illmatic is the reason I like rap. And I like rap.
My pre-teen years were filled with the strains of 36 Chambers creeping out of my brother’s bedroom, matched in intensity only by my dad’s demands for it to be turned down/off. While I got that Wu-Tang was something to be respected, that Tupac made you cool at school and that Run DMC had made shoes important, I was frontin’ in the truest sense of the term.
It wasn’t until Pete Rock, Large Professor and DJ Premier laced raw east coast beats with brilliant jazz samples and Nasty Nas caused mass hysteria in my area that I understood why hip-hop was running amok in Sydney’s suburbs, headlining admonishing letters to parents from concerned Principals.
That tipping point led me to the back corner of countless record stores, hours of internet trawling and half-cut backyard battles, trying to recapture that first moment that I “got it”. Mos Def, Kweli, Common, J5, Kendrick, College Dropout era Yeezy, Schoolboy Q, Chance – many have come close, but it is still illmatic, 20 years on.
-Chris P
[Further reading/viewing - checkout Fuse’s 3 part special about the record’s legacy]
