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Reacting to Illmatic by Nas (Full Album Uncut Reaction) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-11-24 00:17:19
Imported:
2026-06
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Videos

Content

Patrons get this first. I'm hoping to get it edited and posted to YT before Thanksgiving, but we'll see how aggressive the blocking algo is. I don't have much free time between now and then. Happy holidays and safe travels, y'all.

0:03:00 - The Genesis

0:05:20 - N.Y. State of Mind

0:15:25 - Life's a Bitch

0:25:20 - The World is Yours

0:34:05 - Halftime

0:41:05 - Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)

0:52:00 - One Love

1:01:15 - One Time 4 Your Mind

1:09:45 - Represent

1:19:15 - It Ain't Hard To Tell

1:23:20 - Closing Thoughts

Files

Previews only

Illmatic (Full Compressed).mov

This is "Illmatic (Full Compressed).mov" by Shawn on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Comments

Vervanta

lets fucking go. a classic right here

Louis

I couldn’t tell you how fast i ran to the notification for this video 😂

bobthepoppop

lol, some of you guys are so goddamn fast on the video drops! Video ninjas!

Dylan

STRAIGHT OUT THE DUNGEONS OF RAP

Dildeep Singh

Wowwwwww so hyped to see this

killian baron

Glad you finally did this!!

Zach Gupta

This is a great intro to Nas. If you ever want to listen to MF DOOM, Madvilliany is the best introduction to his sound/style.

bL

the “ switches like a “ line is a smooth triple entendre

Callum Smith

With AZ’s line “as long as we leavin’ thievin’ we’ll be leaving with some kind of dough” He’s referring to passing away while committing a theft not leaving the ‘game’. Also he uses the word leaving as a double entendre as ‘leaven’ is the ingredient that makes dough rise, it’s so smart. Back then it was all about how slick you were with your pen and how you could string sentences and rhymes together, and have one sentence have multiple meanings. Maybe with anymore old school hip hop albums you listen to consider how good the rhymes sound and how many syllables they can manage to match sounds throughout a sentence, it’s so impressive! Love the content and open mindedness as always :)

Callum Smith
>>72387251

The songs sound much simpler but I feel like the craftsmanship used to write a verse like the ones on NY state of mind is incredible, especially considering he started writing it at 17!

Issiah Millis

I’m at work right now and saw the notification. Nice little suprise! Happy thanksgiving bob!

bobthepoppop
>>72386016

Madvillainy is getting a lot of requests lately. That one is working its way up the list 👍

Henry

the timing of this album release was also a big deal. most of the big rap artists were coming from CA at the time and as an unknown rapper from NY with these top tier producers, it was a huge deal

Anonymous

im gonna guess that graduation is next, right?

Paul Salvador Estrada

the song "I used to Love h.e.r." by common really delivers on your desire to understand the history and transformation of hip hop. It was actually released in 1994 also. Thats all i can really say hopefully my fellow patreons can upvote lol also just wanna say this album will definitely bring some balance to your community bringing in the 30+ hiphop heads. Only can lead to a bigger better boost on your journey.

Anonymous

Glad to see you visiting some classic hip-hop albums. You mentioned wanting to check out some Wu-Tang; I'd highly recommend their debut album and Liquid Swords by GZA. Liquid Swords is one of my favorite 90s hip-hop albums and has some truly incredible production and lyricism. I'd also recommend you check out early Tribe Called Quest albums, their first 3 are all fantastic.

Anonymous

Also highly recommend Black on Both Sides by Mos Def for some more introspective hip-hop

Paul Salvador Estrada

Listening to you after one love mentioning 2pac next and then to pimp a butterfly and wondering if this influenced kendrick....just know youre on to some pure gold with that line up and train of thought but one key is to know that although they existed together and even beefed somewhat Nas actually influenced 2pac quite a bit as an MC and visa versa also on the forementioned album that Nas is grammy nominated for"kings Disease 2" he has a track called deathrow east which is the whole eastcoast vs westcoast era through nas eyes.

Justin

Perhaps Nas isn’t AS huge and as international of a name as Kanye West or Kendrick Lamar, but Illmatic is a landmark hiphop album. Illmatic, TPAB and Dark Fantasy by Kanye are albums that are hailed by many to be the pinnacles of the genre thus far. Can’t wait to see how you like it

Pusha Steve

I think you'd love "Be" by Common. It is produced by Kanye and J Dilla and it came out right around the same time as Late Registration so it has some of the same kinda vibes from that album.

Lil Mac

Another great reaction, was super interesting to see your personal journey with hip-hop while listening as well. I really think you should listen to A Tribe Called Quest, you mentioned them when talking about old school artists, ATCQ only predates Nas slightly, but they're a hip-hop group from NYC (the frontrunner being Q-Tip who did the chorus on one love) and they have some serious classics under their belt. I think their albums "The Low End Theory" and "Midnight Marauders" are quintessential to hip-hop as a whole, and if they're not on your list already they absolutely should be. Lastly, I would normally be inclined to agree with your assessment of the "I'm ghost, one love" line, if not for the fact that it came at the end of his final verse. It's pretty common for rappers to end verses or tracks in general with "I'm gone" or "I'm out of here" and they don't mean it in any deep sense, just a very literal "I'm done recording" type of meaning. I think Genius annotations in general are pretty solid, but I would treat them the same way you do Wikipedia, it's community oriented so generally correct information stays, but not every annotation is gonna be perfect.

Jared Ortega

When Kendrick accepted the rap album grammy for TPAB he dedicated it to a few albums... one being Illmatic. I think it's safe to assume he loves this album let alone listened to it.

Anonymous

All eyez on me is an essential album for people getting into rap, I'd recommend just making 2 different videos for the first half and second half

Jared Ortega

Regarding the "I'm ghost" line... I don't think it's as deep as you were trying to make it. It's a kind of trope in rap that MC's will reference the end of the verse with an actual bar or phrase pretty much saying 'this is the end of the verse.' Think of Lupe Fiasco on Touch the Sky (on Late Registration) when he says "Let me end the verse right where the horns are." I think Nas saying "I'm ghost" is just a cool way of saying "I'm done."

Jared Ortega

You were trying to think of the song with the guest using the words 'government cheese.' I believe that is Jay Rock's verse on Money Trees (from GKMC.)

Isaiah Piedra

The American black community has undoubtedly been oppressed for forever. These communities stay the same because they’ve been pushed to be in these bubbles and it’s hard to get out of it. Sucks but that’s how it is, it’s a hood cycle. Hard to learn from mistakes when that all you know. That’s why music like Nas, Tupac, Kendrick are so important, they’re the role models w the message these kids need to know. There’s grandmothers today that lived through Jim crow laws; so I imagine how liberating it may have felt in the 80s 90s jamming to The World is Yours

Andrew

Reasonable Doubt or Blueprint by Jay Z would be great album to listen to as well. Chronic & Chronic 2001 by Dr. Dre, All Eyez on Me by 2Pac, & Ready To Die by B.I.G. are other Hip Hop Mount Rushmore albums that you should give a listen too. Much love.

Isaiah Piedra

Also man, there’s an amazing documentary about this album and Nas on NETFLIX. I highly recommend. Tells a lot about the impact of this album and the hip hop climate at the time

Henry

this album is great for many reasons. the standard of rap and beatmaking was different, but it only got higher bc of giants like nas for others to stand on. at the time these rhyme schemes and flows were hard to match. in rap its important to make sure every syllable counts both rhyme wise and where its placed on the beat. are the syllables riding the high hights? the kicks? a mix of both? do rhymes land on the snares? etc... its a lot harder to do than people assume. and this "old school" sound is called boom bap, for which the 90s were considered the golden era

Anonymous

After this one you gotta listen to ready to die by biggie smalls

bobthepoppop
>>72398604

Yeah, that's the plan. I wanted to do that album before TPAB, but I want to get TPAB out the door before the year ends, so I'm pushing Ell Eyez on Me to next year. And like you say, it'll be a two part video due to the album length

bobthepoppop
>>72390503

Me Against the World followed by TPAB. The schedule after that is up in the air, but Graduation is in the mix for sure

Justin

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this before but it’s been so fun watching you slowly groove and nod you head to the music more and more as you make more of these videos. In the past you would be more still, kinda like you were contemplating on what you were listening to. But here you’re clearly immediately able to just nod your head and groove out and have a good time with it on your first listen

bobthepoppop
>>72389353

I was wondering if this somewhat ignited the idea of 'East Coat vs West Coast' at all. For that to even be a thing, someone on the East has to blow up big, so thanks for pointing this detail out 👍

bobthepoppop
>>72390747

That's the hope, drawing in a more diverse crowd in terms of albums and artists. I've enjoyed doing the most recent work, but I want to hear old stuff too 👍

bobthepoppop
>>72394673

It's so fun knowing that I'm approaching some massive, massive albums. I'm really excited. REALLY excited 🤘

bobthepoppop
>>72396747

Oh, cool. A few people have mentioned Common, but not a lot. It'll be interesting to see how requests/recommendations shift after doing Illmatic.

bobthepoppop
>>72396863

I added those two albums to the list. As far lyrics and annotations, that will always be a bit of a struggle. I love digging into lyrics and seeing what I lift from them, but sometimes I'm just wrong and that's all there is to it. Other times I feel like the annotations are missing something, but I obviously can't back it up with the limited knowledge I have. I tend to overthink as well, which complicates things. But in the end, it's fun, and that's what really matters (to me anyway). I do my best to avoid getting snagged on that kind of thing during a video, but it happens from time to time

bobthepoppop
>>72399881

I know Chronic 2001 really well. That's one of the few rap albums I listened to on my own. I know Chronic somewhat, but not well. It's been awhile since I've listened to that one. All Eyez is on my list, and I just added Ready to Die

bobthepoppop
>>72400018

Thank you for these details, because there are elements I'm not even aware of. I did notice, while doing my edited version of the reaction and trying to clip out music, that the beats and the rhymes were doing something very specific. I didn't understand the mechanics, but it was obviously very intentional and I felt like I caught a glimpse inside of a moving engine. Nas has amazing rhythm in this album.

Anonymous

Bob since you mention wu tang. def add Enter the Wu-Tang to your list. has lot of their best songs. regarded as a classic

Anonymous

He’s gonna have a fun time dissecting to pimp a butterfly’s lyrics

Anonymous

Lol the comment you made at the end about not knowing why you didn't listen to this music earlier: When I was a kid I guess I was influenced mostly by my older brother to think that mainstream catchy music is mostly bad/shallow, with demeaning lyrics etc. And It's not like I was brain-washed or anything but I was almost instantly turned off by mainstream pop songs at young age.. Looking back it made it so I ignorantly didn't rly explore certain genres of music, although I was right about a lot of popular songs being trash that my other ~10 y.o. friends would enjoy lol.. I'm not saying this is connected to you but it's easy to have the tendency to be biased with what music you listen to, especially when young/ trying to be critical.

Maurice Ruetz

Was super happy to see you reacting to this! Definetly the greatest Hip-Hop album of all time in my opinion. Would love to see you do 36 Chambers by the Wu-Tang Clan or Ready To Die by Biggie Smalls next if you plan checking out other classics :)

Anthony Smith

Funnily enough, Kendrick has an old tweet where he said Reasonable Doubt (Jay-Z's debut) is better than Illmatic and #sorryoucanunfollowmenow, which is funny considering a lot would expect Kendrick to have more of an affinity for Nas, but Jay's his GOAT hence his presence on the BDKMV Remix (worth listening to on your own time) and all the line interpolations/homages to Jay across his discography; anyways love Illmatic and now I don't think it's too far off to recommend Jay-Z (my fav) to you; as far as full albums for you I'd recommend Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint (If you listen to the latter, include the two bonuses especially Lyrical Exercise which Kendrick even pays homage to on the BDKMV remix).

daredevil777

a perfect album. thats THE classic in terms of that eastcoast boom bap style hiphop. 10 hard tracks, no fillers no bullshit. (for the most part east coast rap in the 90s was more like this, very grimy and urban and west coast had more of the G-Funk style instrumentals; I think 'The Chronic' by Dr Dre quality wise would be the equivalent to Illmatic on the west coast. Those two albums represent their respective side very well imo. Even more so than for example 'All eyez on me')

C C

Love this album. Was 4 years before me but it's one of my favorites. Thank you as always! <3

daredevil777

Also that AZ verse on lifes a bitch is one of the goat verses frfr top 5 easily. His album DOE OR DIE nice too very underrated. (btw that trumpet outro on lifesabitch is played by Nas’s father Olu Dara.)

daredevil777

man that human nature sample on It Ain't Hard to Tell is just amazing, one of my fav beats for sure. its a gift for human ears Mobb Deep - The Infamous for the next east coast video? Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) ?

EserStöff

i’m wondering that nobody has ever requested you to react to mobb deep. the song „shook one’s pt II“ is regarded as the best rap-song of all time and has been sampled a million times over all of the rap industry. i know your list is huge so i don’t wanna add more albums to your list even tho „the infamous“ is one of the best and realest records in hiphop industry, but maybe if you find the time just react to the song shook one’s pt2, it’s hiphop in its purest form

Isaac Gadberry

I know others have asked for this but I'd love it if you did an MF DOOM reaction. Madvilliany and MM.. Food are great places to start.

Colin H

Madvillainy is definitely one of the older classics that you should really dive into. For most people MF DOOM is an acquired taste but he can rhyme and flow like nobody else. I'm sure you'll have no problem with it after listening to the money store. Thanks for the great content!

Cullen Hendricks

I think a good old school album to add to the list would be Mystic Styles by Three Six Mafia. Since you’ve done an east coast album and will be doing an west coast album w/ 2pac it be cool to see the contrast to those w/ a gritty more horrorcore album from the South🖤

C C

Fun fact, on 'The world is yours' the verses about his son and daughter were written but they weren't born yet- They were both born years later, in the order that he rapped on this song. Pretty cool.

Ryan Severson

Crazy that Nas was able to make the greatest hip hop album of all time as a 17 year old. That’s why he’s my GOAT.

six

Aww yes, this is a perfect distraction right now, had a pretty bad day with a lot on my mind and now i get to sit back with Bob and chill to some classic tunes

Inglewood

Great reaction! If you never check out nas again, you should at least react to this 1 song by nas called rewind….he literally telling a story backwards and even starts from the end….one of this most impressive songs I’ve ever heard

Lex

I think NWA Straight Outta Compton is a good album for the roots of Hip Hop. You got Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Eazy E all on one album

giraf

Love the reaction! Everything you said about the instrumentals and production are spot-on. Illmatic's beats are timelessly catchy and groovy.

bobthepoppop
>>72461870

Yeah, I was thinking that too. I know some of those songs already, but I've never listened to the whole album. I've watched the movie a couple of times though, which might make a reaction video a little interesting. Some knowledge about it beforehand.

Anonymous

NY State of Mind is one of my favourite songs ever! You should listen to more nas down the track, although I do believe Illmatic is his best album.

bobthepoppop
>>72428076

I've been tinkering with my reaction schedule. I'm still shifting some things around, but I feel pretty comfortable saying that Madvillainy will probably land in January.

bobthepoppop
>>72414548

It's getting a lot easier. A lot easier. I'm not nervous anymore. I no longer have a fear of "oh crap, I might not like it." As a reaction channel, that's a legit fear to have, especially knowing that people are watching that reaction because they love that song/album. That fear is gone. I've broken through that initial barrier that existed for me with hip-hop. I appreciate the music now. I ENJOY it now. I'm no longer a level 1 hip-hop noob 😁 Now it's time to get into the deeper levels: the vocal mechanics, beat complexities, understanding the social elements behind the music, so on.

bobthepoppop
>>72418727

Yeah, I think it's harder to give music a fair shot when you're younger. It's pretty easy to just say 'nah' and move onto something else without really considering what's happening.

bobthepoppop
>>72421173

It's fun seeing many 'classic' albums popping up as suggestions now. I'm happy to see more range from the viewers.

bobthepoppop
>>72421879

I've bumped back TPAB one week in my schedule to squeeze Reasonable Doubt in first. Next three albums will be Me Against the World -> Reasonable Doubt -> TPAB. A part of me wants to get a lot more 90's classics under my belt before doing TPAB, but I do want to get to TPAB before the year ends. I'm really excited to hear that album.

bobthepoppop
>>72422451

I'm listening to it again now and it really is just like you say: 10 tracks, no bullshit. Great sound, quality beats, excellent vocals/rhythms. It's so easy to listen to I almost take for granted what I'm listening to.

bobthepoppop
>>72427584

Mobb Deep is popping up now after doing this album. No one had really mentioned it until now.

bobthepoppop
>>72440242

It is wild, and what a high bar. I wonder if it ended up being a bit of a curse. I imagine it must be hard trying to recreate the magic that happened on the first album.

Alex Bowlin

Hey, Bob! I've loved all of your reactions so far, especially Kanye since he is one of my favorite artists. Another one of my fav artists is Drake. Drake got a lot of influence from Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak which also paved the way for so many new and upcoming rappers at the time (808s in Kanye's catalog is after Graduation). I think it might be best to start Drake with his first and go from there, like you're doing with Kanye because like Kanye through his albums, you really get to see Drake evolve throughout his work. On Spotify, his first project listed is So Far Gone which imo is the best place to start. Drake - So Far Gone (2009) I know your list is super long currently so I'll only suggest So Far Gone at the moment. But I think you'll really like it, even though it's a bit different :)

bobthepoppop
>>72564828

I think it'd be fun to get into Drake as well. I know he's pretty popular, and I'd like to hear what he does 👍

bobthepoppop
>>72429478

Manvillainy is coming "soon" ish. I'll be getting to that one as it's been coming up a lot lately.

bobthepoppop
>>72431401

Added to the list. I don't even think I've heard of them, but I like that they hail from a different region.

Anonymous

Hey bob, Whats next on ya schedule? lots of love from australia

rentahoee

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill is my recommendation

Jorge Campos Jr.

Enter The 36 Chambers by Wu-Tang is definitely grimy and angry if that’s what you’re looking for!

Jacob Svensson
>>73510307

Enter The 36 Chambers is a must listen to for anyone trying to get into the roots of hiphop!

SlumpJones

You should definitely watch “Illmatic Live from the Kennedy Center”. He performs the album with the backing of the National Symphony Orchestra and a DJ

Anonymous

Your analysis of rappers not glamorizing but romantisizing at 1:12 is dead-on. Or atleast, i feel the same.