This album is amazing. The beats are great but what gets me are the lyrics. Completely amazing. I'm a big folk fan, Dylan included, and I think this album ranks up there with Bringing It All Back Home and Blonde on Blonde, if not better. "One Love" is really poetry set to music. The last few lines of that song are so good, when Nas describes the cyclical nature of poverty in the black community and such. Completely amazing. It's a fucking social commentary, not just an album. This is more of a social commentary than anything Public Enemy did or Wu-Tang because it was so real. With Illmatic, Nas proves that he is one of the best story tellers rap, or even modern music, has seen.
Every song is amazing, except maybe "Life's a Bitch", good but I usually skip it for something better on the album. Other than that every song is a favorite in one way or another. "One Love" is probably my favorite of the favorites. Such a powerful song.
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