Released in 1994, Illmatic embodied hip hop… from the studios used to record… Chung King, D&D, Battery, and Unique in New York City… to the producers that brought you that real head nodding shit… Large Pro, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S, and Premier…    

When describing Illmatic what immediately comes to mind is lyrical… words that can take you to the exact place… moment in time… where Nas was…

“But just a nigga, walking with his finger on the trigger
Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger
I ain’t the type of brother made for you to start testin
Give me a Smith and Wessun I’ll have niggaz undressin”

In a new era of hip hop… where apparently… lyrical content doesn’t really matter… nor measure up to Illmatic…  Nas can still drop it like 94… he chooses now to use his abilities to speak in a mature voice but still let the heads know that he is very capable of hitting that Illmatic button…

I’ma addict for sneakers, twenties of buddah and bitches with beepers
In the streets I can greet ya, about blunts I teach ya
Inhale deep like the words of my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times
Nothing’s equivalent, to the new york state of mind

Enjoy the documentary… cause 20 years later… we still speak Illmatic…