It was the first project released on Puff Daddy’s new venture, Bad Boy Records. Add production from the best of that era (DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Q-Tip, L.E.S.), and the end result is one of the most revered albums ever made.įive months later, Ready to Die arrived amidst less initial excitement. State of Mind”) and Nas brought it to an end by exhibiting a radiant confidence in his own ability (“It Ain’t Hard to Tell”), which served as a strong parting thought for listeners.

For example, take the way he describes aging as the “essence of adolescence” leaving his body on his 20th birthday on “Life’s a Bitch.” The album opened with incredible storytelling ( “N.Y. Though he possessed an uncanny ability to not only flip syllables with ease, the relationship between the words he used and their meaning was brilliant from a contextual standpoint. There was eager anticipation for Illmatic, as many a rap know-it-all hailed Nas the second coming of Rakim. It was a year of triumph for both rappers, but does Biggie’s mass appeal solidify him as ‘94’s MVP while relegating Nas to Rookie of the Year? Not quite.

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