Ill I Am

Queens, New York wordsmith Nasir “Nas” Jones is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his seminal debut Illmatic with a lavish repackage – Illmatic XX – plus a documentary, Time Is Illmatic, which will open the Tribeca Film Festival. Today the MC's street poetry, and philosophy, is even attracting serious academic attention. Last year Harvard University established a fellowship in his honour.
Jones is gratified that hip hop should be recognised as a literary form. “It'll always belong to the streets, but it's also cool that it's studied in school because, if there was no hip hop, I don't know who'd be the 21st century poets,” he says. “The whole world listens to hip hop. There's so many good artists that you now have a bunch of Shakespeares! It's a great thing for the whole literary world. Hip hop is perfect for school.”
Jones, the son of Mississippi jazz muso Olu Dara, grew up in the Queensbridge projects, dropping out of school. In 1994 he unleashed Illmatic on Columbia Records, the album, chronicling inner-city life with pathos and humour, was hailed an instant classic. Symbolically, Dara played cornet on it. Jones subsequently copped flak for 'selling out' with poppy singles (Illmatic's It Ain't Hard To Tell, helmed by Large Professor, sampled Michael Jackson's Human Nature). In the 2000s the rapper beefed with Jay-Z, which, ironically, revitalised him. He ruminated on his bitter divorce from Kelis on 2012's acclaimed tenth LP, Life Is Good. But, arguably, the biggest outrage of Jones' career is that, despite multiple nominations, he's never won a Grammy.
For years the media and fans compared every new Nas record to Illmatic. However, that ceased with 2006's provocatively themed Hip Hop Is Dead, Jones' Def Jam premiere and a watershed for urban culture. Yet, even now, he has “no problem” with those who regard his debut as definitive (“It is an honour to me”). Matt Smith lately reminisced about listening to Illmatic as a teen in Q magazine. “Oh, cool – beautiful!,” says Jones, nonetheless unfamiliar with the former Doctor Who actor. The MC has been hands-on with Illmatic XX – down to the fresh Warholian artwork. The reissue takes in the previously unreleased demo I'm A Villain, a vintage radio freestyle, and remixes.
There's much speculation about Jones' next album proper (it'll reportedly include a song with Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake), not to mention a widely touted collaborative LP with Illmatic beatmaker DJ Premier. He himself is non-committal. But Jones has been spurred on by the fact that, while Illmatic is two decades old, both he and hip hop reached a 40-year milestone in 2013. “I look at that as a huge inspiration, so 2014 has pushed me into the studio. I'm just going back in there and right now. I'm getting started.”