[ Past ] Classic Album Sundays Oslo Presents Nas ‘Illmatic’

In April we’re celebrating one of the best hiphop albums of all time. Celebrating it’s 25th Anniversary this month, Nas’s Illmatic was a game-changing record which helped kick-start the resurgence of New York hiphop in the mid ’90s. It’s an album that struggles between optimism and nihilism, the mood shifting, between lines and songs, at a moments notice, as Nas strives to realise his world-beating ambitions in the midst of conflict and deprivation. Far from allowing teenage angst to overwhelm him, the rapper is often alarmingly cool headed and pragmatic, even when cold despondency seeps in through the cracks.