Nas's Illmatic

by Gasteier, Matthew

  Add in the famous drum break that begins Lee Dorsey’s classic “Get Out My Life Woman” and a couple of vocal samples from Biz Markie (“Let me take a trip down memory lane”) and Craig G (“Coming out of Queensbridge”) and the end result is street-level smoothness, bouncy without being poppy. It fits in perfectly with Nas’s stories of days and nights past, reminiscing on park jams and kingpins. No surprise it was “Memory Lane” that was singled out by Shorty in her five-mic review as “my shit.”

  Despite going along with the track, Premier was still not thrilled with the finished song. This led him to the unusual step of remixing his own song.

  Nas heard that beat and wanted it immediately, and he wrote everything right there on the spot and laid it. It just came down to me figuring well, I’ll save these last beats. He liked them, so maybe I can change that later. But he was still down with it, he was like “yo, it’s gotta stay like it is.” He wasn’t letting me slay him on that one. I said, “let me do an alternate version and maybe you could add both to the album as a bonus,” ‘cause the album was so short. But he was never really crazy about that so I was like “alright, fuck it.” So I did it for myself.12

  What’s immediately shocking about the remix is just how different of a song this is. Where the original is smooth and relaxed, the remix is angular and uptight. It’s a hardcore underground hip hop beat—a great one at that—and its creeping guitar is undoubtedly dirtier than the nostalgic organ that dominates the original.

  Yet despite its obvious strengths, the original beat matched Nas’s sentiment so well that it’s impossible to listen to the remix without feeling like the song has lost something in translation. Like Tip’s remix for “The World Is Yours,” Premier has taken an upbeat soul jam and flipped it completely, like he was substituting a picture’s negative for the original. While Nas’s rerecorded vocals helped Tip’s remix enormously, Premier is dealing with a performance that needs no emphasis of its dark side. After all, part of the pleasure of Illmatic is the life that thrives around strife in Nas’s tales; “The World Is Yours” and “Memory Lane” are hope and nostalgia without delusions about your lot in life. Placing these multi-dimensional lyrics over gritty beats makes only the darkness come through.

  While Premier wasn’t initially happy with his work on “Memory Lane,” the song’s simple drive is almost definitive golden-age hip hop. Combined with the imagery and superior lyricism Nas employs, the song goes down oh so easy. This is summer listening sans bubblegum, a perfect representation of the fleeting moments of youth, a standout among standouts.

  One Love

  Despite Gang Starr’s lasting contributions to hip hop and two classic albums from Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth, no producer on Illmatic has had more success with his original group than Q-Tip. By 1994, A Tribe Called Quest had already cemented their reputation as one of the indisputably great hip hop groups of all time with three straight classics, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, The Low End Theory, and Midnight Marauders (which was being recorded at the time Nas was working on his own record; it was released in late ’93). Considering Nas’s ambition and New York focus, his decision to reach out to Tip for a beat on Illmatic was inevitable.

  The connection was made through Large Professor, who knew Tip from recording sessions in Queens. “Large Professor told me about Nas and said that he really wanted to work with me and said that I probably wanted to work with him. I heard him on “BBQ” and I liked him and Professor told me he was working on his album.”

  The result was “One Love,” perhaps the most challenging song on Illmatic. Over a largely untouched sample from the Heath Brother s’ “Smilin Billy Pt. II” matched to a masterfully arranged drum track, Nas spends the first two verses telling his friend in prison about the world outside his cell, and the third, as discussed in chapter five, confronting his demons. It’s a dark and moving examination of the situation facing young men from Nas’s project. Q-Tip explained the appeal of the song on the promotional video for the album. ‘“One Love’ is a song dealing with his people, his man was locked up. And if you listen to the things he’s sayin’ and the way he kicked it, you know what I’m sayin’, you can tell it’s something that he obviously been through or is going through.”

  “The song just came from life,” Nas told Rolling Stone in 2007. “It’s a song about letters to prison inmates, friends of mine, shout-outs to childhood friends and their uncles and people who were like family to me. I was, again, too young to be going through all of that. That’s what I think about when I hear that album. I was too young to be going through all of that.”

  The track is also the only song on the album that might be categorized as a “concept” record, a method Nas would later use to great effect on such classics as “I Gave You Power,” “One Mic,” and “Rewind.” On “One Love,” Nas chooses to rhyme in the form of a letter to his friend (“yo, it’s a letter I got from my man Nas, man, word is bond.”). Though people have speculated that the song is about a specific friend—perhaps 111 Will or Lakey the Kid—it is most likely that the song was, as Q-Tip says, more universal. “From what I could gather from just being there it was more of a generalization of cats who was locked up. You know, the story is more about just writing somebody a letter, sending somebody a kite.”

  Even though the beat came first, Nas’s voice was the main influence for the record. In the promotional video, Q-Tip explained that “I just wanted to hit him with some ol’ nasty, you kno’m sayin’, just like a ill beat, just some ol’ spooky, like, mystic type thing. ‘Cause he kinda hits me like that. Like a monk, or something. A ghetto monk.” Elsewhere in the video, Tip was even more praiseworthy. “It’s like a person like him only comes along once in a lifetime.”

  Tip recounted the story of making “One Love” in the original Source article. “One night [Large Professor] brought Nas and Akinyele by my crib. I played him a couple beats, and just said, That’s it right there.’ Later that night, he called and told me the concept for ‘One Love.’” In the same article, Nas recalled the moment: “Large introduced me to Q-Tip, and he played me some exotic shit. I was like yeah, he understand where I’m comin’ from. I mean, everybody could make a rhyme about bein’ a ill nigga with a ill, rough, rugged beat. But I like to take a nigga to another part of this shit, you kno’m sayin?”

  Despite the two classics the two artists produced in the Illmatic era, Q-Tip, like Pete Rock, has rarely crossed paths with Nas since, a recurring misfortune Tip chalks up to “timing” (they did eventually hook up again for “American Way” on 2004’s Street’s Disciple). Still, like all the producers associated with the record, Tip holds his work on Illmatic in high regard. When asked to compare “One Love” to the rest of his formidable career, he replies, “I think it’s right there. I’m just blessed that I’ve been able to touch that and that Large brought me in on that and to have contributed something of merit to it…It’s like, that’s a staple. That’s just a joint that, you know, it’s just one of those songs that’s anthemic to him, in a way. Like, a signature song.”

  Looking back on Nas’s decade-plus career since, it’s hard to disagree with Tip here. “One Love” is certainly an archetype in Nas’s catalogue, indicative not just of his later concept records, but of the more “conscious” work he did like “Black Girl Lost,” “2nd Childhood,” and even, in a different way, “I Can.” The track’s realistic portrayal of a simple ritual that Nas knew all too well in his young years set the tone for these later tracks, and Tip’s haunting piano was the perfect backdrop.

  One Time 4 Your Mind

  The first track to have lyrics and beat locked in was this straightforward track by Nas and Large Pro (who refused to be interviewed for this book). “When [Nas] did ‘One Time 4 Your Mind,’ I saw Large Professor make that beat on the spot,” says Premier. It was before Premier started to work with Nas, when he was still getting acquainted with the emcee, which explains why his early work on “Represent” had a similar fee
l to it.

  As far as beats go, “One Time 4 Your Mind,” is a simple offering, basically a loop of one sample, a bar from Jimmy Gordon’s “Walter L.” It’s an undoubtedly great find though, particularly because of the sloping bassline that stumbles its way through the song. Unlike Large Pro’s complex sample collages on “Halftime” and “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” his skills here manifest themselves in his ability to know a good thing when he hears it and not mess with it too much, something even great producers have trouble with sometimes.

  Still, if there is an Achilles heel on Illmatic (and there isn’t), then “One Time 4 Your Mind” is it. Though it has been praised in various circles for its vibes and hard-hitting rhythm section, it’s the least-talked-about track on the record. There are no quotes from Nas or Large Professor with regards to the song, and it was not featured in the electronic press kit that was sent around to promote the album. The track is obviously the earliest work on the record; with its casual tone and simple beat; it sounds like a demo for a huge talent that was yet to break through. Unsurprisingly, the beat is reminiscent of that of “I’m a Villain,” one half of the actual Nas demo.

  But instead of dooming the song as it might have done, this rough and raw presentation fits in perfectly with the tone of Nas’s lyrics. Unlike his later work on a track like “One Love,” Nas isn’t trying to say anything more here than that he can, in Large Pro’s words, “kick that for them gangsters, man, fuck all that.” The lumbering swagger of the beat matches his youthful exuberance perfectly, and while the track might not reach the heights of some of its surroundings, it would be impossible for any hip hop head to listen to “One Time 4 Your Mind” and not confirm that Illmalic’s “perfect 10” remains intact.

  Represent

  While DJ Premier was convinced by Nas to stick with his original beat for “Memory Lane,” it was on his third and final beat for Illmatic that the producer got his way. “I begged Nas to keep that one,” Premier remembers. “‘Cause even when we were about to master he was like ‘yo, I’m gonna go with the bassline’ and I was like ‘no, please, just the one.’ And finally he agreed.” The first song Premier made with Nas, the original “Represent” was more along the lines of the finished track’s immediate predecessor on Illmatic, Large Professor’s “One Time 4 Your Mind.” Jazzy with a quick sway, the beat is a solid offering. But unlike the final backing, it’s obvious and hardly revolutionary, mostly just reminiscent of the Native Tongues’ work around the time of its recording. When it comes up in conversation, Premier simply refers to the track as “the one with the bassline,” and, like on Large Pro’s “One Time 4 Your Mind” beat, the bass is certainly the most notable part of the track.

  If Nas was right about “Memory Lane” (and he was), then Premier was even more right about “Represent.” Though it still has its supporters, the earlier beat screams early 90s, while the final selection is some next-level shit. Based on crate digging alone, “Represent” belongs on Premier’s top shelf. Certainly the grittiest song Nas wrote for the album, Premier heard these lyrics and laced them with Lee Erwin’s “Thief of Baghdad,” a performance of the theme from the 1924 film of the same title. Who else would listen to Nas’s hardcore street verses here and pick something out of a score created for a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks fifty years before the emcee was born?

  The break’s placement in the original song couldn’t be more different. Coming a minute or so into the track, the soft organ notes are a playful and safely haunting introduction to the refrain of the theme, like the simple hook of The Nutcracker Suite that Tetris lifted. With the volume pumped up and hard drums pounding each stab home, the track becomes one with the lyrics, a perfect example of the off-kilter appropriation that hip hop will occasionally perfect.

  Premier’s choice was guided by his further experience working with Nas and hearing more of the record.

  It was more of what I knew Nas really needed from me. The first “Represent” was the first time he and I had ever been in the studio, so they were just vibes. Every time we made something he was like “let me record it,” so I was really the first one to go in with him. I mean, he had already done “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” with Large Pro…So my first time I was just vibing with him, I didn’t intend for that to be the track. But when he cut vocals he was like, “yo let’s keep that.” And I was like “alright.” But as time passes and I start hearing everybody else’s contributions, I was like, “nah, I can do way better than that.” But that’s how I am, I’m hard on myself. And that’s how you should be, so that you come with the best that you can come with.

  Considering the work Premier did once he got to know Nas, it’s no surprise that their working relationship developed so well. More than any other producer on Illmatic, Premier continued to have enormous success with Nas throughout the 90s, creating such lasting work as “I Gave You Power” and “Nas Is Like.” In the original Source article on Illmatic, MC Serch describes the two legends as “separated at birth.” Fifteen years later, he hasn’t changed his tune.

  I think Premier understands Nas better than any producer he has ever worked with. Premier thinks like Nas does and he narrates the music the way Nas narrates lyrics. If you see them work together, there’s not a lot of words between them about the music. It is really about their relationship. They just have this great affection for each other in the way that they perform. And you only see that with Primo really when he is with [Gang Starr partner] Guru. You can make the argument, “well, Primo did great records with Big,” yeah. But are you really thinking about “Unbelievable” [off the Notonous B.I.G.’s Ready to Die] as a great period piece, or is it just a great track on a great album? It was a great moment record. But Nas’s records with Primo could be on any album.

  Serch’s sentiment is shared by a large chunk of the serious hip hop audience, and an almost decade-long rumor of a Nas record produced completely by Premier has been kept alive by talk among both artists in interviews, bolstered by a limitless level of interest. Though as of the writing of this book the two haven’t spoken in two years, that hope will continue to burn brightly until one or the other in resting in his grave. The three songs they made for Illmatic have a great deal to do with that.

  It Ain’t Hard To Tell

  Saying that the last song on Illmatic was actually the first song recorded for the album is technically accurate. But it’s far from the whole story. The real story began in 1991, when Nas and Large Professor recorded a two-track demo to shop around. Serch describes the tracks he heard when Nas played the tape for him as a mixed bag. “One was ‘I’m a Villain’ and one was ‘It Ain’t Hard to Tell,’” he remembers. “I thought ‘I’m a Villain’ was really not a good record at all. I thought it was a good process. But ‘It Ain’t Hard to Tell’ is a classic. The original thing that Paul [aka Large Pro] did was brilliant with the Michael Jackson sample.”

  What Paul did was flip Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature,” something SWV would do a year later for their hit “Right Here (Human Nature Remix).” The only recording of the original song that is widely available, which has since been retitled “Nas Will Prevail” by bootleggers, sounds like it’s a few generations removed from the recording source. But it’s still a worthwhile listen for any Nas fan, and not just because it’s over a minute and a half longer and features notably different verses. The beat on “Nas Will Prevail” is completely different, despite having the main sample source in common with its revised final edition. Where the new version uses the oscillating synths that begin the original song (and lace SWV’s version), “Nas Will Prevail” uses a smoother and mellower section of the song and a different, less intense horn sample over it.

  Large Pro himself explained the story on the EPK. ‘“It Ain’t Hard to Tell,’ we did that, a long time ago, you know. And we did it, and it was like freaky for when we did it, ‘cause everybody was sleepin’ on the Michael Jackson sample and everything. And we flipped it, and that was part of his demo. And, you k
now, they wanted us to do it over, so we knocked it out.” What’s unclear from conflicting stories is just why the beat was changed. Nas had obviously decided to update his lyrics, and undoubtedly the shorter version was better for when the record was released for radio play (“It Ain’t Hard to Tell” was the only Illmatic single to crack Billboard’s Top 100). But it does seem odd that Nas would want to switch to a sample that had received so much attention already.

  That’s not to say Large Pro’s version of the beat sounds anything like what SWV did. The two songs only share a small, if prominent, sample that Large Pro buried under the verses. And the rest of his construction here is flawless. Those vocals at the beginning are MJ, pulled from the end of the track and doubled back on themselves in a perfect loop that swings around the channels like you’re in the middle of a merry-go-round. Meanwhile, Kool and the Gang’s “N.T.” provides the strained horns that populate the intro and the choruses, chopped up and reconfigured beautifully so they fit right in next to the king of pop. There are plenty of other little touches in here—the vocal stabs that could have come from Kanye a decade later, the echo bouncing at the beginning of each verse that is shiver-inducing, the heavy layered sound that drops out instantaneously, leaving just a bass and drums—but they all add up to a complete and complex entity. There’s little doubt that of the three songs Large Professor made for Illmatic, “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” is his masterpiece.

  And yet, the remix Large Professor himself did after the record was released might be just as entertaining. While it’s far simpler, the track loses everything about the music except those vocal stabs in the chorus and rebuilds with a tight but unidentified guitar loop and a snipped Biz Markie sample that sounds like “Nas is the king of disco”—he’s really saying “recognized as the king of disco” on “Nobody Beats the Biz.” It presents the listener with a completely different mood than the original, and yet it somehow fits perfectly with Nas’s lyrics.