When 20-year-old MC Nas released his stellar debut Illmatic two decades ago this month, I must’ve been on the only person on Planet Hip-Hop who wasn’t checking for it. Of course I’d heard his rugged voice spittin’ fire on the opening of Main Source’s “Live at the Barbeque,” talking mad junk about how he was going to hell for snuffing Jesus. And while I thought the kid was nice, I still wasn’t prepared for the precise poetics and grimy soundscapes on Illmatic.

With its upcoming anniversary (April 19, 1994) a major event in hip-hop history, Nas performed the album in toto with the National Symphony Orchestra in late March while we hip-heads counted down to the inevitable, countless Internet tributes. In addition, the unveiling of the much anticipated documentary Time Is Illmatic debuts on April 16, kicking off the Manhattan-based Tribeca Film Festival.

http://www.ebony.com/ente...z2yifeBKv4

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[Edited 4/14/14 5:38am]