Nas: thirty years of “Illmatic” at the Fabrique in Milan

April 19, 1994, New York: 20-year-old Nasir Jones debuts with an album that will become a cult and is considered today one of the best rap records ever. In 2024 Nas decided to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the release of “Illmatic” with a world tour that also touched Italy, with a date at Fabrique of Milan. An evening from times gone by, with the New York rapper who, apart from a few small errors, he raps from start to finish, for an hour and a quartersparing no expense and creating a magical relationship with the public, largely made up of very young people ready to respond with choirs and ping-pong of voices to the songs. The fact that many kids filled the club (sold out concert), deciding to come and see and listen such a pillar (a fifty-year-old in excellent shape, but still a fifty-year-old distant from today’s trends, TikTok and algorithms), it’s a love letter to this culture.

It’s the strength of those who haven’t just written a record, but have handed down a classic to history. Nas, as already seen on the Firenze Rocks date in 2022 and on the Prima Estate festival in 2023, appears on stage with a DJ, DJ Green Lantern, and a drummer. The first throws the pieces, he does the doubles, the dirty ones, he scratcheswarms up the fans by raising their arms to the sky and leads the live show on a purely rap dimension, the second instead gives vigor and rock power to the concertbanging on the plates with a smile. The scenographyon which the two musicians are placed and raised, it is based on a long parallelepiped that acts as a screen and on which old newspaper clippings, images of New York and central elements representative of the songs flow. “Illmatic”, obviously, is at the center of the setlist: the concert, after the intro “The Genesis”,

it starts in high gear with “NY State of Mind,” “Life’s a Bitch” and “The World Is Yours”it is precisely the entry of the album, which flows track after track until “Represent” and “It Ain’t Hard to Tell”the closing piece of the project, famous for the guitars and synthesizers of “Human Nature”, 1983 song by Michael Jackson.

The peak of the feeling between Nas, who was also at times incredulous at the warmth he received, and the Fabrique audience arrives right at the end of the entire revival of “Illmatic”: the rapper takes a break during which he doesn’t decide to retreat backstage, but he stays on stage and he starts signing, for several minutes, fans’ records, t-shirts, sweatshirts and capswho seeing his availability begin to throw objects of all kinds in the hope that these will be signed. There is also time for other classics and cornerstones of his discography: among these “I’m on fire”, “Nas is like” and above all “If I ruled the world (Imagine That)”, taken from “It Was Written” from 1996, with Lauryn Hill in the original version, and “One Mic”released in 2001, was the closing song of the evening.

“Illmatic” has also become a cult for its coverdesigned in its definitive version by Aimee Macauley, which portrays a child with afro hair: it is none other than Nas himself at the age of seven, and in the background a glimpse of Queens, one of the largest neighborhoods in New York. His immortalized face was recovered from a photo taken by his father, musician Olu Dara. It was precisely at the age of seven that Nas, as he himself declared, began to become aware of what was around him, of living in a ghettoin a context where most African Americans he did not have great opportunities to access the social development of the United Statesthus remaining on the margins and on the outskirts.

His “formation novel” in music started right from there and judging by the passion with which the artist still raps today, it never seems to be truly finished. In an early promotional interview, Nas claimed that the title “Illmatic” (meaning “beyond evil” or “the ultimate”) was a reference to his prison-bound Queensbridge friend, Illmatic Ince. In addition to its truthful and razor-sharp storytelling, “Illmatic” still stands out today for its many depictions of places, people and interactions. A camera pointed at reality, without filters, in the name of truth. In his songs, Nas, thanks also to the use of sampling, sounds and voicestakes the listener into the corners and avenues of Queensbridge, mentioning street names, friends, local crews, gangs and drug dealers, using the slang of his hometown. He talks about his life. A journey, in the name of street poetrywhich has remained engraved over time.