Illmatic: East Coast Streets

East Coast Hip Hop in the mid 90s doesn’t need me to make its importance evident; the names made themselves important. Illmatic gets the shaft on the Spin list but it’s due respect in this episode. Nas’ brilliant poetry vividly captures a place, Queensbridge, as a microcosm of NYC and the East Coast Hip Hop scene in the mid 90s. Matt presents Mobb Deep’s The Infamous and Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt as two other vital entries for understanding the scene, place, and lives of artists.