July 26, 2025 • 41 mins
On this bonus episode, host Vegas saw Nas perform his debut album, "Illmatic" live with the Philadelphia Orchestra. This is the review!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming up on this week's episode of Hip Hop Now podcast,
It's my review of NAS with Orchestra in Philly performing Aromatic.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Let's do it. Welcome to Jipop Now, pot fat as
should do from the future.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
You know what's dot.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Your ass out of?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So disrespect the leg like hip hop can say to day,
let's get racist business.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
What up y'all?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Eye and yours Vegas and debts. It's hip Hop Now
podcasting podcast specifically designed to keep you caught up on
all things hip hop, music and culture that happened throughout
the week. This is a bonus episode. You saw the thumbnail.
You know what it is. You know what we're talking
about tonight, tonight today, whatever wherever you are. But first
(01:05):
and foremost want to shout out to subscribers who have
been subscribing an audio.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Form for however long.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Bars appreciate you, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get
your podcast audio listening. And also extra special shoutout well
equal let me just say equal and on start any wars,
but the equal shout out to those who are subscribed
(01:33):
right here on YouTube. We are at sev thousand subscribers,
which is great. I appreciate you. I think we can
get to twenty five thousand by the end of the year.
I really think it's possible now, because at first I didn't.
I just was like, whatever, we got to a thousand,
(01:53):
I was cool, five ten thousand, it was fine. But
now it's like, Okay, keep going up?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Why not? Why not keep going up? You know what
I'm saying. It just makes sense.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So shout out to you the content on the channel
if you missed it and might want to check it out.
And this is also in an audio form. Recently did
a review of the Clips, which looks like album other
Yeah at this point, but we'll see, got a lot
to go, Like, God sort them out. I'm not one
(02:28):
of you new guys who's just like yeah. For the
first week or so, I was listening, but yeah, I'm
good now. No, I'm still listening. Also check out my
review in the last episode of Ray Kwan's brand new
album The Empress New Clothes featuring ghost Face Met the
Man Nas you know, Griselda. That being Westside, Gunn Benny,
(02:51):
the Butcher and Conway very dope album that even though
my review says it's a good album but it won't
make my top five. I'm not gonna lie. I've been
listening to Like That and clips back to back. I
skipped the skits though now because they just they just
(03:15):
don't make no sense. I don't know why they're there,
They're just there to be there. But as far as
the music, Ray Kwon's performance as an MC the features,
I'm still not the biggest fan of gruff sounding voice ghosts,
but lyrically he came through and did what he did
(03:37):
what he does, and I don't mind it as much.
So we'll see. That's what the deliberation between end of
the year means. Man just kind of listening to the
best that drops and seeing where they fall by the
end of the year. So my top five is not
safe because we got a lot to go. But let's
(04:00):
get into what you came here for, what I'm here
to report. So first and foremost, let me give a
big shout out to the homie Jamar who are called
me at the last minute or texted me at the
last minute to say, Yo, you want to go see
nas in Philly with an orchestra And I was like yeah,
(04:26):
is it three ninety nine and he was like yep.
So me and my wife met up with him and
his lady and we went to Philly check out NAS
with the Philadelphia Orchestra and it was at the TD
Pavilion at the Man So if you don't know, that's more.
That's an outdoor venue, right, It's a pavilion. So you know,
(04:50):
if you got good seats, which we really did. Again
shout out to Jamar, you're in the pavilion area, but
there's also areas behind that with grass and chairs and
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
We was everywhere, y'all. Y'all know this.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
If you've been to any festival, it don't even have
to be a hip hop festival. I've been inside venues.
This is in Newark and Jpex. I've been inside venues.
I want to see Funkadelic, Parliament or George Clinton. Right,
And you would have thought we was outside the way
(05:27):
people were smoking in there. It was crazy. It was
I was just like smoking inside like this. But whatever,
but it was. It was a nice venue, you know
what I'm saying. We had good seats. It was hot.
It was hot, and some of it just had to
(05:47):
do with the fact that.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Everybody was standing up, as you can.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Imagine, because it was nas Is performing all magic and
it just was a type of concert where you wanted
to stand up. You know, I sat down a couple
of times because I am deep, I'm a old man, okay.
And then there's a couple of songs I just took
time to, like look at the photos I got and
(06:12):
stuff like that. But my review of it is going
to be interesting. Let me just say, for those who
just want to know straight off the back shit, they
go see it. Yes, if you're a NAS fan, you should.
If you're an Ellmatic fan, you should go see it right,
and I'll tell you why.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But the way the show is set.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Up right, NAS is kind of telling the story with
this album Ellmatic about the time right about where he was,
who he was, his history, how he just wanted to
have one song he wanted like, man, if I could
get one song in a radio, I would be happy.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I don't even need a record deal long, nothing like that,
just one song on the radio, which I thought was dope,
right and sort of like an inspiration for those who
want to get on right. I know, being on the
radio isn't the thing as much as it used to be,
but you kind of it's the equivalent of putting your
(07:20):
song out there and seeing people react in a positive way, right,
or even going viral. That's kind of like how he
looked at it back in early to mid nineties, like
if I could just have one song that's a hit
that everybody know that's played on the radio, I'd be happy.
(07:41):
And throughout the performance of Illmatic, you know, he kept
telling these different stories, and most weren't necessarily like this
song is about, right, or this song is inspired by
It was more of a setup for the song, like
(08:01):
what the song is about, like a song like the
world is yours?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Right. He's talking in real time, not just back then.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
But one thing I really liked about it was he
focused on the cassette, like, Yo, the cassette. Y'all have
cassettes back then, blah blah blah, Like we only halfway
through the cassette before we flip it over.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So it was it was pretty dope.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Because he was trying to paint the picture of what
it was, what it was like when ill Matic came out,
and how most of us absorbed that music.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I have the cassette behind me, but why show you.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
You've seen a cassette before, right, But I have the
original that I purchased back in ninety four, and one
of the things that stood out to me is he
did all he did all the joints right that you
know off the album, a couple of a couple of
the songs were dope, right, like he obviously did New
(09:02):
York State of Mind. It was it was like how
the songs were building, you know, right. Some were medleys
like One Love, And when I say medleys, I'll tell
you it really wasn't a medley, but I mean the
Music League One Love was sort of teased would represent
(09:23):
at the same time because they kind of played a
little bit of representing. I was like, Oh, they're gonna
do represent but then it kind of transitioned into one
Love and he performed One Love, but then they transitioned
back to represent and I was like, oh that's cool.
That's different, right, same thing like with songs like the
(09:45):
World Is Yours, not as far as the medley, but
just it was dope the way they didn't start like yo,
just start playing a recognizable beat and that's it, right.
It was a build, right. None of it started the
way you would press play on a record. So I
kind of liked that when he did it with one
(10:06):
Love and representing the world is yours right, it ain't
hard to tell. And the drummer was singing Michael Jackson's
part on there, which was kind of crazy. But there
was another song and I'm mad, I'm forgetting it now
and it.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Could be one Love.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
But the drummer was singing the lyrics or the harmony
or something like that from the original sample.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I thought that was hot because at first I was.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Like, you know, you had noding, like, oh, you know what,
that's the sample for this song. But they're playing the
sample out and the drummer is singing. When I say,
those are two very different vocals that you gotta hit,
(11:03):
vocal tunes that you have to hit to sing Michael
Jackson's da da dot Like see, I can't even do
it sound oh dot dot dot. You know how Mike
sing it, Okay, But to have him do that, I
just thought it was nice touches right. First of all,
nas was clean when it came out. The suit was crazy, okay.
(11:25):
The jewelry looked like it had lights on it because
it was diamonds.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It was hot, right, the glasses, the shades or whatever,
everything was hot, So it kind of and the band
obviously tuxes and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
So it was kind of dope to see.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Nas at this point in his career performing this album,
his debut album, in this way it had a sense
of mature already celebration. Even Na said, like, yo, we
made it right now, I made it. We made it right.
(12:09):
If you've been listening to me since ninety four and
all the things we've been through and you here tonight,
we made it. I just thought that was so dope
because when you think about it, if you are like
a hardcore fan of Nas and you've been on that
journey with him and he's saying things like this, you
(12:31):
start to reflect off your own life and a part
of one of the biggest reasons why we like artists,
not maybe not all this point'd be the reason for all,
but the majority of the time is because we can relate.
And here was Nas being relatable based off of his journey.
But his journey was your journey as a fan, because
(12:55):
you were there throughout his career, throughout his life, the
ups and down, marriage, divorce, mother, passing, rap, beefs, East Coast,
West Coast, like all of it. So it was dope
to see like this celebration. And what else was dope
was he didn't look old, right, he didn't look worn
(13:17):
down or like because you know how some celebrities you
see him on television.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Like still look good. He still look good, and.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Then you see him in person and you start to
see the blemishes and you're like, oh, that must have
been the camera angle or something.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Uh, but not he looked good.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
And then also when he brought out as as looked
good like yo were healthy, we hear we you know,
the struggle hasn't beaten us down. As coming out and
performing with nas was the crowd went crazy because it's
easy and nods together. There's more history. And obviously he
(13:59):
performed Lives of which was dope. But then later A
Z came back and performed like a medley of songs,
which I, honestly I didn't anticipate because after Nazda Illmatic
he did a few of his other songs, but with
(14:19):
a Z in particular, he performed like Affirmative Action right
phone Tap, because at first phone Tap was kind of
weird because now was like holo, holdo, I dropped something.
People were like, oh, drop that watch, you know, drop
that watch? With that Ice in it, but he was like,
I dropped my beeper. So at first I'm like, oh,
(14:41):
they're about to do phone tap, and that's exactly what happened.
But just to double back to Illmatic, and I just
want to point out a few things that stood out
to me while he's performing Illmatic. One, if you've seen
Nas perform in street clothes by himself, this isn't the
(15:08):
same experience.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
It's just it just isn't.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
It's not Now if you've seen him perform a million times,
you've seen him perform those songs.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I doubt it's drastically different for you.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
But I think there's something to be said about Nas
being in a suit, orchestra behind him, his band members
being in suits. You know, it just it just brings
a different level to Ellmatic. It celebrates it in a
I don't want to be elitist, but in a high
(15:43):
class way. And honestly, there should be more albums celebrated
in that way, you know what I'm saying. But we're
talking about el matting and Nas has already done it.
So and not to say that nobody ain't rhynd with
no banjo bands or orchestra. Everybody's round with everything before
the Roots was a band. Okay, what I'm saying is
(16:05):
the presentation for that album where he's literally talking about
project steps and pissy hallways and crackheads and it's a
classy affair. Now, the crowd, or at least in Philly,
wasn't dressed that way. And I think it had more
(16:27):
to do with it being outside because I came dressed
in a way where I was halfway right. I was casual,
you know. I had a T shirt, you know, some
something little ill you know, T shirt, had some light jeans,
don't have some exclusive kicks on. But I left my
blazer in the car because when I saw how people
(16:50):
were rolling up, I was like, oh, I don't need it.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Plus it was super hot, like I was already hot,
So it was all like a blessing.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
But that's the one thing to separate NAS with orchestra
versus NAS on stage with DJ. It's very different. I know,
NOAs with DJ is probably just as dope, even more
hip hop. But I like this. I like seeing different
things done in hip hop. So if you felt some
(17:22):
kind of way, because in the past, for those who
don't know, NAS said that this was a couple of
years ago that he's never performing Allmatic again. I think
that was an emotional statement because I think this type
of performance with the orchestra gave the album new life
(17:42):
and gave him motivation, because, to be honest, when he
said that, we killed him for it, Like what nope
are you sayings like Allmatic? You're not gonna perform anymore?
You know what I'm saying. So it's dope to see.
I don't I don't have I don't have any grapes
about it. I don't go to a lot of shows,
to be honest, unless there's some kind of band, So
I'm cool with it.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Some other things I noted now.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I say this all the time when it comes to Illmatic,
and most people say I'd like one time for your mind.
I don't see nothing wrong with it. I don't skip it.
Some even say it's great. I'm not even arguing any
of that. I just always felt out of everything else.
(18:34):
It's the weakest link and the one that sounds out
of place with the tone of the album. Now it's
dope because it's a lighthearted song on an album that
talks about so many strong themes, right serious themes.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So I'm not against One Time for Your Mind.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
But every time I say it's the weakest link, or
sometimes I skip it, here come the Avenger Defenders, right
and again I'm not gonna hold you.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
But guess what.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Nas is here to perform illmatic with an orchestra, and
he didn't perform One Time for your Mind, only record
on that short album, because it is a short album,
but the.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Only record on that album he didn't.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Perform was one Time for Your Mind. I'm just saying, okay,
even Na, I skipped it. Okay, I'm just making that point.
Another thing that stood out. Now, forgive me if I
missed it. If you've seen Nas perform with symphony in
(19:45):
another city and this did happen, then maybe he slipped
right and forgot. But again, as Nas is talking through
the album, he said, Yo, you know, I was just
a kid who was blessed to have all these dope producers.
So he starts naming them like prem Large, Professor and
(20:09):
Q Tip and l E S. And then it keeps talking,
and I'm like, but no, he didn't. He didn't say
Pete Rock. Now, one of two things, if you know
the news and you know the history of Nas and
Pete Rock, there's always been issues there. The rumor back
(20:33):
in the days was their issues came when Pete Rock
I guess tried to talk to his girl or something
like that was baby mama at the time, so.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
That so that was a problem right at the time.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Some people say, well jay Z, yeah, they wasn't together
when jay Z was messing with Carmen, so it didn't matter, right,
players don't care about you know what you used to have, Okay,
But I think the rumor back then was that, you know, Nas,
this was his baby mother. He was actively with her
(21:07):
when this happened. Now, I don't know if that's true
or not, but it made a lot of sense versus
when's the last time you heard Nas and pe Rock
And I'm talking about forget now, I'm talking about even
if you go back then, right, you would think, but
you've heard Primo and other large pro like you've heard
(21:27):
other collaborations with some of those people, so you know
there was that.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
But I think possibly it may have more.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
To do with the legal situation that came up, and
there could be legal ramifications for even saying somebody's name.
So I was thinking, like, well, maybe that's fine, or
or if we just want to go to the essence.
(21:59):
Maybe he just don't rock with them based off of
their relationship over the years, but it didn't seem like
that when things came to a head in recent years,
where you know, Pete Rock was I guess trying to
get some money for something, and not necessarily like I'm
getting at Nas for.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
It, but more so.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Something that he was probably old as a producer and
you know and companies and you know, the industry. And
I remember NAS's response not being a combative one. So
who knows, Maybe he just forgot But I'm sitting there,
like he said Eance and I know Lis is from Queensbridge,
(22:43):
so it's probably easier to say, but it's Pete Rock.
So again, maybe he forgot to show. Maybe I missed
it at this show. Maybe I didn't start paying attention
until after he said the other names. Maybe he said
Pete Rock first. I don't remember, but I just remember
waiting to hear that and like, oh he didn't say
(23:06):
Pete Rock. Okay, cool, But nevertheless, didn't really take anything
away from the show. It was just something I observed.
So again, if you experienced it, and he said Pete
Rock's name at another show. Leave your comments in a
comments section below. It's not my battle. I don't care
that much. Also, this is what stood out, so again
(23:31):
shout out to the homie Jamar. I leaned over to
Jamar and said, yeah, it's dope that not started this
out right saying we don't we don't wrap over dubbed tracks.
We got real live musicians here. And then he commenced
to and and for the most part, not just illmatic songs,
(23:54):
but even a couple of songs in the Medleague of Records.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Afterwards, he was performing all three verses.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Like for real, for real and it's hot and he
got a tux seedough and I think somebody brought him
some honey at one point. Like now, I don't get
me wrong. He did the majority of the show performing
them lyrics to a t, and in some cases he
made little edits, but the edits were dope right, and purposely.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
They're for breath control.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Man, you're yelling in the mic, you're walking back and forth.
Sometimes you're jumping in the air like it's hot. You
know they had some air up there, but that don't
mean anything when you doing that kind of activity. So
I get the editing of the lyrics, but the way
they were edited, they were edited for breath control, and
they still sound dope in some cases sound cleaner, right,
(24:53):
And I was like, damn, you don't see that enough.
And I don't go to a lot of shows, but
typically cats will give you a verse from this song,
a verse from that song, like they'll give you verses, right,
or if it's a real popular song, they might give
you two. If it's the song they known for, then
(25:17):
they'll give you all three, all three verses. You're talking
about Nas performing back during the days of sixteens, sixteen,
sixteen sixteen on stage ninety degrees outside. They had air,
but we were dying, okay, wasn't nobody cared though? So
(25:40):
I thought that was dope to see because remember, this
man is fifty. It's not chiptooth NAS with mad energy,
you know what I'm saying, just with three thousand dudes
on the stage helping them, like and they just all
just b dah lahah.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
It's not all the energy. This is him.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
It's there's an orchestra, but it's him performing, right, And
he didn't take a lot of breaks to like let
beats build and stuff like that, and he didn't necessarily
rely on the crowd until a little bit towards the end,
but understandably so the brother he looked tired. He looked
physically tired after a while, which was cool. Like my
(26:25):
homie said, you know one time, Nah stop rapping and
just closed his eyes and I was he was like
it was he sleep like?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And it was.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
But I mean, what after what we just watched with
Illmatic alone? You know, I was hoping it was a
little bit more at the end. Plus I knew because
I saw clips back in the days, but I didn't
know how much after performing Illmatic was going to be
at the end, which I think I'll get into right now.
(27:00):
So he performs Ellmatic like yo, my first album Ellmatic
by Bah Bah Bow. The orchestra gets up and walks out,
so I'm kind of like, all right, what we're doing.
But then I'm starting to see, oh, his band's not
moving right. The DJ I think it was a dude
on keyboards, the drummer, and I think a dude who
(27:23):
had a base. They stayed, so I'm like, oh, I
know what we're about to get. And he starts saying,
you know, he start announcing or start like bigging up
the years of his albums because he like, you know
what I'm saying, Ellmatic ninety four, and then he starts
going through the years of release, right ninety four, ninety six,
(27:45):
ninety eight, two thousand, like so the crowd is just
going crazy because you know, they thinking about all them
records they bought. And I'm getting hyped because I'm like,
oh yeah, now we're really about to Now we're going
back to q be with it. So he says we're
going to do a couple of those, and the first
(28:05):
record he does is the Message and if you could see,
well you can see right the background I got here
with the with the red I think with I think
the color changed to like a reddish green and if.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
You know, go watch it now on YouTube, if I
Rule the.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
World right in the beginning, now imagine being back, being
back then ninety six promotional campaign was Naza's coming co
m I ng when you pause police and this is
off of Illmatic, So the hype is crazy. And when
(28:49):
you see that if I Ruled the World video and
right in the beginning, NAS's in the lexus I Believe
front the Queen's Bridge with the red and green lighting
you know the hype William like put all over the
car and he does the message and I remember hearing
it back.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Then, like yo, what's that?
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Like?
Speaker 2 (29:08):
That song is crazy?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
So he starts this medley with the message and the
crowd goals bonkers as a result, and he.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Goes on to do a couple of joints again.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
He brought a Z back out and did Firmative Action
right which everybody went crazy, like yo, you want doing
firmative action phone tap like I said, And then A
Z did also did sugar Hill, which was the debut
single for him off of his debut album Do or
(29:41):
Die and I'm Not Gonna Hold You.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
At least where I was, I was the only one
with the sugar Hill, like like, I knew every bar
and you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Not to say that, you know, the crowd was faulty
because they didn't know, but I'm just saying, I'm hip
hop I know A Z too. I know his bars
as well, every bar. So that was a moment for
me to be like, you know sugar Hill, baby, you
know what I'm saying. Plus it sound good. But then
(30:19):
he this was the other takeaway before I finished. There's
always debates online about certain songs that NA done in
his career that the boombappers.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Hate, right, and really they say, yo, why you know
why he had to do if I Rule the World?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
You know, do that commercial song, which is crazy because
for one, Lauren Hill's on the hook and the Fuuji's
were hot as rappers back then.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Show what she's singing, if I Rule the World.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
If I Rule the World is a song by Curtis
Blow which is hip hop, right you ever heard it?
She's singing the hook to Curtis Blows song right now,
No R and B sexy, you know joint Curtis Blows song.
If I Rule the World Lauryn Hill singing the hook
(31:15):
and the beat is from Houdini hip hop one Love.
Please children, go and listen to these records before you
listen to these boombappers from back in ninety six. They
were lying to themselves. If I Rule the World is
hip hop through and through, no R and B beat,
no R and B hook, It's all hip hop, which
(31:38):
is dope.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
I always had a problem with the lyrics of I
opened every selling now that could send them to Africa, Like, Yo,
you want to send a bunch of criminals to Africa.
But that's just me being a comedian, okay. But nevertheless,
when that song hit, all them same dudes, who was
(32:00):
in the crowd, Oh no, you know, getting excited and
all of that. You know, I could see the boombappers
in the crowd. They was hyped too, and the ladies
were drowning you out if you wasn't nyped. So the
reaction was what it was. But it wasn't just that song.
Another song off of Nostra Damas, which is an album
(32:22):
that I believe it might be his second worst now
before it was his worst album because NA says eighteen
albums not see it might be his worst album. Nastra
Domas is probably better than that, but you owe me,
and I remember cats hated that. Now that was more
(32:43):
R and B radio ready, genuine on the hook singing.
But I was in the club back then, what was
that ninety eight? I was in the club heavy in
DC almost every weekend. And when I tell you that
song came out, me and my homies already knew what
(33:04):
it was, so we loved it the minute we heard it.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
We thought it was dope.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
The ladies was drowning this Pavilion out when that came on,
and I don't even think it was just the ladies.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
I think it was everybody, boombackers included.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
They were probably happy because he fed them allmatic first,
so now they were good like oh oh, I I'm good,
I got my I got my head nod on.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
He also performed.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Uchi Wally, which was which was also you know, like
okay Uchi Wally. He performed his verse, but I ain't
gonna hold y'all. I don't care what jay Z said.
The best verse on there is Jungle, and I hope
I was hoping, like just bring Jungle, little young thing
go without like please, but Jungle didn't come out okay,
(33:58):
which was cool. NA has performed his verse and lastly,
and he did more than that in the medley. I'm
just naming like like almost like the party records that
he performed.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
But he he did.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
He did made you look. You already know I was saying, yo,
he definitely gonna do made you look. But when you
think about the nas and Hip Boy run, he did spicy. Now,
I don't know if boombappers like that one, but it's
impossible not to like it's all King's Disease one. It's
(34:33):
the bonus track. But NAS got busy on that joint
and that beat.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
When I say Na's doing a medley of songs ending
with one mic.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
We expected, which was also dope because of the appearance
and how it was and you know, people knew all
the lyrics it was.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
It was dope to see right and uh dot way
that ended.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
But I think like in general, with this performance of Illmatic,
celebrating Illmatic, telling the story, bringing out a Z more
than once so that you get the you know, the
not you get your feel of nads and as as
far as like how they've been linked across the years
(35:24):
through their music together and you get like splashes of
songs throughout his career, that was dope.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
He even did his verse off of.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Missy's joint Hot Boys, I think that was the name
of that joint, which was dope. I forgot how violent
his verse was in there. I was like, damn bodies chapter.
I was like, whoa damn Like yo, y'all don't know,
like back then you get rappers was on R and
B joints talking like that, talking crazy. But it was
(35:58):
just dope to see a small snapshot of his career
starting with Ell Mattic and the things he did from
there all the way up to Spicy. It just was
a fantastic show for those who don't know. And I'm
definitely gonna end with this because I was gonna say
(36:18):
it anyway. So I basically grew up with us. I'm
not from Queensbridge, from Brooklyn. Don't get it twisted.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
My cousin is ill Will. Our families is very close,
you know what I'm saying. My mother and his mother
are sisters. When I say, back in the eighties and
early nineties, we me and my younger sister were in
Queensbridge like every weekend. It got to the point where
my mother was like, oh yeah, staying home this weekend.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
It's because Malon Versary's house was the fun house, so
obviously hanging out with my big cousin ill Will all
the time. And when Nas came out, it was difficult
for me for like maybe a good ten minutes to
not see him as the person I grew up with,
(37:18):
in a person I know. I'm I'm just keeping it
the buck with y'all, because that was the first time
I've seen him in person in decades now. I've talked
to him before since then, since you know, back in
the days. But that was the first time me seeing him. Now,
(37:38):
some people would.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Say, oh, you backstage, you get up on stage. That
wasn't the situation.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
When you put it this way, if you know somebody
who's a celebrity, you real cool with him like that,
that's not really how y'all connect, you know, you connect,
phone call, private situation stuff like that. I'm not running
up on stage so he could see that I'm there. Okay,
I can say that later like oh, I was in
(38:05):
Philly when you did blah blah blah. But it was
from a personal perspective. It took me a minute, right
because I'm like, oh, let's not see it right then
as he starts to perform the songs as I and
this is how it played out in my life. I
saw him as nas like you see him right, but
(38:29):
watching this, like this culmination of where he started and
where he is now and watching him perform at this
point in his career, it was like, he said, we
made it.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
That's how I felt proud. I was. I was proud
of him, I was proud of us, and I don't
mean me and him.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
I'm just everybody who was around during that time, whether
you knew somebody or not that we were here.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
We were help, We made it right. I'm not fat,
you know, because you can turn into that. Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
He rich, so he can get a trainer. Me I
got in old a plan of fitness, you know what
I'm saying. But I just enjoyed the experience overall. And
I again, if you're a NAS fan, illmatic maybe ill
maadic is the only joint you really like, go see
(39:27):
it if you can, go see it, because this experience
is very different from seeing him at sobs and like fatigues.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
And stuff like.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Don't get me wrong, that's just as dope. But this
felt more for This felt more appropriate for his journey,
and it feels like this is how hip hop should
be celebrated. Also, it doesn't have to be you know,
let's get hoodied and timed out, you know, let's celebrate
(39:59):
this classic album that goes beyond the genre of hip hop.
Did you go see Nas perform with the orchestra in
your city or another city? Leave your comments in a
comments section below. On YouTube, Tell me about your experience,
Follow me on social media at Vegas World.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
I n c.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Subscribe to the audio podcast if that's your bag, on
an Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast listening,
or if you prefer the video version you want to
see me say these things and check out all the
additional content I have on the channel, including a new
episode of back Time and hip Hop That's under way.
(40:44):
Subscribe to the YouTube channel hip Hop Now Pod. Hey, y'all,
I'm not a critic, a fan.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Peace,
Coming up on this week's episode of Hip Hop Now podcast,
It's my review of NAS with Orchestra in Philly performing Aromatic.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Let's do it. Welcome to Jipop Now, pot fat as
should do from the future.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
You know what's dot.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Your ass out of?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So disrespect the leg like hip hop can say to day,
let's get racist business.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
What up y'all?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Eye and yours Vegas and debts. It's hip Hop Now
podcasting podcast specifically designed to keep you caught up on
all things hip hop, music and culture that happened throughout
the week. This is a bonus episode. You saw the thumbnail.
You know what it is. You know what we're talking
about tonight, tonight today, whatever wherever you are. But first
(01:05):
and foremost want to shout out to subscribers who have
been subscribing an audio.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Form for however long.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Bars appreciate you, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get
your podcast audio listening. And also extra special shoutout well
equal let me just say equal and on start any wars,
but the equal shout out to those who are subscribed
(01:33):
right here on YouTube. We are at sev thousand subscribers,
which is great. I appreciate you. I think we can
get to twenty five thousand by the end of the year.
I really think it's possible now, because at first I didn't.
I just was like, whatever, we got to a thousand,
(01:53):
I was cool, five ten thousand, it was fine. But
now it's like, Okay, keep going up?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Why not? Why not keep going up? You know what
I'm saying. It just makes sense.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So shout out to you the content on the channel
if you missed it and might want to check it out.
And this is also in an audio form. Recently did
a review of the Clips, which looks like album other
Yeah at this point, but we'll see, got a lot
to go, Like, God sort them out. I'm not one
(02:28):
of you new guys who's just like yeah. For the
first week or so, I was listening, but yeah, I'm
good now. No, I'm still listening. Also check out my
review in the last episode of Ray Kwan's brand new
album The Empress New Clothes featuring ghost Face Met the
Man Nas you know, Griselda. That being Westside, Gunn Benny,
(02:51):
the Butcher and Conway very dope album that even though
my review says it's a good album but it won't
make my top five. I'm not gonna lie. I've been
listening to Like That and clips back to back. I
skipped the skits though now because they just they just
(03:15):
don't make no sense. I don't know why they're there,
They're just there to be there. But as far as
the music, Ray Kwon's performance as an MC the features,
I'm still not the biggest fan of gruff sounding voice ghosts,
but lyrically he came through and did what he did
(03:37):
what he does, and I don't mind it as much.
So we'll see. That's what the deliberation between end of
the year means. Man just kind of listening to the
best that drops and seeing where they fall by the
end of the year. So my top five is not
safe because we got a lot to go. But let's
(04:00):
get into what you came here for, what I'm here
to report. So first and foremost, let me give a
big shout out to the homie Jamar who are called
me at the last minute or texted me at the
last minute to say, Yo, you want to go see
nas in Philly with an orchestra And I was like yeah,
(04:26):
is it three ninety nine and he was like yep.
So me and my wife met up with him and
his lady and we went to Philly check out NAS
with the Philadelphia Orchestra and it was at the TD
Pavilion at the Man So if you don't know, that's more.
That's an outdoor venue, right, It's a pavilion. So you know,
(04:50):
if you got good seats, which we really did. Again
shout out to Jamar, you're in the pavilion area, but
there's also areas behind that with grass and chairs and
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
We was everywhere, y'all. Y'all know this.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
If you've been to any festival, it don't even have
to be a hip hop festival. I've been inside venues.
This is in Newark and Jpex. I've been inside venues.
I want to see Funkadelic, Parliament or George Clinton. Right,
And you would have thought we was outside the way
(05:27):
people were smoking in there. It was crazy. It was
I was just like smoking inside like this. But whatever,
but it was. It was a nice venue, you know
what I'm saying. We had good seats. It was hot.
It was hot, and some of it just had to
(05:47):
do with the fact that.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Everybody was standing up, as you can.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Imagine, because it was nas Is performing all magic and
it just was a type of concert where you wanted
to stand up. You know, I sat down a couple
of times because I am deep, I'm a old man, okay.
And then there's a couple of songs I just took
time to, like look at the photos I got and
(06:12):
stuff like that. But my review of it is going
to be interesting. Let me just say, for those who
just want to know straight off the back shit, they
go see it. Yes, if you're a NAS fan, you should.
If you're an Ellmatic fan, you should go see it right,
and I'll tell you why.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But the way the show is set.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Up right, NAS is kind of telling the story with
this album Ellmatic about the time right about where he was,
who he was, his history, how he just wanted to
have one song he wanted like, man, if I could
get one song in a radio, I would be happy.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I don't even need a record deal long, nothing like that,
just one song on the radio, which I thought was dope,
right and sort of like an inspiration for those who
want to get on right. I know, being on the
radio isn't the thing as much as it used to be,
but you kind of it's the equivalent of putting your
(07:20):
song out there and seeing people react in a positive way, right,
or even going viral. That's kind of like how he
looked at it back in early to mid nineties, like
if I could just have one song that's a hit
that everybody know that's played on the radio, I'd be happy.
(07:41):
And throughout the performance of Illmatic, you know, he kept
telling these different stories, and most weren't necessarily like this
song is about, right, or this song is inspired by
It was more of a setup for the song, like
(08:01):
what the song is about, like a song like the
world is yours?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Right. He's talking in real time, not just back then.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
But one thing I really liked about it was he
focused on the cassette, like, Yo, the cassette. Y'all have
cassettes back then, blah blah blah, Like we only halfway
through the cassette before we flip it over.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So it was it was pretty dope.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Because he was trying to paint the picture of what
it was, what it was like when ill Matic came out,
and how most of us absorbed that music.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I have the cassette behind me, but why show you.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
You've seen a cassette before, right, But I have the
original that I purchased back in ninety four, and one
of the things that stood out to me is he
did all he did all the joints right that you
know off the album, a couple of a couple of
the songs were dope, right, like he obviously did New
(09:02):
York State of Mind. It was it was like how
the songs were building, you know, right. Some were medleys
like One Love, And when I say medleys, I'll tell
you it really wasn't a medley, but I mean the
Music League One Love was sort of teased would represent
(09:23):
at the same time because they kind of played a
little bit of representing. I was like, Oh, they're gonna
do represent but then it kind of transitioned into one
Love and he performed One Love, but then they transitioned
back to represent and I was like, oh that's cool.
That's different, right, same thing like with songs like the
(09:45):
World Is Yours, not as far as the medley, but
just it was dope the way they didn't start like yo,
just start playing a recognizable beat and that's it, right.
It was a build, right. None of it started the
way you would press play on a record. So I
kind of liked that when he did it with one
(10:06):
Love and representing the world is yours right, it ain't
hard to tell. And the drummer was singing Michael Jackson's
part on there, which was kind of crazy. But there
was another song and I'm mad, I'm forgetting it now
and it.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Could be one Love.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
But the drummer was singing the lyrics or the harmony
or something like that from the original sample.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I thought that was hot because at first I was.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Like, you know, you had noding, like, oh, you know what,
that's the sample for this song. But they're playing the
sample out and the drummer is singing. When I say,
those are two very different vocals that you gotta hit,
(11:03):
vocal tunes that you have to hit to sing Michael
Jackson's da da dot Like see, I can't even do
it sound oh dot dot dot. You know how Mike
sing it, Okay, But to have him do that, I
just thought it was nice touches right. First of all,
nas was clean when it came out. The suit was crazy, okay.
(11:25):
The jewelry looked like it had lights on it because
it was diamonds.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It was hot, right, the glasses, the shades or whatever,
everything was hot, So it kind of and the band
obviously tuxes and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
So it was kind of dope to see.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Nas at this point in his career performing this album,
his debut album, in this way it had a sense
of mature already celebration. Even Na said, like, yo, we
made it right now, I made it. We made it right.
(12:09):
If you've been listening to me since ninety four and
all the things we've been through and you here tonight,
we made it. I just thought that was so dope
because when you think about it, if you are like
a hardcore fan of Nas and you've been on that
journey with him and he's saying things like this, you
(12:31):
start to reflect off your own life and a part
of one of the biggest reasons why we like artists,
not maybe not all this point'd be the reason for all,
but the majority of the time is because we can relate.
And here was Nas being relatable based off of his journey.
But his journey was your journey as a fan, because
(12:55):
you were there throughout his career, throughout his life, the
ups and down, marriage, divorce, mother, passing, rap, beefs, East Coast,
West Coast, like all of it. So it was dope
to see like this celebration. And what else was dope
was he didn't look old, right, he didn't look worn
(13:17):
down or like because you know how some celebrities you
see him on television.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Like still look good. He still look good, and.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Then you see him in person and you start to
see the blemishes and you're like, oh, that must have
been the camera angle or something.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Uh, but not he looked good.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
And then also when he brought out as as looked
good like yo were healthy, we hear we you know,
the struggle hasn't beaten us down. As coming out and
performing with nas was the crowd went crazy because it's
easy and nods together. There's more history. And obviously he
(13:59):
performed Lives of which was dope. But then later A
Z came back and performed like a medley of songs,
which I, honestly I didn't anticipate because after Nazda Illmatic
he did a few of his other songs, but with
(14:19):
a Z in particular, he performed like Affirmative Action right
phone Tap, because at first phone Tap was kind of
weird because now was like holo, holdo, I dropped something.
People were like, oh, drop that watch, you know, drop
that watch? With that Ice in it, but he was like,
I dropped my beeper. So at first I'm like, oh,
(14:41):
they're about to do phone tap, and that's exactly what happened.
But just to double back to Illmatic, and I just
want to point out a few things that stood out
to me while he's performing Illmatic. One, if you've seen
Nas perform in street clothes by himself, this isn't the
(15:08):
same experience.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
It's just it just isn't.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
It's not Now if you've seen him perform a million times,
you've seen him perform those songs.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I doubt it's drastically different for you.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
But I think there's something to be said about Nas
being in a suit, orchestra behind him, his band members
being in suits. You know, it just it just brings
a different level to Ellmatic. It celebrates it in a
I don't want to be elitist, but in a high
(15:43):
class way. And honestly, there should be more albums celebrated
in that way, you know what I'm saying. But we're
talking about el matting and Nas has already done it.
So and not to say that nobody ain't rhynd with
no banjo bands or orchestra. Everybody's round with everything before
the Roots was a band. Okay, what I'm saying is
(16:05):
the presentation for that album where he's literally talking about
project steps and pissy hallways and crackheads and it's a
classy affair. Now, the crowd, or at least in Philly,
wasn't dressed that way. And I think it had more
(16:27):
to do with it being outside because I came dressed
in a way where I was halfway right. I was casual,
you know. I had a T shirt, you know, some
something little ill you know, T shirt, had some light jeans,
don't have some exclusive kicks on. But I left my
blazer in the car because when I saw how people
(16:50):
were rolling up, I was like, oh, I don't need it.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Plus it was super hot, like I was already hot,
So it was all like a blessing.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
But that's the one thing to separate NAS with orchestra
versus NAS on stage with DJ. It's very different. I know,
NOAs with DJ is probably just as dope, even more
hip hop. But I like this. I like seeing different
things done in hip hop. So if you felt some
(17:22):
kind of way, because in the past, for those who
don't know, NAS said that this was a couple of
years ago that he's never performing Allmatic again. I think
that was an emotional statement because I think this type
of performance with the orchestra gave the album new life
(17:42):
and gave him motivation, because, to be honest, when he
said that, we killed him for it, Like what nope
are you sayings like Allmatic? You're not gonna perform anymore?
You know what I'm saying. So it's dope to see.
I don't I don't have I don't have any grapes
about it. I don't go to a lot of shows,
to be honest, unless there's some kind of band, So
I'm cool with it.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Some other things I noted now.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I say this all the time when it comes to Illmatic,
and most people say I'd like one time for your mind.
I don't see nothing wrong with it. I don't skip it.
Some even say it's great. I'm not even arguing any
of that. I just always felt out of everything else.
(18:34):
It's the weakest link and the one that sounds out
of place with the tone of the album. Now it's
dope because it's a lighthearted song on an album that
talks about so many strong themes, right serious themes.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So I'm not against One Time for Your Mind.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
But every time I say it's the weakest link, or
sometimes I skip it, here come the Avenger Defenders, right
and again I'm not gonna hold you.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
But guess what.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Nas is here to perform illmatic with an orchestra, and
he didn't perform One Time for your Mind, only record
on that short album, because it is a short album,
but the.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Only record on that album he didn't.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Perform was one Time for Your Mind. I'm just saying, okay,
even Na, I skipped it. Okay, I'm just making that point.
Another thing that stood out. Now, forgive me if I
missed it. If you've seen Nas perform with symphony in
(19:45):
another city and this did happen, then maybe he slipped
right and forgot. But again, as Nas is talking through
the album, he said, Yo, you know, I was just
a kid who was blessed to have all these dope producers.
So he starts naming them like prem Large, Professor and
(20:09):
Q Tip and l E S. And then it keeps talking,
and I'm like, but no, he didn't. He didn't say
Pete Rock. Now, one of two things, if you know
the news and you know the history of Nas and
Pete Rock, there's always been issues there. The rumor back
(20:33):
in the days was their issues came when Pete Rock
I guess tried to talk to his girl or something
like that was baby mama at the time, so.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
That so that was a problem right at the time.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Some people say, well jay Z, yeah, they wasn't together
when jay Z was messing with Carmen, so it didn't matter, right,
players don't care about you know what you used to have, Okay,
But I think the rumor back then was that, you know, Nas,
this was his baby mother. He was actively with her
(21:07):
when this happened. Now, I don't know if that's true
or not, but it made a lot of sense versus
when's the last time you heard Nas and pe Rock
And I'm talking about forget now, I'm talking about even
if you go back then, right, you would think, but
you've heard Primo and other large pro like you've heard
(21:27):
other collaborations with some of those people, so you know
there was that.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
But I think possibly it may have more.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
To do with the legal situation that came up, and
there could be legal ramifications for even saying somebody's name.
So I was thinking, like, well, maybe that's fine, or
or if we just want to go to the essence.
(21:59):
Maybe he just don't rock with them based off of
their relationship over the years, but it didn't seem like
that when things came to a head in recent years,
where you know, Pete Rock was I guess trying to
get some money for something, and not necessarily like I'm
getting at Nas for.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
It, but more so.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Something that he was probably old as a producer and
you know and companies and you know, the industry. And
I remember NAS's response not being a combative one. So
who knows, Maybe he just forgot But I'm sitting there,
like he said Eance and I know Lis is from Queensbridge,
(22:43):
so it's probably easier to say, but it's Pete Rock.
So again, maybe he forgot to show. Maybe I missed
it at this show. Maybe I didn't start paying attention
until after he said the other names. Maybe he said
Pete Rock first. I don't remember, but I just remember
waiting to hear that and like, oh he didn't say
(23:06):
Pete Rock. Okay, cool, But nevertheless, didn't really take anything
away from the show. It was just something I observed.
So again, if you experienced it, and he said Pete
Rock's name at another show. Leave your comments in a
comments section below. It's not my battle. I don't care
that much. Also, this is what stood out, so again
(23:31):
shout out to the homie Jamar. I leaned over to
Jamar and said, yeah, it's dope that not started this
out right saying we don't we don't wrap over dubbed tracks.
We got real live musicians here. And then he commenced
to and and for the most part, not just illmatic songs,
(23:54):
but even a couple of songs in the Medleague of Records.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Afterwards, he was performing all three verses.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Like for real, for real and it's hot and he
got a tux seedough and I think somebody brought him
some honey at one point. Like now, I don't get
me wrong. He did the majority of the show performing
them lyrics to a t, and in some cases he
made little edits, but the edits were dope right, and purposely.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
They're for breath control.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Man, you're yelling in the mic, you're walking back and forth.
Sometimes you're jumping in the air like it's hot. You
know they had some air up there, but that don't
mean anything when you doing that kind of activity. So
I get the editing of the lyrics, but the way
they were edited, they were edited for breath control, and
they still sound dope in some cases sound cleaner, right,
(24:53):
And I was like, damn, you don't see that enough.
And I don't go to a lot of shows, but
typically cats will give you a verse from this song,
a verse from that song, like they'll give you verses, right,
or if it's a real popular song, they might give
you two. If it's the song they known for, then
(25:17):
they'll give you all three, all three verses. You're talking
about Nas performing back during the days of sixteens, sixteen,
sixteen sixteen on stage ninety degrees outside. They had air,
but we were dying, okay, wasn't nobody cared though? So
(25:40):
I thought that was dope to see because remember, this
man is fifty. It's not chiptooth NAS with mad energy,
you know what I'm saying, just with three thousand dudes
on the stage helping them, like and they just all
just b dah lahah.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
It's not all the energy. This is him.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
It's there's an orchestra, but it's him performing, right, And
he didn't take a lot of breaks to like let
beats build and stuff like that, and he didn't necessarily
rely on the crowd until a little bit towards the end,
but understandably so the brother he looked tired. He looked
physically tired after a while, which was cool. Like my
(26:25):
homie said, you know one time, Nah stop rapping and
just closed his eyes and I was he was like
it was he sleep like?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And it was.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
But I mean, what after what we just watched with
Illmatic alone? You know, I was hoping it was a
little bit more at the end. Plus I knew because
I saw clips back in the days, but I didn't
know how much after performing Illmatic was going to be
at the end, which I think I'll get into right now.
(27:00):
So he performs Ellmatic like yo, my first album Ellmatic
by Bah Bah Bow. The orchestra gets up and walks out,
so I'm kind of like, all right, what we're doing.
But then I'm starting to see, oh, his band's not
moving right. The DJ I think it was a dude
on keyboards, the drummer, and I think a dude who
(27:23):
had a base. They stayed, so I'm like, oh, I
know what we're about to get. And he starts saying,
you know, he start announcing or start like bigging up
the years of his albums because he like, you know
what I'm saying, Ellmatic ninety four, and then he starts
going through the years of release, right ninety four, ninety six,
(27:45):
ninety eight, two thousand, like so the crowd is just
going crazy because you know, they thinking about all them
records they bought. And I'm getting hyped because I'm like,
oh yeah, now we're really about to Now we're going
back to q be with it. So he says we're
going to do a couple of those, and the first
(28:05):
record he does is the Message and if you could see,
well you can see right the background I got here
with the with the red I think with I think
the color changed to like a reddish green and if.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
You know, go watch it now on YouTube, if I
Rule the.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
World right in the beginning, now imagine being back, being
back then ninety six promotional campaign was Naza's coming co
m I ng when you pause police and this is
off of Illmatic, So the hype is crazy. And when
(28:49):
you see that if I Ruled the World video and
right in the beginning, NAS's in the lexus I Believe
front the Queen's Bridge with the red and green lighting
you know the hype William like put all over the
car and he does the message and I remember hearing
it back.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Then, like yo, what's that?
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Like?
Speaker 2 (29:08):
That song is crazy?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
So he starts this medley with the message and the
crowd goals bonkers as a result, and he.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Goes on to do a couple of joints again.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
He brought a Z back out and did Firmative Action
right which everybody went crazy, like yo, you want doing
firmative action phone tap like I said, And then A
Z did also did sugar Hill, which was the debut
single for him off of his debut album Do or
(29:41):
Die and I'm Not Gonna Hold You.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
At least where I was, I was the only one
with the sugar Hill, like like, I knew every bar
and you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Not to say that, you know, the crowd was faulty
because they didn't know, but I'm just saying, I'm hip
hop I know A Z too. I know his bars
as well, every bar. So that was a moment for
me to be like, you know sugar Hill, baby, you
know what I'm saying. Plus it sound good. But then
(30:19):
he this was the other takeaway before I finished. There's
always debates online about certain songs that NA done in
his career that the boombappers.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Hate, right, and really they say, yo, why you know
why he had to do if I Rule the World?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
You know, do that commercial song, which is crazy because
for one, Lauren Hill's on the hook and the Fuuji's
were hot as rappers back then.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Show what she's singing, if I Rule the World.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
If I Rule the World is a song by Curtis
Blow which is hip hop, right you ever heard it?
She's singing the hook to Curtis Blows song right now,
No R and B sexy, you know joint Curtis Blows song.
If I Rule the World Lauryn Hill singing the hook
(31:15):
and the beat is from Houdini hip hop one Love.
Please children, go and listen to these records before you
listen to these boombappers from back in ninety six. They
were lying to themselves. If I Rule the World is
hip hop through and through, no R and B beat,
no R and B hook, It's all hip hop, which
(31:38):
is dope.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
I always had a problem with the lyrics of I
opened every selling now that could send them to Africa, Like, Yo,
you want to send a bunch of criminals to Africa.
But that's just me being a comedian, okay. But nevertheless,
when that song hit, all them same dudes, who was
(32:00):
in the crowd, Oh no, you know, getting excited and
all of that. You know, I could see the boombappers
in the crowd. They was hyped too, and the ladies
were drowning you out if you wasn't nyped. So the
reaction was what it was. But it wasn't just that song.
Another song off of Nostra Damas, which is an album
(32:22):
that I believe it might be his second worst now
before it was his worst album because NA says eighteen
albums not see it might be his worst album. Nastra
Domas is probably better than that, but you owe me,
and I remember cats hated that. Now that was more
(32:43):
R and B radio ready, genuine on the hook singing.
But I was in the club back then, what was
that ninety eight? I was in the club heavy in
DC almost every weekend. And when I tell you that
song came out, me and my homies already knew what
(33:04):
it was, so we loved it the minute we heard it.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
We thought it was dope.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
The ladies was drowning this Pavilion out when that came on,
and I don't even think it was just the ladies.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
I think it was everybody, boombackers included.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
They were probably happy because he fed them allmatic first,
so now they were good like oh oh, I I'm good,
I got my I got my head nod on.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
He also performed.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Uchi Wally, which was which was also you know, like
okay Uchi Wally. He performed his verse, but I ain't
gonna hold y'all. I don't care what jay Z said.
The best verse on there is Jungle, and I hope
I was hoping, like just bring Jungle, little young thing
go without like please, but Jungle didn't come out okay,
(33:58):
which was cool. NA has performed his verse and lastly,
and he did more than that in the medley. I'm
just naming like like almost like the party records that
he performed.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
But he he did.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
He did made you look. You already know I was saying, yo,
he definitely gonna do made you look. But when you
think about the nas and Hip Boy run, he did spicy. Now,
I don't know if boombappers like that one, but it's
impossible not to like it's all King's Disease one. It's
(34:33):
the bonus track. But NAS got busy on that joint
and that beat.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
When I say Na's doing a medley of songs ending
with one mic.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
We expected, which was also dope because of the appearance
and how it was and you know, people knew all
the lyrics it was.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
It was dope to see right and uh dot way
that ended.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
But I think like in general, with this performance of Illmatic,
celebrating Illmatic, telling the story, bringing out a Z more
than once so that you get the you know, the
not you get your feel of nads and as as
far as like how they've been linked across the years
(35:24):
through their music together and you get like splashes of
songs throughout his career, that was dope.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
He even did his verse off of.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Missy's joint Hot Boys, I think that was the name
of that joint, which was dope. I forgot how violent
his verse was in there. I was like, damn bodies chapter.
I was like, whoa damn Like yo, y'all don't know,
like back then you get rappers was on R and
B joints talking like that, talking crazy. But it was
(35:58):
just dope to see a small snapshot of his career
starting with Ell Mattic and the things he did from
there all the way up to Spicy. It just was
a fantastic show for those who don't know. And I'm
definitely gonna end with this because I was gonna say
(36:18):
it anyway. So I basically grew up with us. I'm
not from Queensbridge, from Brooklyn. Don't get it twisted.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
My cousin is ill Will. Our families is very close,
you know what I'm saying. My mother and his mother
are sisters. When I say, back in the eighties and
early nineties, we me and my younger sister were in
Queensbridge like every weekend. It got to the point where
my mother was like, oh yeah, staying home this weekend.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
It's because Malon Versary's house was the fun house, so
obviously hanging out with my big cousin ill Will all
the time. And when Nas came out, it was difficult
for me for like maybe a good ten minutes to
not see him as the person I grew up with,
(37:18):
in a person I know. I'm I'm just keeping it
the buck with y'all, because that was the first time
I've seen him in person in decades now. I've talked
to him before since then, since you know, back in
the days. But that was the first time me seeing him. Now,
(37:38):
some people would.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Say, oh, you backstage, you get up on stage. That
wasn't the situation.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
When you put it this way, if you know somebody
who's a celebrity, you real cool with him like that,
that's not really how y'all connect, you know, you connect,
phone call, private situation stuff like that. I'm not running
up on stage so he could see that I'm there. Okay,
I can say that later like oh, I was in
(38:05):
Philly when you did blah blah blah. But it was
from a personal perspective. It took me a minute, right
because I'm like, oh, let's not see it right then
as he starts to perform the songs as I and
this is how it played out in my life. I
saw him as nas like you see him right, but
(38:29):
watching this, like this culmination of where he started and
where he is now and watching him perform at this
point in his career, it was like, he said, we
made it.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
That's how I felt proud. I was. I was proud
of him, I was proud of us, and I don't
mean me and him.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
I'm just everybody who was around during that time, whether
you knew somebody or not that we were here.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
We were help, We made it right. I'm not fat,
you know, because you can turn into that. Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
He rich, so he can get a trainer. Me I
got in old a plan of fitness, you know what
I'm saying. But I just enjoyed the experience overall. And
I again, if you're a NAS fan, illmatic maybe ill
maadic is the only joint you really like, go see
(39:27):
it if you can, go see it, because this experience
is very different from seeing him at sobs and like fatigues.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
And stuff like.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Don't get me wrong, that's just as dope. But this
felt more for This felt more appropriate for his journey,
and it feels like this is how hip hop should
be celebrated. Also, it doesn't have to be you know,
let's get hoodied and timed out, you know, let's celebrate
(39:59):
this classic album that goes beyond the genre of hip hop.
Did you go see Nas perform with the orchestra in
your city or another city? Leave your comments in a
comments section below. On YouTube, Tell me about your experience,
Follow me on social media at Vegas World.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
I n c.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Subscribe to the audio podcast if that's your bag, on
an Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast listening,
or if you prefer the video version you want to
see me say these things and check out all the
additional content I have on the channel, including a new
episode of back Time and hip Hop That's under way.
(40:44):
Subscribe to the YouTube channel hip Hop Now Pod. Hey, y'all,
I'm not a critic, a fan.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Peace,
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