Tomorrow on April 19, Nas‘ classic opus Illmatic turns 25 years old. To celebrate the epic album and commemorate the anniversary, Mass Appeal sat down with some of the people who had a hand in the effort.
Large Professor, DJ Premier, Pete Rock and Large Professor reminisced on the Nasir debut, looking back at what they remember from that time.
Primo talked about why it didn’t go super platinum when it first came out, why “Represent” is a remix after he heard other records and how “NY State of Mind” came about. Large Pro spoke on putting him on “Live At the BBQ” and why he was such a wordsmith, while Pete remembers just crossing his fingers and hoping he made a classic. It happened to be one of the biggest classics he was a part of.
You can also hear commentary from Danny Clinch, the legendary photographer who took the epic portraits that made the album cover. Faith Newman also speaks on signing Esco to Columbia in 1991 and how nobody envisioned what the album would become what it did.
These are the architects of Illmatic.
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