When was the last time you bought a hip-hop magazine? Basically, I never buy new hip-hop magazines but I had to make an exception for the new XXL April 2009 Issue. In the beginning of this month when the magazine cover was revealed, I noticed that there was going to be an article commemorating the 15th Anniversary of Nas's Classic 1994 LP "Illmatic". With subtitles of DJ Premier, Large Pro, Pete Rock, & Q-Tip, I knew that it was going to be worth the reading.
Yesterday, after copping the issue, I immediately skipped to the "Illmatic" article. I was stunned by seeing these old hi-res '94 pictures of Nas; there's a picture of Premier, Large Pro, Faith, Nas, Q-Tip, & L.E.S in the studio. I would like to thanks Timmotep Aku, Carl Chery, Clover Hope, Rob Markman, Starrene Rhett, Anslem Samuel for taking a trip down to memory lane and compiling a classic article on a perfect album. Below are all the representers who each took their time to talk on the making-of of their incredible w
ork on the track which they appeared on. This isn't something that you've seen before, you will learn a lot of new trivia... Below that is the scan of the article.
Representers Download 9-Pages Scan (Hi-Res)
Make sure to support this issue by buying it at your local bookstore. This is the type of issue that will truly become a collectible. There are other noteworthy articles included in the issue that are worth reading after "Illmatic."
-- Thomas V
Editor's Note: Don't forget to grab today's other exclusive: Rakim "The Cellar EP".
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Here's a nice little 38 minute mix of Nas accapellas over Madlib beats done by DJ Serv1. The only place you could get this was with issue #30 of Stop Smiling magazine in 2007. It looks like you can still order the back issue (issues? there were 2 different covers) and get the cd for a couple extra bucks. No track list included, but you'll recognize everything.-magazines.jpg)
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