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You're listening to WXAV 88.3 FM Chicago. This is Musical Catastrophe with your host, me, DJ Eddie X. And as always, I am joined by my co-host, DJ Eddie. Today, we've got two albums that were monumental in their genres.
We have Illmatic by Nas and Olay by Bat. Well, we're just going to jump right into it. Okay, so first, we'll talk about Illmatic. Okay.
Now, you told me about this, and you told me a little bit about the history behind this. That Nas was basically working on this album when he was, like, 16? Nah, dude, he was, like, I believe he was, like, 19 or something like that. He was, like, 18 or 19, something along those lines.
His debut album. And this was, I believe, 93, if I'm correct. It says 1994. 1994.
I think he started production in 93 and released in 94, something along those lines. In fact, check me if you want to. When this album first came out, of course, I wasn't born yet. But I had family members that were.
And I heard stories about there being mixed reactions to it. There were some people that were, like, the heck is this? But then there was a lot of people that loved it. And my uncle, shout out to my uncle, because he's the one who put me into hip-hop, was one of the people that loved it.
And he specifically recalls putting in the cassette tape. He pressed play and he heard New York State of Mind. And he was blown away. And that's how I felt when I first heard it, because he played it for me.
Ever since then, I think it's become a classic in the hip-hop genre. If you look at other classic albums within the respective genre, you got, like, Two Packs, All Eyes on Me, Dr. Dre's, The Chronic. You got the Marshall Mathers LP.
You have Wu-Tang's, 36 Chambers. So, you know, there's just a lot of classic albums that are in the genre. And Illmatic is one of them, right? So that's exactly why I recommended it to you, because, you know, being a newbie in the hip-hop genre as of right now, you're kind of, you know, getting a fresh start.
But I thought we'd go back, take it back a little bit to one of the instant 90s classics. Yeah. And I had that same reaction when I first heard it. Okay.
The first time you told me to listen to it while we were preparing for this podcast, I heard The Genesis, you know? It's like this track that just, like, it's not really a song, but it opens up the album. And I thought, wow, okay, this wants to take me somewhere. Yeah.
And then I heard New York State of Mind. And then, oh, man, it just clicked. Yeah. Gotcha.
Yeah. And what made it even more intense was the lineup of New York State of Mind, then Life's a Snitch. Yeah, we'll call it Life's a Snitch for censorship purposes. And then we got The World is Yours.
Those three tracks are bangers. Oh, yeah. Classic boom-bap for you right there. Yeah.
Also, I thought it was very autobiographical of Nas. Absolutely. He puts his memories and his perspectives on hip-hop and the state of hip-hop at that point. Right.
Because it was still fresh. It was still new. But I feel like this also kind of opened the floodgates for himself to create the rest of the album. Right.
Which is solid all the way through. It's almost like he's hyping himself up. Like, this is what we have right now. This is what our current state is.
But the world is yours. And three tracks, like, you know, hit, hit after hit after hit. It's kind of him saying, like, well, I'm here now and I'm going to do what I want with this. So I get the intention from listening to this album that obviously Nas has seen a lot of stuff, right?
Growing up in hardcore Brooklyn, New York, right? When I hear New York State of Mind, you know, to start off the album, it gets me in this mood. It's like, okay, I'm in Nas's shoes. I'm in a different worldview than other people might not exactly see on an everyday basis, right?
Like sticking up kids and involved in shootouts and, you know, things of that nature. Junkies and stuff like that on the street corners. It's really an aspect of life that people fail to see when they're not exactly exposed to it. So I think Nas does a great job on that album just painting a picture and then relating it to himself, right?
Because when you look at other artists such as, we'll say Rakim, right? Rakim did the same thing. But I think their appeal in the early stages of their career was just getting noticed, right? I think if I listen to this album, like, of course, every rapper in the game is like, all right, this is what I want to do in order to set myself out there.
But I think Nas did it because he had something to say. And I think that's the greatest feeling about this album is, like, there's so much that he says that you can't believe he actually went through it. You know what I mean? It wasn't just for the fact that, oh, yeah, I want the fame and money.
It was like, no, like, this is the stuff that I endure on a daily basis and you guys need to hear about it. You know what I mean? So that's what I personally appreciate from the album. And I think it deserved that classic title just because of the way, not even just because of the way he spits, because the way he expresses himself through actually rapping is, like, beyond everything that people had previously heard as far as a lyrical level.
Not to say that, you know, there weren't lyricists back then, but the way he brought lyricism to the table was like, oh, my God. You know what I mean? It's just, there's so much that I could say about Illmatic. You know what I mean?
It's like, he did something to prove his skills, but he proved that Brooklyn, New York is his home, but there are flaws within his home. I think that was the most enjoyable part about the whole album. And you talk about his lyrical skills, but I think the beats that he was able to make and the instrumentals on this is also incredible. The craziest part is, like, Nas was one of the original artists to actually go to different producers for a project, right?
Because normally, like, you think of N.W.A. and all their songs were basically produced by Dr. Dre. You know what I mean?
Like, they had that one producer that they relied on for all their tracks. Nas was like, all right, I have a sound that I want, but there are different producers that will be able to bring that sound. And I think that's where we get a lot of the influence that we have today going on. Because, you know, there's a lot of artists that are like, oh, let me work with No Idea.
Let me work with, I don't know, the peoples or something like that. You know what I mean? But Nas, I feel like, was the one to really start that. I want to work with different producers just because of the fact that there's a sound that they can bring that somebody else might not be able to.
I think that's one of the impacts that he had on society. But there's a lot of people that think he can't choose beats in a weird way. Yeah, like, now there's a big argument going on that Nas can still rap, but he doesn't know how to pick beats. So, I guess, you know, comes with the territory, but hey, I guess it's personal preference, maybe.
Yeah, what I appreciate about those beats, though, is that there's a level of simplicity in it, but there's also an extra layer where if you dive into it a little bit more, you can notice certain sounds in all the instrumentation. But, I mean, all the way through the album, now that you mentioned that there's many producers who worked on this, I can definitely see that because each one of these songs is distinct in their own way. Sure, Nas has his style, but each one of those songs is this individual little world. Exactly.
I know, well, before we came on, you couldn't choose a highlight of this album. I can't because it's just, I think, all the way through, like, each and every song for me is just like, holy crap, like, I can't choose a song. I mean, if I really, really had to, I think the opener in New York State of Mind is, like, maybe number one for me just because of the fact that, like, it holds a special place for me historically as far as me listening to the album. Because when I first heard it, Mind You, I had no idea what he was saying at, like, what, eight, nine years old.
But the way he was rapping and the way his flow was on New York State of Mind was just insane to me. Like, the way he switched up his bars and, like, the way he was able to maneuver words to go into a separate bar. It was just like, like I said, I had no idea what any of the topic was at that age. But hearing the way he was rapping on that track was like, oh, my God, like, how did you do that?
You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't blame you. I mean, once I started listening to this album, it quickly became one of those albums that I put in my regular rotation for my personal listening because I think it's, like, super solid front to back that a single listen will not give you all that this album has to offer. Absolutely.
But I will say just personally, my favorite song is Memory Lane slash Sitting in the Park. Okay. It just has, like, a nice chill beat to it and I feel like that is one of those songs that I would want to play while I was, like, Sitting in the Park. Yeah, okay.
With the song title, so why not? But, like, going out a bit, I think this album was also a precursor to all the modern, like, hip-hop that we have now. I just feel that elements from today's hip-hop can be traced down from the metric. Okay.
I mean, there's a lot of people that came before Nas that he picked up influences on, but I think definitely, like, late 90s, early 2000s, listening to Illmatic was, like, one of those albums that you just had to do to become a hip-hop artist. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, it kind of still holds true to this day.
I think the album's, like, what, 25-something years old? You know, 25, 26 years old? Yeah. So for him to still re-release it and still sound like a classic, I think that weighs a lot on the hip-hop culture and, like, the way it's trying to come back as far as lyricism is concerned because, you know, there are a lot of variations of hip-hop these days that people would consider the way they listen to the genre.
But as far as, like, lyrical capability, I think people listen to Illmatic and it's like, that's the bar I want to set because you can still play this 25, 26 years later and it still sounds incredible. And I think that's why people consider it a classic, though, from my understanding, and this is personal information being passed down. A lot of people were kind of iffy on it at first. You know what I mean?
It had a lot of its critical acclaims. I think there were a lot of people that were like, oh, you know, Pox out. You know what I mean? Biggie's out.
So let's just listen to those guys. Or Rakim's out. Let's just listen to these guys. You know?
So. Or it'd be in Rakim, excuse me, because Rakim went on his separate ways a little later. Yeah. And at the same time, there wasn't too many people on the rock and roll side of things breaking out and just having a lot of fame.
I think the number one rock act that we had at that point was, like, Kid Rock. Jesus. Yeah. And I know that guy.
Yeah. So just to get into it, I had no idea who Beck was. I still kind of don't know who Beck is, considering I just listened to this album very carefully. You know me.
There's a lot of albums that I just can't get into for certain reasons. Yeah. I'm not going to say this is one of those albums, but, you know, this album definitely has highlights. There are some albums I'm like, oh, okay, this sounds really cool.
You know what I mean? But then I'm like, oh, no. Like, what were you doing? Like, that sounds ridiculous.
Like, why would you put that in there? So I definitely have a mixed opinion about it. I think I need to take a couple more listens to it to really appreciate what he was trying to do. As you said, there's a lot of people that flock to it and really give it such high regards.
But for me, you're being nothing but a hip-hop head listening to this, I'm like, okay, what's going on here? Like, somebody explain. Is there context behind certain songs that I'm not getting here? Or, like, you know, is there something I'm just generally missing about the story or something?
Like, is there a story to this album? I don't think there's a story to this album. I don't think there's a continuous theme running through this. Okay.
I think this album is, like, a collection of songs. All right. Some of the instrumentation on here is, like, okay, I can probably do with, you know, 30 seconds less of this. Or I can probably do without the ridiculous vibes that certain songs give off.
I'm like, nah, I'm not feeling this right now. Maybe you can if you're under some certain influence. I would assume because that's kind of what this sounds like. Something that you might have to be under some certain influence.
I'm not going to say what kind because there are different variations. But there's just some I'm like, mm-mm, no, no. Like, one song in particular to me, Dear Liked? Is that what you say, Dear Liked?
I'm just like, no. I noted that there's, like, a jungle vibe to the song. Like, a South African kind of feel going for it. And I'm just like, mm-mm, no, not feeling it.
Especially coming off of, like, Lord Only Knows or Hot Wax or anything like that. Like, I'm just like, nah. Yeah. Sorry, bro.
Can't do it. Not for me. It's weird because at those times, I said, there are those times where it does feel like it drags along. But then, you know, you look at some of the longer songs, like, where it's at.
Right, right. That's actually one of the songs that I liked. Yeah. Because it just seemed catchy to me.
Mm-hmm. Just to be simple and plain about it. Like, it was catchy. It works.
Like, just that it's that simple, you know? For some reason, Beck is able to make some songs stretch out and work a lot better than he does with other ones. So I don't really know about that. I feel like maybe, like I said, I definitely have to go back and listen to this again.
I don't know if I will. But I feel like in order to get the full experience, maybe I have to go back and listen to it maybe like three or four more times. Or maybe just listen to a couple of songs three or four more times and really sit down with them. But, I mean, there's definitely, like, Hot Wax is definitely a cool song for me.
Like, I felt it was kind of hip-hoppy in a way. Just personal opinion. The vocals for me were clear and understandable. So that I appreciated.
The harmonica that I liked, you know, I like in that track and the record scratching and the transitions Novocaine, I thought was pretty cool because it just sounded trippy. It was one of those tracks I was like, all right, you might have been under the influence for this one, but you don't have to be in order to enjoy it. Where It's At was also another one that I really liked in High Five. It was a decent track for me, too.
Those were the ones that I really dug into and were like, oh, yeah, this sounds like something I would listen to again and listen to over again. And I also think this album kind of shows off this weird time period where rock was trying to find itself after the 90s, you know, because sure, in the 90s, you know, we went through, like, that grunge and, like, that punk era. But then after the 2000s, we really didn't have our foot in, like, a single place. And I think this album kind of represents that because it kind of does go all over the place.
Like you mentioned, Beck has some parts where he is kind of doing, like, a hip-hop vibe on some of the songs, but then other ones is, like, a straight-up acoustic thing. Right, yeah, that was one of the things I heard. Like, there's a bunch of different sounds on this album, and I think that's why I need to listen to it again because there are so many different sounds. Like, you know, we were just talking about how Illmatic has different sounds within the album, but you knew it was still hip-hop.
You know what I mean? Like, for Oblé, like, there's so many sounds within the album that you can't really tell what he's going for. And maybe that's the point. I would assume that's the point.
But me personally, I just, I don't know, you know, what the point of it is just because of the fact that there are so many variations of sounds on this album that I just don't normally listen to. Not to say that it's bad in any way. I just don't particularly care for them because of the fact that I don't listen to it like that. So when you throw tracks like Jackass at me, I'm like, hmm, okay.
Yeah. But definitely, definitely, definitely. But that's going to do it for this episode of Musical Catastrophe. I have been your host, DJ Eddie Axe.
And your co-host, DJ Woody. And tune in for next time. Thank you very much for listening to this WXAV 88.3 FM podcast. Be sure to visit our website, WXAV.com, for more information on your escape from ordinary radio.