Illmatic

Illmatic is an East Coast rap album by Nas, released on April 19, 1994 (see 1994 in music). With producers like MC Premier[?] and Pete Rock[?], Illmatic began its career with advance buzz on the streets. According to most critics, the album held up to its reputation, and became known as one of the most individual and creative gangsta rap albums in the history of the genre. Illmatic established Nas as a critical darling, a reputation he was unable to keep through a series of disastrously reviewed albums finally ending with Stillmatic[?].

Track listing

1. The Genesis
2. N.Y. State of Mind (Jones/Martin)
3. Life's a Bitch (Cruz/Dara/Jones/Scott/Wilson)
4. The World Is Yours (Jones/Phillips)
5. Halftime (Byrd/Jones/Mitchell)
6. Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park) (Barsella/Jones/Martin/Wilson)
7. One Love (Davis/Heath/Jones)
8. One Time 4 Your Mind (Jones/Mitchell)
9. Represent (Martin/Nas)
10. It Ain't Hard to Tell (Jones/Mitchell)

Personnel

• MC Serch - Executive Producer
• Olu Dara - Trumpet
• Nas - Vocals, Producer
• DJ Premier - Producer
• Diego Garrido - Engineer, Mixing
• Large Professor - Producer
• Tim "The Funky Red" Lathem - Engineer
• Q-Tip - Producer
• Kevin Reynolds - Engineer
• Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Producer
• Eddie Sancho - Engineer
• Jamey Staub - Engineer
• Jason Vogel - Engineer
• Stan Wallace - Engineer
• Louis Tineo - Assistant Engineer
• Pete Rock - Producer
• Aimee MacAuley - Design
• Jack Hersca - Assistant Engineer
• Danny Clinch - Photography
• L.E.S. - Producer
• Anton "Sample This" Pushansky - Engineer
• A.Z. - Vocals

Chart positions

Billboard Music Charts (North America) - album

 1994	The Billboard 200	                No. 12
 1994	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	                No. 2

Billboard (North America) - singles

 1993	Half Time	        Hot Rap Singles	                     No. 8
 1994	It Ain t Hard To Tell	The Billboard Hot 100	             No. 91
 1994	It Ain t Hard To Tell	Hot Rap Singles	                     No. 13
 1994	One Love	        Hot Rap Singles	                     No. 24
 1994	The World Is Yours	Hot Rap Singles	                     No. 27
 1994	It Ain t Hard To Tell	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks     No. 57
 1994	The World Is Yours	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks     No. 67
 1994	It Ain t Hard To Tell	Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales   No. 3
 1994	One Love	        Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales   No. 6
 1994	The World Is Yours	Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales   No. 6
 1995	One Love	        Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales   No. 34