Time is Illmatic
Written by Erik Parker
Directed by One9
USA, 2014
According to the tale told by the documentary Time is Illmatic, an 18-year-old New York rapper named Nasir Jones, calling himself Nasty Nas, changed hip-hop forever by going onstage at a local barbeque party in Queens in 1991 and delivering a verse that included the lyric “At the age of twelve, I went to hell for snuffing Jesus.” That line was noticed by local legend Mc Serch, who gave Nas a lyric on his next album, which got the attention of Columbia Records, who signed Nas to deliver a debut album that would eventually be called Illmatic. As Malcolm Gladwell might say, sometimes it’s all about being an outlier in full view of the right people.
However, Time is Illmatic succeeds as a documentary because it has almost zero focus on such oddities of the music business. Illmatic became...
Written by Erik Parker
Directed by One9
USA, 2014
According to the tale told by the documentary Time is Illmatic, an 18-year-old New York rapper named Nasir Jones, calling himself Nasty Nas, changed hip-hop forever by going onstage at a local barbeque party in Queens in 1991 and delivering a verse that included the lyric “At the age of twelve, I went to hell for snuffing Jesus.” That line was noticed by local legend Mc Serch, who gave Nas a lyric on his next album, which got the attention of Columbia Records, who signed Nas to deliver a debut album that would eventually be called Illmatic. As Malcolm Gladwell might say, sometimes it’s all about being an outlier in full view of the right people.
However, Time is Illmatic succeeds as a documentary because it has almost zero focus on such oddities of the music business. Illmatic became...
- 4/18/2014
- by Mark Young
- SoundOnSight
New York — When Nasir Jones was about 13 or 14 years old, his father told him and his brother Jabari that if school wasn't nurturing them, they should drop out. An exceedingly well-read, Mississippi-born jazz musician who went by his "ancestral name" of Olu Dara, the father looked around at the Queensbridge Houses where his sons and their mother had settled and gambled that his boys could do better on their own. A young, ...
By Rebecca Thomas...
By Rebecca Thomas...
- 4/17/2014
- MTV Movie News
It may have been the most New York moment in years.
Robert De Niro, onstage Wednesday night at the Beacon Theatre, introduced Time Is Illmatic, the new documentary on Nas' 1994 landmark debut Illmatic, to kick off the Tribeca Film Festival. "Twenty years ago, I would've been 20 years too old for this music," quipped the actor and festival co-founder to a boisterous crowd of fans, media and seemingly every important hip-hop figure in mid-Nineties New York.
Nas: My Life in 20 Songs
Unlike music docs that attempt to deify or elevate the obscure — Anvil,...
Robert De Niro, onstage Wednesday night at the Beacon Theatre, introduced Time Is Illmatic, the new documentary on Nas' 1994 landmark debut Illmatic, to kick off the Tribeca Film Festival. "Twenty years ago, I would've been 20 years too old for this music," quipped the actor and festival co-founder to a boisterous crowd of fans, media and seemingly every important hip-hop figure in mid-Nineties New York.
Nas: My Life in 20 Songs
Unlike music docs that attempt to deify or elevate the obscure — Anvil,...
- 4/17/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Few debut albums of the past 20 years are as assured or as influential as Nas' "Illmatic," a diamond-bullet of a record that helped kick off hip-hop's second golden era and still arguably stands as its greatest achievement. Tribeca has selected "Time Is Illmatic," the documentary about the making of the album, as the opening film of this year's festival, and they've released a trailer for the film. "Time Is Illmatic" covers Nas' journey to make his towering debut at a mere 20 years old, looking through his influences, the musical legacy of his family (jazz musician father Olu Dara, his younger brother Jabari "Jungle" Fret), and the odds he faced after being rejected by labels such as Cold Chillin' and Def Jam and the murder of his best friend DJ Willy "Ill Will" Graham. Nas' highly literate rhymes and rat-a-tat delivery gained the attention of high profile producers...
- 4/11/2014
- by Max O'Connell
- Indiewire
Nas in Time Is Illmatic The Tribeca Film Festival has announced today that it will open with the world premiere of the documentary Time Is Illmatic. It continues the festival's trend for opening with musical documentaries, after last year's Mistaken For Strangers and 2011 opener The Union.
Time Is Illmatic follows the trajectory of rapper Nas’ 1994 landmark debut album, Illmatic - widely considered a hip-hop benchmark. The premiere on Wednesday, April 16 will be a performance by Nas of the entire album. Time is Illmatic, is directed by multimedia artist, One9, written by Erik Parker, and produced by One9, Parker, and Anthony Saleh.
Time Is Illmatic traces Nas’s influences and the insurmountable odds he faced in creating the greatest work of music from hip-hop’s second golden era. The film tracks the musical legacy of the Jones family - handed down to Nas from his jazz musician father, Olu Dara, the support of his Queensbridge.
Time Is Illmatic follows the trajectory of rapper Nas’ 1994 landmark debut album, Illmatic - widely considered a hip-hop benchmark. The premiere on Wednesday, April 16 will be a performance by Nas of the entire album. Time is Illmatic, is directed by multimedia artist, One9, written by Erik Parker, and produced by One9, Parker, and Anthony Saleh.
Time Is Illmatic traces Nas’s influences and the insurmountable odds he faced in creating the greatest work of music from hip-hop’s second golden era. The film tracks the musical legacy of the Jones family - handed down to Nas from his jazz musician father, Olu Dara, the support of his Queensbridge.
- 2/19/2014
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Tribeca Film Festival has revealed that the world premiere of doc “Time is Illmatic” will open the 2014 edition of the fest. It follows the trajectory of rapper Nas’ 1994 debut album, “Illmatic”-- considered one of the most revolutionary albums in hip-hop history. The premiere is set to take place on Wednesday, April 16. It will be followed by a special musical performance where Nas will perform the album from front to back. Here’s the official synopsis of the film, which is helmed by multimedia artist One9:"Time Is Illmatic" traces Nas’s influences and the insurmountable odds he faced in creating the greatest work of music from hip-hop’s second golden era. The film tracks the musical legacy of the Jones family -- handed down to Nas from his jazz musician father, Olu Dara, the support of his Queensbridge neighborhood crew, and the loyalty of his younger brother Jabari “Jungle” Fret.
- 2/19/2014
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Nas’ 2004 single, “Bridging The Gap,” featuring Olu Dara has taken on a new meaning for this holiday season. The pair has once again extended their father-son relationship for the Gap’s annual holiday collection.
Yesterday the influential hip hop Mc (born Nasir Jones) took to his Instagram account to debut the clothing retailer’s latest ad, dubbed “Love Comes In Every Shade,” which showcases him donning a plaid shirt complete with a vest and the ageless Blues musician rocking a denim oxford shirt.
The collaboration adds to the duo’s growing list of collaborations which includes Nas’ timeless classic, “Life’s A Bitch” to Dara’s 1998 track, “Jungle Jay.”
Check out the Gap’s “Love Comes In Every Shade” commercial above and the print ad below.
Yesterday the influential hip hop Mc (born Nasir Jones) took to his Instagram account to debut the clothing retailer’s latest ad, dubbed “Love Comes In Every Shade,” which showcases him donning a plaid shirt complete with a vest and the ageless Blues musician rocking a denim oxford shirt.
The collaboration adds to the duo’s growing list of collaborations which includes Nas’ timeless classic, “Life’s A Bitch” to Dara’s 1998 track, “Jungle Jay.”
Check out the Gap’s “Love Comes In Every Shade” commercial above and the print ad below.
- 11/8/2012
- by Brennan Williams
- Huffington Post
'Mother's Day is #1, but every once in a while, let's remember the fathers too,' Nas tells MTV News.
By Rob Markman
Nas
Photo:
Nas takes being a dad seriously. On his debut 1994 album, Illmatic, God's Son lightly touched on his first forays into fatherhood, and as his catalog grew, so did his subject matter. In 2004, he saluted his own pop, Olu Dara, and even collaborated with his old man on his "Bridging the Gap" single. But this year on Father's Day, the Queensbridge rap great plans to toss a nod to all dads with a special brunch in his native New York City."I'm doing a Father's Day brunch to just celebrate the fathers out there," Nas told MTV News on Tuesday. "It's important that we acknowledge that, because family is a very important thing, and Mother's Day is #1, but every once in a while, let's remember the fathers too.
By Rob Markman
Nas
Photo:
Nas takes being a dad seriously. On his debut 1994 album, Illmatic, God's Son lightly touched on his first forays into fatherhood, and as his catalog grew, so did his subject matter. In 2004, he saluted his own pop, Olu Dara, and even collaborated with his old man on his "Bridging the Gap" single. But this year on Father's Day, the Queensbridge rap great plans to toss a nod to all dads with a special brunch in his native New York City."I'm doing a Father's Day brunch to just celebrate the fathers out there," Nas told MTV News on Tuesday. "It's important that we acknowledge that, because family is a very important thing, and Mother's Day is #1, but every once in a while, let's remember the fathers too.
- 6/17/2012
- MTV Music News
In 1989, Ice Cube joined forces with New York’s legendary Bomb Squad to record AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted and make a statement about national unity. Two decades later, Nas and Damian Marley, the sons of Olu Dara and Bob Marley, respectively, have hooked up to make Distant Relatives, an even bigger statement about international unity and the interconnectedness of African-derived people throughout the diaspora. The ambitious project taps into the almost messianic sense of purpose coursing through much of Nas’ discography. It’s an Afrocentric manifesto sometimes loaded down by the weight of its noble ambitions. And sometimes Nas ...
- 5/25/2010
- avclub.com
Literally thousands of albums get released every year. Of those thousands, maybe a few hundred get some sort of recognition, and only a couple of dozen will actually be praised as great. A handful might be declared the best of the year or the best of a decade. But every once in a while, an absolute classic hits store shelves and music remains changed forever. That's exactly what happened on this day in 1994, when the 20-year-old Nas released the watershed album Illmatic.
Born and raised in New York City's Queensbridge neighborhood, Nas (still known in some circles then as Nasty Nas) took the no-flinching elements of hardcore rap and applied a sense of poetry and structure that hadn't been seen before in rap LPs. With the help of producers Large Professor, DJ Premier, Pete Rock and a handful of others, Illmatic had a sonic depth that sounded hard but also allowed for artistry,...
Born and raised in New York City's Queensbridge neighborhood, Nas (still known in some circles then as Nasty Nas) took the no-flinching elements of hardcore rap and applied a sense of poetry and structure that hadn't been seen before in rap LPs. With the help of producers Large Professor, DJ Premier, Pete Rock and a handful of others, Illmatic had a sonic depth that sounded hard but also allowed for artistry,...
- 4/19/2010
- by Kyle Anderson
- MTV Newsroom
This Sunday is Father’s Day, so you still have time to get out and get your cards purchased and your barbecue equipment/ties/books about baseball purchased. Music history is full of father/kid collaborations, some awesome (Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy jamming with his son Spencer) and some creepy (Nat King Cole’s posthumous collaboration with daughter Natalie). Here are my five favorite family duos.
Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus: Billy Ray certainly had his own success in the early ’90s, but he is enjoying a renaissance thanks to his ubiquitous daughter. Their collaboration “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” is a surprisingly sweet ballad that deals directly with fatherhood.
Nas and Olu Dara: Jazz musician Olu Dara (born Charles Jones) has always had something of a complicated relationship with his son Nas (born Nasir Jones). But their collaborations have been nothing short of excellent. Dara played cornet...
Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus: Billy Ray certainly had his own success in the early ’90s, but he is enjoying a renaissance thanks to his ubiquitous daughter. Their collaboration “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” is a surprisingly sweet ballad that deals directly with fatherhood.
Nas and Olu Dara: Jazz musician Olu Dara (born Charles Jones) has always had something of a complicated relationship with his son Nas (born Nasir Jones). But their collaborations have been nothing short of excellent. Dara played cornet...
- 6/19/2009
- by Kyle Anderson
- MTV Newsroom
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