of artists that cite you as a direct influence?

Nas x L.A. Leakers – Skillmatic (Mixtape)

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Tomorrow is the 20 year anniversary of possibly the BEST Hip-Hop album (depending who you ask) EVER recorded, Illmatic. With that, we wanted to re-release a tape we did with Nas back in 2008, before we were the “L.A. Leakers,” before we had Twitter or Instagram, and before we had any sense of what a good intro sounded like…. Haha! This was what first gave us the idea to do our audio-biographies that we do. We didn’t fully have the idea down yet, but going back and listening made us want to know stories more in detail and that’s when we did our first REAL audio-biography. Pass this along to all the Nas fans you know, they’ll enjoy it for sure. Congrats to Nas on 20 years! By the way, if you got a hard copy of this, you’re a SUPER O.G.

Download: Nas x L.A. Leakers – Skillmatic

Nas Premieres “Time Is Illmatic” Documentary (Video)

The 13th annual Tribeca Film Festival kicked off last night at the Beacon Theatre with the premiere of the Nas documentary, Time Is Illmatic. Festival co-founder and Oscar winner Robert De Niro introduced the film and admitted he was 20 years too removed to listen to hip-hop.

After premiering the documentary, Nas hit the stage and performed Illmatic in its entirety. Illmatic XX in stores now.

[RapRadar]

Nas Reflects On 20 Years Of ‘Illmatic’ On HuffPost Live (Video)

Nas stopped by “HuffPost Live” last night he reminisced on the 20th anniversary of his seminal debut Illmatic and his legacy.

“I knew that it would be an important album at the time,” he said of his groundbreaking debut, “but I just thought at the time and maybe five years from there, but not this far.”

He touched on his relationship with Biggie (“I miss him today because he was a class act”), his rivalry with Tupac (“I had way too much respect for Tupac. He was a god”), and his original idea to put Maxwell instead of Ginuwine on “You Owe Me.”

On Saturday, Nas brought out his former rival Jay Z during his Coachella set. He laughed while looking back on their infamous feud.

“It was something that had to be done at the time, but great things came out of it,” Nas said of their beef. “Hip-hop changed after it and it became all battle. It was like a rebirth of hip-hop.”

[RapUp]

DJ Premier On Nas’ “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)” (Video)

We had a chance to get in the studio with DJ Premier to work on a new audio-biography, Leaks That Collected Dust. It will be available for download on 05/12/14. If you’ve never heard any of our audio-biographies, you can check some of them out HERE. With the 20 year anniversary of NasIllmatic being this week, we felt it was only right to release this video first, DJ Premier talked to us on the making of “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)”.