Nas and Gustavo Dudamel Bring an Orchestral ‘Illmatic’ to the Disney Hall
variety.comAndrew Barker Senior Features WriterWhat else is left to say about “Illmatic”? Nas’ 1994 debut has been included at or near the top of every credible “greatest hip-hop albums” list for as long as people have been compiling them.
It’s inspired two books, countless scholarly essays, a play, and one feature-length documentary. Just last week it soundtracked an entire episode of Netflix’s “Ozark.” Nas has been performing the album’s nine tracks in their entirety off and on since 2011 – this reviewer has seen Nas nine times, and four of those shows included a full “Illmatic” runthrough – and the rapper has even expressed some reservations about its overpowering legacy.
And who could blame him? What must it feel like to have created the exemplar of an entire art form on your very first attempt, knowing that your subsequent decades of frequently excellent work will always appear somewhat diminished in its shadow?
Perhaps only Orson Welles could fully relate. On Sunday night at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Nas did what so many veteran rock and pop artists have done before to shake the cobwebs off their greatest work: he performed it with an entire symphony orchestra.
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