Nas’ debut album Illmatic, now 30 years old, has become a cornerstone of hip hop history. To put that in perspective, Illmatic is now as old as The Rolling Stones' debut album and The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night were when Illmatic first dropped. Back then, pop music was just beginning to find its feet. Today, Illmatic holds a similarly foundational place in hip hop.
At 51, Nas moves like a seasoned heavyweight, an artist whose output and collabs with Kanye West, Lauryn Hill, and Mobb Deep etched his name into the DNA of hip-hop. Without Nas, today’s scene (Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Lil Wayne, the A$AP Mob) would have a different heartbeat. This tour, with just a DJ and drummer as his backdrop, is Nas reclaiming that legacy with authority. At Le Zénith, he delivered Illmatic in full, followed by selections from I Am… and It Was Written, threading in gems from across his catalogue. Every classic he performed carried the weight of the times, casting shadows of recent upheavals and a politically tense U.S., adding a layer of urgency to his words.
It was an old-school masterclass in hip-hop, no doubt... though with ticket prices what they were, the 60-minute set felt a little too brief. Nas left the crowd hungry, proof that even after three decades, he still commands the stage and leaves a lasting mark.
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