Illmatic - is it worth the hype?

**Janszoon** · 12-31-2012, 05:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fluffy Kittens

Well is it?

Nope. It's good, but not THAT good.

SGR · 12-31-2012, 05:54 AM

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.

14232949 · 12-31-2012, 08:32 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, 08:34 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.

**Goofle** · 12-31-2012, 08:42 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.

~~Cuthbert~~ · 12-31-2012, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks

Hell, I probably even prefer Reasonable Doubt to it.

...

You actually just took it there

12-31-2012, 05:54 AM	#2 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,327	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.