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<p class="has-text-color has-background has-medium-font-size has-luminous-vivid-orange-color has-very-dark-gray-background-color wp-block-paragraph">One of hip hop&#8217;s most acclaimed bodies of work, Nas&#8217; debut album &#8220;Illmatic&#8221; just recently hit the 25 year mark. With many of rap&#8217;s top tier artists from past to present citing the 10 track project as one of their inspirations to emcee, &#8220;Illmatic&#8221; has truly stood the test time and can be considered a classic. On it&#8217;s 20 year anniversary, Nas performed the entire album with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the performance video and live audio was released last year to consumers.</p>



<p class="has-text-color has-background has-medium-font-size has-luminous-vivid-orange-color has-very-dark-gray-background-color wp-block-paragraph">With the 25th anniversary passing recently, Nas celebrated NYC with his team at a pop up titled &#8220;Illmatic XXV: Memory Lane&#8221;. He spoke with hip hop journalist and Queens native Shaheem Reid about his outlook on the milestone. Also present was long time collaborator and comrade AZ, who was the only feature on the album.</p>



<p class="has-text-color has-background has-medium-font-size has-luminous-vivid-orange-color has-very-dark-gray-background-color wp-block-paragraph">To also bring the moment full circle, Mass Appeal spoke with some of the &#8220;architects of Illmatic&#8221;. These people were either involved directly or indirectly with the album&#8217;s creation and release. These include producers like DJ Premier, DJ LES, &; Large Professor. Also included are Nas&#8217; brother Jungle (from The Bravehearts), journalist Miss Info, A&;R Faith Newman, and more. Click the playlist below to see there stories of how &#8220;Illmatic&#8221; came to be what it is today&#8230;&#8230;A HIP HOP CLASSIC. </p>



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<p class="has-text-color has-background has-medium-font-size has-luminous-vivid-orange-color has-very-dark-gray-background-color wp-block-paragraph">To pick up official Illmatic 25th Anniversary merchandise courtesy of Nas, HSTRY, &; Bleacher Report, visit the link below. <br><a href="https://www.bleacherreportshop.com/pages/illmatic-collection-nas-25th-anniversary">https://www.bleacherreportshop.com/pages/illmatic-collection-nas-25th-anniversary</a> </p>



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