Stillmatic

by 

Nas

AlbumDec 18 / 200114 songs, 56m 42s
East Coast Hip Hop Hardcore Hip Hop
Popular

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.

9.1 / 10

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.

Check out our album review of Artist's Stillmatic on Rolling Stone.com.

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.