Nas's Illmatic Read Online Free Page B

neighborhood.” In fact, this six-block micro-community had already cemented its place in hip hop history years before Nas began recording. This was almost entirely due to Marley Marl, arguably the first truly great hip hop producer.
    Born ten years before Nas, Marl was involved in hip hop for a few years before he broke into the history books with MC Shan’s “The Bridge.” Shan, also from Queensbridge, was a member of Marl’s legendary Juice Crew, a group that included early genre clown Biz Markieand Big Daddy Kane, arguably one of the five greatest rappers ever. Though its programmed drums and elementary cutting render the classic helplessly old-school, the song’s stark tone and boastful presentation were pitch-perfect. Separated from
Illmatic’
s “Halftime” by nearly ten years, it would not be hard to believe the two songs were made in different centuries (and with the current minimalist retro fads, it might even be hard to determine which came first). Yet both records are easily identified by their youthful exuberance, a level of hubris that can only come with early victories. For Nas and Marl, these victories were achieved in their neighborhood, where each had lived an American life long before they rose to city-wide attention.
    “The Bridge” wasn’t just famous because of its natural qualities. Its confrontational account of Queensbridge’s evolution as a hip hop destination was mistaken by Bronx-born KRS-One and his Boogie Down Productions as a claim to hip hop’s overall birthplace. The misunderstanding prompted a back and forth that has gone down in history as the first major hip hop beef, culminating with the first great response record “The Bridge Is Over,” a blistering and brilliant dis record that cemented KRS-One’s reputation as a dominant power in hip hop.
    But as the hip hop nation moved on, Nas spent his youngest years in Queensbridge. Though he first followed his jazz-musician father as a trumpet player (Dara would tell
The New York Times
years later that Nas had been “a little phenom” as a toddler), by the time Nas arrived in Queens he had lost interest. For a short period, Nas, like other New York emcees growing up around the same time, wanted to be a comic book artist, but once he hit double digits the young artist had found his calling. Nas told Jon Shecter of
The Source
about his awakening:
    The first time I heard rap was in my projects. In the park, outside, summertime thing, when I was crazy young. They had them old disco records and shit, cuttin’ that shit up. I witnessed all that shit, the beginning, you kno’m sayin’?
    His path was further mapped out for him when, in ninth grade, Nas dropped out of high school. His father had exited the scene a few years earlier, leaving Ann Jones to raise Nas and his brother , Jabari aka Jungle, alone. He had begun smoking weed, doing his thing hard “robbin foreigners take they wallets they jewels and rip they green cards.” He had already started recording informally with his best friend, Will “Ill Will” Graham, who lived upstairs from him, initially under the name Kid Wave. But it wasn’t until a couple years later that things began to really fall together for the emcee.
    “I met Large Professor in ’89,” Nas told
The Source
. Still a young man himself, William Mitchell aka Large Professor had begun to develop a notable production career, working with Eric B. and Rakim, Kool G Rap, and putting together his own group, Main Source. The producer was immediately impressed with the young rapper from Queensbridge. 4 Himself a Queens native, Large Pro would take Nas under his wing, shopping his demo around and inviting him up to the studio during off recording times.
    This informal working relationship became official when Main Source’s debut, the undeniable classic
Breaking Atoms
was released in 1991. The record is notable for its quintessential rendition of the New York underground, displaying upbeat and highly lyrical