Nas‘ 1994 debut Illmatic has garnered the Queens rapper honors, accolades, and tons of fans in the three decades since it dropped. Now, he can add the New York State Senate to the long list of the album’s supporters.
On Wednesday (March 27), the State Senate began its session with a tribute to Nas and his five-mic debut, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on April 19.
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Senator Jamaal T. Bailey spoke in favor of his resolution, which had been adopted the previous day, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the album.
“What were you doing when you were 20 years old?” Bailey began. “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.”
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Bailey went on to discuss how the album was “the soundtrack to my youth.”
“Nas has been a Hip Hop griot — the rapid response system for the streets, for lack of a better term,” he said. “And if you have a top five without Nas in it, you shouldn’t listen to rap music.”
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Nas was on hand at the session and was introduced by Senator James Sanders Jr.
“I would just finish by saying to everyone that there are seven established wonders of the modern world. Let me introduce you to Queens’ eighth,” Sanders said, gesturing to the rapper, who stood to acknowledge the praise.
Check out Senator Bailey’s speech, as well as those by other state senators, beginning at the 1:30 mark below. Below the video, you can find the full text of Bailey’s resolution.
In addition to receiving lofty praise from politicians about his early work, Nas has been looking back at his own past as well.
His new video for “I Love This Feeling,” released last week, alternately features the rapper cruising around Los Angeles in a classic convertible Mercedes-Benz; checking out old versions of himself with the help of an old school projector; and sharing some of the wisdom he’s picked up along the way, while standing at the head of a classroom full of young children.
“Energy transferal, immortality/ You against morality, don’t comе around me/ Homicidal vinyl section wherе they always found me/ By the motion picture soundtrack/ With Richard Roundtree on the album sleeve/ That’s my era shit,” he wistfully rapped over the Hit-Boy-produced track.
The song appears on Magic 3, the final album in a six-LP run by the duo which kicked off with 2020’s King’s Disease.
