Nas will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Illmatic next week by releasing a special edition version entitled Illmatic XX. The impact and influence of Nas’ debut album is still felt today, and many of his rap peers recently spoke about its legacy with Google Play. The video above features the likes of Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Tech N9ne, and Sir Michael Rocks describing the way Illmatic shaped their lives.
“I’ll always be a fan and a student of his work, period,” – Kendrick Lamar
There’s also some great commentary from Nas, who shares a lot of anecdotes about his debut album. “I saw Sting years ago, we talked about working on something. And he had listened toIllmatic, and he said to him it was a jazz album,” Nas remembers. “You always tend to learn something new about it each time you experience it.”
Nas’ Illmatic XX comes out April 15. It’s available for pre-order on iTunes.