Old music: Nas – NY State of Mind

Nas made hip-hop that was fat-free, cliche-light and peppered with wordplay that would have had Keats noddingNas only has himself to blame. Nobody was expecting perfection on his first album, Illmatic. He could have picked inferior producers. He could have resorted to tiresome cliches about violence and misogyny that have served countless other rappers so well. But no, he had to go and work with four of the best at the time – Large Professor, DJ Premier, Q-Tip and Pete Rock – and write those...

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