The Nas Matic album cover is an iconic image that represents Nas' 1994 debut studio album "Illmatic." The album cover features a photo of Nas as a young boy, superimposed on a backdrop of the Queensbridge Houses, the housing projects in Queens, New York where Nas grew up. The image of Nas as a child reflects the themes of nostalgia and reminiscence that are present throughout the album. The album is often regarded as a classic in hip-hop, featuring introspective and poetic lyrics that explore the realities of life in the inner city. The cover art serves as a visual representation of Nas' upbringing and the environment that shaped him as an artist. The photograph was taken by Danny Clinch and was chosen to capture the raw authenticity and grittiness of Nas' experiences growing up in Queensbridge.
What the hell… Some cracker is shouting to his friend, Rudy. I think that’s what he said his name was. I say cracker because he’s literally a cracker. You can hear the sound of the whip cracking and he’s saying “hit ’em harder.” I didn’t know people actually said “yee-hah.” I didn’t even think crackers said that shit. What the fuck is that even supposed to mean? I guess it’s the racist version of “yay.” Just kidding. I’m sure people who aren’t racist have said “yee-hah” before. Nas and his buddy are talking about how fucked up their lives are. They’re playing the roles of slaves in this skit. Woah. He’s in the same… uh… What do you call a place where slaves are held? I’m sure there’s a word for it, but it’s slipping my mind right now… Camp? Is it a slave camp? Where do slave ships take you? I don’t think it’s just called a cotton field… Alright, I’m just gonna say camp. Nas is being held in the same camp that Harriet Tubman was in. “Harriett done left the night before. It’s time we go.” Oh fuck. They’re about to hang my favorite MC. Okay the skit just ended and now this track has basically turned into The Genesis, Pt. 2. After the skit at the beginning it becomes very similar to the first track on Illmatic where Nas is just talkin’ about “It’s time, man” with his homies. This is probably one of the first times that I’ve actually been interested in a skit. Maybe it’s because I’m into the black struggle and black pride and all that, but most skits seem completely pointless compared to this shit. I guess the skits on good kid, m.A.A.d. city weren’t bad. This isn’t something that you just listen to; it’s not an actual song. I probably won’t delete it tho. I’ll just uncheck it in iTunes.
The specter of his ex-wife turns up as a scapegoat on Ugly It s grown men jealous outside It s grown-ass women that ll have you set up to die and Wu for the Children One girl for the rest of your life, is that realistic. The specter of his ex-wife turns up as a scapegoat on Ugly It s grown men jealous outside It s grown-ass women that ll have you set up to die and Wu for the Children One girl for the rest of your life, is that realistic.
The photograph was taken by Danny Clinch and was chosen to capture the raw authenticity and grittiness of Nas' experiences growing up in Queensbridge. The composition of the image, with Nas positioned on the right side of the cover and looking towards the viewer, creates a sense of intimacy and connection. The use of black and white photography adds to the album's overall aesthetic and enhances the sense of nostalgia.
Stillmatic
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.
Facebook Email PinterestIn the summer of 2000, at music mogul Steve Stoute’s birthday party in New York, Nas and JAY-Z ended up in an unexpectedly tense conversation about the state of hip-hop. The pair had never exactly been friends. After growing up in housing projects five miles and a borough apart, the rappers met in the early 1990s on a tour that included Jay’s mentor, Jaz, and Main Source, the group that had introduced Nas to the public with his incendiary guest verse on 1991’s “Live at the Barbeque.” They were not the main attractions; Nas would pop out to rap about snuffing Jesus and Jay would play hypeman for Jaz. The tour went off without a notable hitch, save for the incident in Washington, D.C. when members of the crowd, upset at a sound system failure, chased the performers back to their tour bus. “We were figuring we gonna have to knuckle down,” Main Source’s Large Professor would tell XXL in 2002, until Jay pulled a TEC-9 out of his gym bag and told the more famous artists not to worry.
With his astonishing 1994 debut, Illmatic, Nas was anointed the savior of a certain strain of formalist, autobiographical rap. Two years later, Jay released his own debut, Reasonable Doubt, on a label he co-founded with Biggs Burke and Dame Dash. Nas was supposed to appear on Reasonable Doubt’s “Bring It On,” but, according to Dash, kept flaking on scheduled recording sessions. His voice still made the album, though, sampled in the hook of “Dead Presidents II.” Nas’ second album, It Was Written, came out a week after Reasonable Doubt. On its first song, “The Message,” he sneers at rappers driving around New York in Lexuses with TV sets in the headrest; the line came to him when he saw Jay behind the wheel of one.
For several years, the feud—if you could even call it that—stayed at a simmer. But around the turn of the century, little barbs started jutting out of songs and freestyles. At first it sounded like bickering over the throne left vacant after the death of The Notorious B.I.G. Then things grew more personal, each rapper claiming he’d paved the way for the other’s style, career, persona; Jay began teasing a relationship he’d had with the mother of Nas’ daughter. There were no names yet, but the lines got more pointed.
Anyway—the conversation at the Stoute party. According to Nas, who recounted the conversation in the fall 2001 issue of Felon magazine (on the cover: “PEE WEE KIRKLAND SPEAKS OUT ON: GROUND ZERO”), Jay started by throwing his own people under the bus. He said that his protégé, Memphis Bleek, was a big fan of Nas. He said that Beanie Sigel would never sell more than 600,000 records. He said that unlike 2Pac and DMX, he and Nas were “lyricists”—that Pac and X only had “starving” fans buying their albums. “I looked at him like he was crazy,” Nas told the interviewer; he had just recorded with DMX, and had made plans to fly to Las Vegas and smooth over the tension with Pac before his death in 1996. Even more audacious was Jay’s alleged claim that he’d finally surpassed Big as an artist. (Sometime after this interview, on record, Jay would hedge—slightly: “And if I ain’t better than Big, I’m the closest one.”) “Then,” Nas said, “this slithering snake goes and does that Summer Jam bullshit.”
On June 28, 2001, during Hot 97’s annual festival at the Nassau Coliseum—where, five years earlier, Nas had famously stopped his concert after learning of Pac’s death—Jay rapped, first over Kanye West’s flip of the Doors’ “Five to One” and then, when the cheers grew deafening, acapella, an early version of a song called “Takeover.” Initially he went after Prodigy, whose childhood dance recital photos were plastered on a video screen. (Earlier in 2001, when Jay had convinced Funkmaster Flex to let his new signees freestyle for an hour on Hot 97’s airwaves, he made sure they were given the Mobb Deep rapper’s “Keep It Thoro” beat before tearing into Nas et al.’s “Oochie Wally.”) But at the end of the performance, he took aim at a different target. “Ask Nas,” Jay shouted over the din. “He don’t want it with Hov!”
A few weeks later, Nas responded with a freestyle over the beat from the “Paid in Full” remix. This is where he came up with the title Stillmatic. In a verse denser than most of the new ones from 1999’s tepidly received I Am…, Nas accuses Jay of biting his style back when the less established MC rapped “like the Fu-Schnickens”; he derides Jay’s “fake coke rhymes” and calls him, quite plainly, a liar. “Un was your first court case,” Nas notes, referring to the stabbing of record executive Lance “Un” Rivera, for which Jay eventually received three years probation. “You had no priors.”
It didn’t stick. The Blueprint dropped on September 11, 2001 (it “couldn’t even be stopped by bin Laden,” Jay would later brag), complete with the full version of “Takeover.” The verse that Jay stopped short of performing at Summer Jam, the one about Nas, was revealed as one of the most scathing disses in rap history. After some perfunctory cracks about “Oochie Wally” and those Karl Kani ads he, now, takes his turn calling Nas a fraud who patterned an identity on his. “You ain’t live it,” Jay raps,
Track 14: If I Ruled The World (Imagine That) Feat. Lauryn Hill [Prod. Trackmasters & Rashad Smith]
The simplicity of the album cover allows the focus to remain on Nas and his story, without any distractions or embellishments. Overall, the Nas Matic album cover is a powerful and evocative image that effectively captures the essence of Nas and his debut album. It serves as a visual representation of his upbringing and the experiences that shaped him as an artist. The cover art, combined with the lyrical depth and storytelling on the album, solidifies "Illmatic" as a timeless classic in hip-hop history..
Reviews for "Nas' "matic" Album Cover: A Visual Manifestation of Justice and Equality"
1. John - 2/5 stars - I was really disappointed with the album cover of Nas' "Matic" album. It looked so dull and uninspired. I was expecting something more creative and visually appealing. The black and white color scheme felt outdated and lacked any excitement. It did not capture my attention or make me interested in listening to the music. Overall, I think the album cover could have been much better and more representative of Nas' talent and style.
2. Sarah - 1/5 stars - I absolutely hated the album cover of Nas' "Matic" album. It was so generic and unoriginal. The design was lackluster and did not stand out in any way. It felt like the artist put no effort or thought into it. I was expecting something unique and visually captivating, but instead, I got a boring and forgettable image. It definitely did not do justice to Nas' music or his reputation as a groundbreaking artist. I was really disappointed with the album cover.
3. Michael - 2/5 stars - The album cover of Nas' "Matic" was incredibly underwhelming. It felt like a simple black and white photograph slapped onto the cover without any significant design or concept. There was no creativity or originality in it. It failed to evoke any emotion or curiosity. Personally, I believe an album cover should be able to visually convey the essence of the music it represents, but this one fell flat. It lacked imagination and artistic vision. I was left feeling disappointed and unimpressed.