Illmatic [PA]

Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.73) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Rolling Stone (8/25/94, p.88) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Nas' no-nonsense urban tales pair ILL's every beautiful moment with its harsh antithesis..." Spin (8/94, p.84) - Highly Recommended - "...ILLMATIC pays serious mind to uncertain sources, to abstract anxiety, spiritual and otherwise....These are powerfully stressed-out images, but Nas hints that he's after something more personally revealing..." Q (5/97, p.142) - "...the musical backdrops are razor sharp; hard bears but with melodic hooks and loops, atmospheric background piano, strings or muted trumpet, and samples...A potent treat." Vibe (6/02, p.108) - Ranked #4 in Vibe's "Top 10 rap albums" - "...As perfect as 39 hip hop minutes get..." The Source (4/94, p.73) - 5 Mics - Classic - "...I must maintain that this is one of the best hip-hop albums I have ever heard...No cliched metaphors, no gimmicks...Never too abstract, never superficial. Even the skit-intros are meaningful..." The Source (4/94, p.73) - 5 Stars - Classic - "...I must maintain that this is one of the best hip-hop albums I have ever heard...No cliched metaphors, no gimmicks...Never too abstract, never superficial. Even the skit-intros are meaningful..." Musician (8/94, p.95) - "...ILLMATIC could be one of the finest conventional hip-hop albums ever made...Nas is a dark, compelling lyricist who enunciates cleanly and quickly, leaving the listener able to hear everything he says, but racing to follow the meaning..." Village Voice (2/28/95) - Ranked #33 in the Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. Mojo (Publisher) (p.103) - 5 stars out of 5 - "Concise, focused and lyrically dazzling, ILLMATIC remains one of hip hop's must-buys..." NME (Magazine) (12/24/94, p.23) - Ranked #33 in NME's list of the `Top 50 Albums Of 1994.' NME (Magazine) (7/9/94, p.44) - 9 - Excellent Plus - "...Nas' upbringing oozes from every pore of the music. This is the true voice of where Nas comes from, set to 40 minutes of rhythmic perfection. A stunner..."