Nasir “Nas” Jones has to be feeling awesome right now. The Queensbridge veteran is enjoying a career upswing coupled with the 20th anniversary celebration of his debut album, Illmatic. And now, a mixtape in honor of the Time Is Illmatic documentary has just been released to the public.
Legendary producer and DJ Pete Rock unleashed the Time Is Illmatic mixtape and as one of Nas’ past collaborators, who better to run down the history of Illmatic and offer some special tidbits on the mix? For those fans who miss he true mixtape with blends and scratches, the Chocolate Boy Wonder does not disappoint on this one.
Between playing the original samples that made up the backdrop to some of the classics on Illmatic, Pete Rock also has drops from Q-Tip ahead of the still bone-chilling “One Love” track. Complex caught up with Pete Rock, who explained the story behind the creation of the mixtape.
Complex writes:
“I was motivated to produce this mixtape because Time Is Illmatic is a part of hip-hop history that everyone should know about; and have in both their music and now film collection,” said Pete Rock, over email.
Along with the Q-Tip drop, DJ Premier also shows up to drop his shout outs. Although the mix is only a touch over 44 minutes, it’s packed with everything you need for the total Nas experience.
Hit the stream below to check out Pete Rock’s Time Is Illmatic mixtape.
—
Photo: Petrushka Bazin Larsen
