From Illmatic to Stillmatic: The Remixes [EP] [EP]

Performer: Nas
Artist: AZ; R. Kelly
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: When you're talking about one of the most commercially successful AND critically acclaimed hip-hop artists of the era, every little piece of the puzzle becomes important. In this spirit, FROM ILLMATIC TO STILLMATIC, a six-song EP that features remixes of songs from all three of Nas's previous albums, is no mere toss-off, but something to be savored and pored over. The Arsenal Mix of "Life's a Bitch" serves to even further harden the existential street-real atmosphere, while the more laid-back, R&B-flavored "Street Dreams" benefits from its remix as much as it does from its R. Kelly guest appearance. And as much of kick as it was to hear the Firm's Foxy Brown rapping over the riff from "Hard to Handle" on "Affirmative Action," this revamped version makes it even more enjoyable.

With charged poetic lyrics spit in an almost impossibly smooth flow, Nas turned the rap world on its ear in 1994 when the Queens MC unleashed the instantly immortal ILLMATIC. The immaculate record contained few frills, no skits, no celebrity cameos, just the rapper's deceptively complex rhymes, words that lounged in the listener's psyche for days after, layered over beats by some of the best producers of the day. While the following years would find Nas hard-pressed to live up to his supernova debut, he quietly released solid records. In 2001, his spirit revived by a beef with Jay-Z (they would reunite on stage years later), he released the acerbic STILLMATIC, which was followed by a string of critically praised records, but no shortage of controversy.

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