Illmatic - is it worth the hype?

14232949 · 12-31-2012, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks

Yeah, I think it's pretty much flawless. Save for a noticeable dip in lyrical content on one song (One Time 4 Your Mind), Nas was on point for the whole album. One Time 4 Your Mind does have one of Nas's more unique flows on the album plus it's just fun.

Honestly though, I prefer Enter the 36 Chambers to Illmatic.
Hell, I probably even prefer Reasonable Doubt to it, for the fact that the production has aged much better.

If we're talking about albums undeserving of the hype, 36 Chambers must be the embodiment of that phrase.
The whole album has so many irrelevant breaks, sub-par verses and goofing around for me to get behind me.
I find it too self indulgent and it is a drag to listen to.

Illmatic is still the benchmark for hip-hop. It's as near to perfect as a record can be, and I know people will try to speak ill of it (pun intended) because it gets a lot of praise but sometimes you just have to sit back and say yeah, it's worthy of it.

~~Cuthbert~~ · 12-31-2012, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks

Hell, I probably even prefer Reasonable Doubt to it.

...

You actually just took it there

~~Cuthbert~~ · 12-31-2012, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrycaaant

Illmatic is still the benchmark for hip-hop. It's as near to perfect as a record can be, and I know people will try to speak ill of it (pun intended) because it gets a lot of praise but sometimes you just have to sit back and say yeah, it's worthy of it.

Agreed. I saw a quote once that said something like, if Hip-Hop were destroyed tomorrow, you could reconstruct the whole genre from Illmatic and I thought it summed the album up perfectly.

14232949 · 12-31-2012, 09:41 AM

yeah, Illmatic helped steer hip-hop away from the 'gangsta' plague that was threatening to consume us all and inspired many other artists to create hip-hop with meaning.

**Goofle** · 12-31-2012, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engine

Strange, eh? Let me attempt to clarify my thoughts for you then.

Please forget my use of the word 'conjure' if you think that I mean 'emulate' or, to dumb it down further, to 'sound similar to' because what I mean is that Nas on Illmatic represented a natural progression of hip-hop MCs. You don't need to respect the originators of hip-hop. I see that it's all just a bit of fun for you. But the original artists were actually historically and artistically important, believe it or not. And Nas (on Illmatic) made his mark on hip-hop's history because he has a talent for the thing. Ignore that history if you want. It's just intellectual stuff like the timeline of rap that I am talking about.

What I meant by 'knowledgeable rap fan' is one who knows and respects hip-hop's origins. You are, of course, free to ignore that old stuff and just listen to whatever strikes your fancy but it definitely shows a lack of depth of your understanding of the genre if you don't care about the originators. And you, Goofle, are really young and inexperienced with music so I don't expect you to know or care much about the rap masters. That's fine. Just go rock out and have fun. I realize that there is too much good music out there for you to care about all of it.

I don't think their is a quantifiable scale of measurement that could accurately calculate the levels of douchebaggery on display.

**Goofle** · 12-31-2012, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrycaaant

If we're talking about albums undeserving of the hype, 36 Chambers must be the embodiment of that phrase.
The whole album has so many irrelevant breaks, sub-par verses and goofing around for me to get behind me.
I find it too self indulgent and it is a drag to listen to.

Illmatic is still the benchmark for hip-hop. It's as near to perfect as a record can be, and I know people will try to speak ill of it (pun intended) because it gets a lot of praise but sometimes you just have to sit back and say yeah, it's worthy of it.

1. Agree, but I still think it's a pretty great album.

2. Disagree, but I still think it's a pretty great album.

Engine · 12-31-2012, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goofle11

I don't think their is a quantifiable scale of measurement that could accurately calculate the levels of douchebaggery on display.

I'd give me a 3 out of 10 on a scale of 1-10 for that post.
There's some really important stuff in there that I'm seriously trying to communicate.

**Goofle** · 12-31-2012, 09:51 AM

You know full well that I know a hell of a lot about the Hip Hop culture. I have probably made around 1000 posts discussing my love of 80's/90's Hip Hop. I don't think there is anyone on here who has made more of an effort in a short space of time to delve into the culture of Hip Hop/Rap music than myself. You are not telling me anything I don't know my mentioning Rakim etc.

Engine · 12-31-2012, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goofle11

You know full well that I know a hell of a lot about the Hip Hop culture. I have probably made around 1000 posts discussing my love of 80's/90's Hip Hop. I don't think there is anyone on here who has made more of an effort in a short space of time to delve into the culture of Hip Hop/Rap music than myself. You are not telling me anything I don't know my mentioning Rakim etc.

I realize that you have knowledge. I'm just saying that your knowledge will mean something different to you when it's more than a couple years old.
I'll stop now because this has become ridiculous. Let's talk about it again in, say, a decade.

**Goofle** · 12-31-2012, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engine

I realize that you have knowledge. I'm just saying that your knowledge will mean something different to you when it's more than a couple years old.
I'll stop now because this has become ridiculous. Let's talk about it again in, say, a decade.

Do what you want.

12-31-2012, 09:41 AM	#24 (permalink)
14232949 The Big Dog Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Scotland Posts: 1,989	yeah, Illmatic helped steer hip-hop away from the 'gangsta' plague that was threatening to consume us all and inspired many other artists to create hip-hop with meaning.