The essence of hip-hop is a hypnotic drumbeat and a hard-driving bass line. The essence of hip-hop is street poetry delivered in riffs as fluid as a jazz solo. But sometimes the essence of hip-hop can be embodied within a single person. In their respective heydays, Melle Mel, LL Cool J, and Rakim were all the essence of hip-hop. Later on, so were 2Pac and Biggie Smalls. In the hectic year of 2001, the essence of hip-hop could only be represented by an MC able to incorporate the complex events of today's world into his own unique, uncompromising, lyrical style. With the release of his fifth CD, Stillmatic, the twenty-eight-year-old Nas proves himself to be that person. By going back to the essence he's once again pushed forward to the forefront of the rap game. Back in `94 Nas' debut Illmatic dropped like a bomb on the hip-hop world and was universally hailed as an instant classic. The beats were provided by an All-Star team of producers--Pete Rock, Premier, Large Professor and Q-Tip, among others--but it was Nas' lyrical genius that stole the show. On classic tracks like "Life's A Bitch," "One Love," and "It Ain't Hard to Tell," Nas--the son of jazz great Olu Dara--painted unforgettable portraits of his hustlin' days in the notorious Queensbridge Projects and vividly detailed the struggles of everyday ghetto living. The Village Voice hailed him as "easily one of the most important writers of the century." On his platinum-selling It Was Written (1996), I Am (1999), and Nastradamus (1999), Nas went on to pioneer the Mafioso trend in rap, writing songs as dense and action-packed as a gangster movie, while working with some of the biggest stars in the hip-hop galaxy. Stillmatic presents a more mature Nas, the project kid turned rap star, the old stresses of just trying to get by in the hood replaced by the new strains of political awareness, creative and personal tensions, and parenthood�as well as the usual music industry backstabbers. But Stillmatic is not a sequel or an attempt to coast on past achievements. It is the genius of Illmatic updated for a new century, the most intelligent, versatile and politically aware offering of Nas' career. "Ether" is the first of Stillmatic's many battle tracks, a warning shot busted over the heads of all potential challengers. "Brace yourself for the main event/You're impatiently waiting/It's like an AIDS test/What's the result? Not positive/Who's the best? Pac, Nas and Big." Stillmatic's first single "Got UR Self A�" uses the same chorus as the British techno band A3's "Woke Up This Morning" (best-known as the opening title song for "The Sopranos") while Nas details his many impressive accomplishments: "My first album had no famous guest appearances/The outcome? I'm crowned the best lyricist/Many years on this professional level/Why would you question who's better? The world is still mine." So now that he's got listeners hooked and the competition scratching their heads, Nas switches up styles to showcase his musical versatility. "Rewind" is a cinematic shootout story painted so vividly you can almost see the pistol smoke and feel bullets piercing flesh, except this tale is told in reverse, a la the film "Memento." Large Professor provides a soft violin loop and a hard backbeat on "You're Da Man," where Nas rips into those foolish enough to still believe being a man is only about violence and braggadocio. "Second Childhood" is another classic courtesy of hip hop legend DJ Premier�for a verse or two Nas allows himself to reminisce about the sweetness of growing up, but knows in the end that you can't go back, and wouldn't really want to. "Destroy and Rebuild" gives Nas the chance to display a whole new style, a storytelling tribute to the old school. Think that's Slick Rick you're hearing? That's Nas flippin' it! "Besides my man Ricky, Nas the true ruler is back." Yet Nas wouldn't be hip-hop's premier MC and Stillmatic wouldn't be his next classic, if he didn't comment on today's political climate, especially after the September 11th attacks on his hometown, New York City. "Poison" is Nas' State of the Union address, except his Union starts in the ghetto and spreads to incorporate the entire world. His voice full of anger, Nas denounces the various evils he sees plaguing us. One of the points he's trying to make is that we won't have worldwide peace until we have peace in the streets of America as well. "Now America wants to befriend the niggas and the Black people," Nas recently told The Source in a front cover featured article. "We're all one country. We in the middle of it, but you know it's funny how you always need niggas. You needed niggas in your world wars. You needed niggas in the Civil War, and after the war, it goes right back to the normal way. We don't have no reparations for anything and we're still down with these muthafuckas. I'm an American. We down with these mu'fuckas till death. We the nicest people. We've been so passive." While Stillmatic puts Nas back on top, his master plan envisions something deeper and more lasting. "If I'm gonna make records, I don't care about shine," he says. "Any nigga can shine. That's the last thing I'm worrying about. I shine without jewelry. If I'm gonna use this time, I'm gonna use it for something real." Nas' aim with Stillmatic is not just to enrich himself, but to enrich the hip-hop nation, morally, spiritually and intellectually. To show that there's more to an MC than flossin'. "I just wanna be remembered as having my own identity. If Nas come out and sell 10 million copies tomorrow, and they say Nas is the on-top rapper, that's not what I asked for. I just wanna be heard and respected. All that other shit, I never asked for�." Brains before guns. Intellect over jewelry. Nas' Stillmatic brings hip-hop back to the essence.
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