Stillmatic
Nas\' 1994 debut album, *Illmatic*, immediately cemented the Queens MC as one of rap music\'s most gifted and celebrated lyricists—a scene-painter almost without parallel, delivering an endlessly quotable stream of aphorisms steeped in the traditions of New York rap. During the seven years after *Illmatic*, however, Nas was known mainly for pop crossover records and club bangers. That all changed in 2001, when Nas and JAY-Z clashed in one of the most explosive dis wars in rap history; “Ether,” the name of Nas\' savage song-length diatribe, promptly entered the slang lexicon as a word for completely decimating your opponent. \"Ether\" is the second track of *Stillmatic*, Nas\' fifth album and full-length return to hungry, introspective, non-commercial rhyming. Here, Nas is back to what made him adored in the \'90s: snapshots of his youth, vivid visions of crime, boasts that paint him as no less than one of the all-time greats—and the lyrics to back it up. The powerful \"One Mic\"—based on the quiet-loud dynamics of Phil Collins\' \"In the Air Tonight\"—is a tongue-twisting ode to his own art in the shadows of hood life and beef. \"Rewind\" tells a story in reverse, while \"Destroy and Rebuild\" is built with some Slick Rick-styled flows. Like *Illmatic*\'s grab bag of collaborators, the beats come courtesy of friends old and new. On single \"Got Ur Self A…,\" producer Megahertz flips the Sopranos theme into an icy track; on \"You\'re da Man,\" Large Professor utilizes the voice of Rodriguez years before *Searching for Sugar Man*; and DJ Premier uses Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack for the partially nostalgic \"2nd Childhood.\" All in all, a triumphant return to form from a rap great.
Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we revisit the 2001 resurrection of Nas, a canonical comeback album that came out swinging and never backed down.
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.