Nas has reacted to Illmatic being declared the greatest rap album of all time by Billboard.
The rap legend was very happy with the honor, posting a screenshot of his top spot ranking on Instagram and commenting: “Thank you to @billboard! N the people !!! We here #1 illmatic.”
Nas’ 1994 debut beat out other seminal albums like Dr. Dre‘s The Chronic, Lauryn Hill‘s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, OutKast‘s Aquemini and Biggie‘s Life After Death.
The top 10 is rounded out by 2Pac‘s All Eyez On Me, Snoop Dogg‘s Doggystyle, Eric B. and Rakim‘s Paid in Full, JAY-Z‘s The Blueprint and Slick Rick‘s The Great Adventures of Slick Rick.
The list wasn’t without a few controversial picks, though.
Cardi B‘s Invasion of Privacy was ranked at number 29, ahead of JAY-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, Kendrick Lamar‘s good Kid, m.A.A.d city and Eminem‘s The Marshall Mathers LP, among other classics.
Feathers were also ruffled by Rick Ross‘s Teflon Don, Nicki Minaj‘s Pink Friday and Lil Uzi Vert‘s Luv Is Rage 2 being placed above OutKast‘s Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, MF DOOM and Madlib‘s Madvillainy and Run-DMC‘s Raising Hell.
Nas recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of Illmatic by paying tribute to the album’s many collaborators.
“Grainy pictures for grainy times. I had a dream I could get my favorite producers to produce on my debut album,” he wrote on Instagram in April. “I knew exactly what I wanted and how it should be. But I didn’t know anyone except for Paul, so I asked him would he connect me to them all.”
He continued: “The cool soul brother that he is helped me line it up. On April 19th we smashed shit. Even tho the album leaked months before the release date we still are apart of music history.
“Thank you Large Professor (Paul) and Dj Premier who drove into the projects to pick me up a time or two. Qtip, Pete Rock, and my man from The Bridge DJ LES, and my guy AZ who was just coming up himself. And thank you to everyone involved. Friday is the albums 30th. 2 The Listeners- ONE LOVE.”
Nas and Illmatic were also recently honored by the New York State Senate.
Senator Jamaal T. Bailey said: “What were you doing when you were 20 years old? Many of us were in college. We were finding who we were. Nasir Jones, poetically known as Nas, was making the greatest Hip Hop album of all time, Illmatic.
“Nas has been a Hip Hop griot — the rapid response system for the streets, for lack of a better term. And if you have a top five without Nas in it, you shouldn’t listen to rap music.”
Great album. But don’t know about greatest rap album. Shit some of his later albums like God’s Son and Stillmatic are better than Illmatic
Certified Loverboy should be number one
Certified lover can not and can never be compared to Illmatic , certified lover is trash compared to Illmatic , funny dumb people everywhere
nice ob4cl is #1 to me tho.
If it is not Illmatic then forget it , rest is trash.
Rakim’s paid in full album is superior to illmatic
It is either illmatic or public enemy’s it takes a nation of millions to hold us back. It depends on how I feel when asked which album is better.
Totally agree with you, both albums are my favourites depending on the mood.
Even up until late 90s PE – It takes a nation album was coming up as best album of all time on most publications/opinions etc (and Rakim was always a clear No1 rapper)
I disagree if it is not NAS , it’s nobody , rest are trash
Rakim paid in full is better then illmatic and it takes a nation of millions to hold us back..NO CAP!!!
Blueprint is the true no.1. Illnatic is mediocre at best and it would only be downhill from there.
Salty huh?! LMFAO!
Jay blue print is trash and smelling like poop , nothing special about it, Illmatic is the deal and unhate to see NAS grow because NAS is Ur nightmare lol , jay is trash
I always thought Big L’s debut album was on par with Illmatic, but then again, Illmatic is more critically acclaimed, so it is what it is.
No big L debut album isnt close to Illmatic never will and never did and never will be , Illmatic surpass it in every criteria
Huh? Enter the Wu-Tang is a stronger album and broke ground a year before.
Nah Illmatic is better
Doggystyle>>>>>>>>>illmatic
Illmatic far better than doggy style
Doggystyle>>>>>>>>>illmatic
Sam Moore there’s no way that illmatic is the greatest hip hop culture history album of all time..Paid in full is superior to illmatic both lyrically and flow and Rakim put consciousness and mathematics and knowledge of self and spirituality and Egyptology and cosmic thoughts and mythology and philosophy and visual imagery and advanced vocabulary and scientific rhyming and jazz music into the hip hop culture history and illmatic didn’t do anything close to that at all…paid in full is a visual imagery one verse classic it’s a track that illmatic doesn’t even have on the album and it proves that the track called life is a bitch is a straight up lie about life…and with paid in full Rakim gives you the blueprint to life period
Sam Moore there’s no way that illmatic is the greatest hip hop culture history album of all time..Paid in full is superior to illmatic both lyrically and flow and Rakim put consciousness and mathematics and knowledge of self and spirituality and Egyptology and cosmic thoughts and mythology and philosophy and visual imagery and advanced vocabulary and scientific rhyming and jazz music into the hip hop culture history and illmatic didn’t do anything close to that at all…paid in full is a visual imagery one verse classic it’s a track that illmatic doesn’t even have on the album and it proves that the track called life is a bitch is a straight up lie about life…and with paid in full Rakim gives you the blueprint to life period