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Nas

Illmatic: 10th Anniversary Platinum Edition

Great hip-hop debuts are a dime a dozen. Great hip-hop careers are another thing. Nas is still trying to live up to 1994’s landmark “Illmatic.” As rival Jay-Z put it in his Nas putdown, “Takeover”: “One hot album every ten year average/and that’s so lame.” Still, the celebratory–if unnecessary–double-disc edition of “Illmatic” finds the album as strong as ever, considering 10 years ago it shifted hip-hop’s focus back to East Coast street-smarts after a few years of West Coast g-funk swagger.

Take away: Street classic

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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Ben Delery ([email protected])