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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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MUSIC
Columbia
Twenty years ago, a 20-year-old by the name of Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, AKA Nas, released what is arguably one of the most important rap albums ever. "Illmatic." With its 20th anniversary coming in April, now is the perfect time to look back on the album.
Even though it's his debut, "Illmatic" is without a doubt Nas' greatest work. Most of Nas' albums over his two decades long career have been good but they have not come close to the impact that Illmatic had over the entire genre of rap.
'Illmatic' embodies Nas timeless flow, rhymes
Most of the album was written and recorded when Nas was 18, but his age is not noticeable. He sounds like a veteran on "illmatic." In the album he masterfully paints vivid imagery and tells amazing stories. Nas' flow and lyrics hold up today as if the album was released last week.
The album also features legendary production from D.J. Premier. "Illmatic" is the gold standard for the boom-bap era in hip-hop. "N.Y. State of Mind" is one of Premier's best beats and
By Ryan Wright entertain @kansan.com
"illmatic" brought back a focus on lyricism in hip-hop and forced other rappers to step their game up. Without it there might not have been a golden age in hip-hop during the '90s.
The legendary album has sometimes been a bad thing in Nas' career because every album he's released since then has been compared to "Illmatic," and they just aren't as good. This comparison makes the rest of his albums seem worse (not that they're bad) than they actually are.
is basically a perfect song, which Nas did, impressively, in one take.
If the album was released today as a brand new project and nobody had ever heard of Nas, it wouldn't have been nearly as influential as it was in 1994. It definitely would get very little to no radio play because of how dated the production is. Not that the production is bad but you'll rarely hear boom-bap type production in hip-hop today.
The only song that might have a chance at becoming
Directly compared to the music of today, this album sounds a lot like Pro Era, who were obviously influenced by '90s rap, other than that there's not much today that has the feel of "Illmatic" because of the evolution of the genre.
It's hard to envision the album today because of how much it influenced the genre; who knows how rap would sound if "Illmatic" never came out. Compared to today's artists, a lot of quality rappers sound similar to Nas on "Illmatic" because of the album's huge influence.
a hit today is "N.Y. State of Mind" because of the aforementioned reasons. In fact, the only people who would truly appreciate the album for the masterpiece it is would be hip-hop heads. The rest of the world would be clueless.
"Illmatic" is one of the most important albums of the '90s, but today's audiences would not be as receptive to the album as people were back then.
Edited by Alec Weaver
The Peking Acrobats stun audience at Lied Center
CORRINE DORRIAN
entertain@kansan.com
"You are in for a treat tonight, get ready to watch something amazing happen." Executive Director Derek Kwan said as he opened the show. That was exactly what happened, something amazing. From live music provided by Jigu! Thunder Drums of China and talented performers, the audience was purely captivated in laughter, fear and astonishment for two hours.
According to chineseacrobats.com, "Since their Western debut in 1986, The Peking Acrobats have redefined audience perceptions of Chinese acrobatics."
People of all ages packed the Lied Center on Wednesday to see The Peking Acrobats. Their performance consisted of 21 bold acts. Each act was carefully choreographed to tell a story through the use of color, music and special props. During one act, named the Pagoda of Chairs, a man
carefully climbed up six stacked white, wooden chairs on top of four bottles and a bottom platform measuring about two feet. He was nearly touching the ceiling and you could hear shrieks from the anxious audience as he kept adding more chairs. It only got better from there as he balanced himself on one hand atop the chairs. As he finally climbed down and took a final bow, the audience gave him a standing ovation for his amazing performance.
Aside from the amazing stunts, there were comedy and live music intermixed. In one act, an acrobat balanced what seemed to be a bowl of eggs on top of an 8-foot pole that rested on his forehead. As he moved around the stage, the pole slipped from his head and the bowl of eggs fell into the front rows of the audience causing everyone to scream. However, the "eggs" just happened to be a cluster of balls tied together. As the performers smirked at the people in the front, the audience erupted in laughter.
Another special addition to the performers was the ligui Thunder Drums of China that provided live music to perfectly accompany the various acts.
The performance was truly a spectacular, energetic experience that left you fully engaged and at times squirming in your seat. The acrobats, men and women ranging in all ages, left an impression of beauty, admiration and fearlessness on all. As they twisted their bodies in ways you could never even imagine in perfect rhythm with one another, the audience was awestruck. It was a show that told a story of a culture. In the end, The Peking Acrobats received a standing ovation for their performance that kept everyone's full attention in astonishment as they climbed atop of each other, twisted their bodies and flew and spun through the air.
Edited by Blair Sheade
RockChalkLiving SEARCH ▶ DONT SETTLE
KANSAN COMICS
Presented by Jaykawk Buddy System
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