“One was ehhh, the other was Illmatic / that’s a one hot album every ten year average”. Spoken by Jay-Z on “The Takeover”, these words burned deep under the skin of Nas, most of all because most everyone agrees with them. After Nas dropped his classic debut album some ten years ago, he continually disappointed fans with subsequent releases, It Was Written, I Am.., and Nastradamus – each of these albums had their moments, but none came close to his debut. Now with his opponent calling his name out and stating a fact that every fan agrees with, the pressure on Nas is stronger than ever, and Stillmatic is the result.

As he states on the intro, this isn’t another Illmatic (as he’s always moving forward), but this is the closest thing one could get. The battle must have brought out the old tiger in Nas, because on tracks like “Ether”, “Destroy & Rebuild”, and “Got Ur Self A Gun” he attacks the mic with Slick Rick levels of ego, and the hunger of the youngest emcee. He does in fact return to his roots on songs like the Large Professor produced “You’re Da Man”, and the DJ Premier work-of-art, “Second Childhood”, both laced with the classic Illmatic feeling. But he also moves ahead, taking his craft to a new level on conceptually based songs like “One Mic” and the Memento inspired “Rewind”, showing his evolution as an emcee.

On the album’s second half, Nas gets a little more political, helping shoe in the return of conscious rap from the post Sept. 11 NYC. Tracks like “My Country”, “Poison”, and “Rule”, each unveil fresh new perspectives not heard from Hip-Hop in a while, despite the latter being a cheesy remake of Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”. Although “Rule” isn’t Stillmatic’s only misstep, as “Braveheart Party” and “The Flyest” both pale in comparison to the songs they’re fashioned after (“Oochie Wallie”, “Life’s A Bitch”).

Is Stillmatic a classic? No. Is it a good album? Yes, and it’s a redefining of Nas - not Nasty, not Esco, but simply Nasir Jones. He isn’t the rich rapper that Jay-Z is - he is poor and he admits it, but his honesty through lyrical murals prove him to be one of the most outstanding emcees in the game, in the end, barely taking a scratch from Jigga’s September 11th attacks.