Stillmatic [PA]

Performer: Nas
Artist: Mary J. Blige; AZ; Amerie
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Contains the bonus track "Every Ghetto," which follows "What Goes Around." Personnel includes: Nas, Mary J. Blige, Az. Producers include: Nas, Ron Browz, Large Professor, DJ Premier, Salaam Remi. Personnel includes: Nas, Amerie, AZ. Producers include: Nas, Hangmen 3, Kevin Crouse, Large Professor, Baby Paul. In 1994, Nas dropped his debut, ILLMATIC. More than just a classic, it's perhaps the definitive East Coast street hip-hop record, bereft of clich�, rife with rich, inventive rhymes. His early coronation proved both blessing and curse, as his three follow-ups, while shining next to most platinum peers, never reached the ingenious heights of his introduction. Just by the title, STILLMATIC makes obvious its yearning to recapture that feel, a ridiculously tall order if not an impossible one, but it comes dangerously close, which merely makes it one of the top albums of its year. At times it feels as if half of STILLMATIC consists of shots at Jay-Z, ex-cohort Prodigy, and others, at times thinly veiled, other times not veiled at all (the opening two words of "Ether"). Out of the mouths of others, this game would be old and boring. What allows Nas transcendence is that he is not your average hater posturing to sell records, he's earnestly responding to a slander with his supreme, unwavering lyrical style. Nas has an insane arsenal of words and an acute sense of incongruity, best illustrated on "Destroy and Rebuild," where he reverses the guns of KRS-One's blistering attack on Nas's home, Queensbridge ("The Bridge Is Over"), to both glorify his beloved 'hood and deny the MCs he believes have fallen off. Back on the hardcore block and with plenty to prove after two years without a record under his own name, Nas designed Stillmatic as a response: to the rap cognoscenti who thought he'd become a relic, and most of all to Jay-Z, the East Coast kingpin who wounded his pride and largely replaced him as the best rapper in hip-hop. The saga started back in the summer of 2001 with the mixtape "Stillmatic," Nas' answer track to an on-stage dis by Jay-Z. A few months after Jay-Z countered with the devastating "Takeover," Nas dropped the comeback single "Ether" and the full album Stillmatic; tellingly, Jay-Z had already released his response to "Ether" (titled "Super Ugly") before Stillmatic even came out. Dropping many of the mainstream hooks and featured performers in order to focus his rapping, Nas proves he's still a world-class rhymer, but he does sound out of touch in the process of defending his honor. "Ether" relies on a deep-throat vocal repeating the phrase, "F*ck Jay-Z," while "You're da Man" hits the heights of arrogance with a looped vocal sample repeating the title over and over. "Destroy & Rebuild" is a solid defense of his Queensbridge home, and "Got Ur Self A..." is an outstanding track, the best here, complete with chant-along chorus. Despite the many highlights, a few of these tracks (most were produced by either Large Professor or Nas himself) just end up weighing him down: "Smokin'," one of the worst, is an odd G-funk track that would've sounded dated years before its release. Stillmatic certainly isn't as commercial as past Nas output, but it places him squarely behind the times. Facts are facts: he's not the best rapper in the business anymore. ~ John Bush In 1994, Nas dropped his debut ILLMATIC. More than just a classic, it's perhaps the definitive East Coast street hip-hop record, bereft of cliche, rife with rich, inventive rhymes. His early coronation proved both blessing and curse, as his three follow-ups, while shining next to most platinum peers, never reached the ingenious heights of his introduction. Just by the title, STILLMATIC makes obvious its yearning to recapture that feel, a ridiculously tall order if not impossible, but it comes dangerously close, which merely makes it one of the top albums of its year. At times it feels like half of STILLMATIC consists of shots at Jay-Z, ex-cohort Prodigy, and others, at times thinly veiled, other times not veiled at all (the opening two words of "Ether"). Out of the mouths of others, this game would be old and boring. What allows Nas transcendence is that he is not your average hater posturing to sell records, he's earnestly responding to a slander with his supreme, unwavering lyrical style. Nas has an insane arsenal of words and an acute sense of incongruity, best illustrated on "Destroy and Rebuild," where he reverses the guns of KRS-One's blistering attack on Nas's home Queensbridge ("The Bridge Is Over") to both glorify his beloved hood and deny the MCs he believes have fallen off.

Spin (2/02, pp.106,108) - 7 out of 10 - "...Navigates the divide between the poetic streak that made him a legend and the clumsy pop-oriented fluff that made him a star. STILLMATIC gets as close to the source as he's come in years..." Q (2/02, p.112) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Broader horizons, good production and a renewed flow of narrative detail bring a new lease to his life..." Vibe (2/02, p.120) - 3.5 out of 5 - "...Poignant vignettes attest to Nas' still superb descriptive ability....at his best, Nas is still one of the finest..."

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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