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Nov 6, 2014The Demos, Remixes & Live Radio half of Illmatic XX, the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Queensbridge rapper's seminal debut, deviates the right direction from its 10-year predecessor.
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Apr 21, 2014As perfect as Illmatic is, there are plenty of crevices that can be explored and different musical avenues to test Nas’s verses/scriptures.
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May 22, 2014Illmatic is timeless because of Nas’s introspective, hyper-detailed approach to his daily life--even to moments that don’t seem particularly notable.
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Q MagazineApr 28, 2014The original beats are still as fresh and inviting as a newly changed bed. At 10 tracks, Illmatic is satisfying lean and cohesive--remarkably so for a hip-hop album with five producers. [May 2014, p.125]
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Apr 21, 2014Illmatic by Nas is a 10/10 classic hip hop album. It's essential, and that's undeniable. Illmatic XX when taken as a whole, isn't.
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Apr 21, 2014Like all great works of art, Illmatic isn’t just about the story it tells; it provides us with a fully-fledged character study of the genius behind it.
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The WireJul 21, 2014No album in hiphop history has been less in need of a padding. [Jun 2014, p.63]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 265 out of 293
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Mixed: 2 out of 293
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Negative: 26 out of 293
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May 13, 2014
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Apr 30, 2014
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Jun 11, 2018