1)LIFE'S A BITCH - My favorite Nas verse, plus a beautiful jazz beat (I think Nas' dad plays the outro riff). This track is, as I understand it, is about growing up.

"I woke up early on my born day, I'm twenty, it's a blessing
The essence of adolescent leaves my body now I'm fresh
My physical frame is celebrated cause I made it
One quarter through life some God-ly like thing created"

Nas has reached the end of adolescence and the beginning of manhood. He's known a lot of peeps who never made it this far, so he's grateful regardless of how fucked up shit is.

"Got rhymes 365 days annual plus some
Load up the mic and bust one, cuss while I puffs from
my skull cause it's pain in my brain vein money maintain
Don't go against the grain simple and plain"

The end of adolescent rebellion. Nas has gotta make money for himself, support himself, and conform enuff to join society and be successful in it. Jung describes this as giving up the teenage ego I think. Basically, there's more to life than just doing what you want all the time.

"When I was young at this I used to do my thing hard
Robbin foreigners take they wallets they jewels and rip they green cards
Dipped to the projects flashin my quick cash
and got my first piece of ass smokin blunts with hash"

Nas dabbles in crime, sees what it is that ppl respect in life, gets laid for the first time.

"Now it's all about cash in abundance, niggaz I used to run with
is rich or doin years in the hundreds"

Nas sees that, while things can seem hopeless where he is right now, there's ppl who came from the same circumstances to wind up on both ends of the spectrum. He's gotta accept full responsibility for making choices that determine his destiny.

"I switched my motto -- instead of sayin fuck tomorrow
That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto"

My favorite lyric ever. On paper it can appear to be hopeful, but when you hear you know that the line really represents giving up on childish dreams & trying to escape reality and being resolved to make the best of what little you have. It's really a line completely devoid of hope.

"Once I stood on the block, loose cracks produce stacks
I cooked up and cut small pieces to get my loot back
Time is Illmatic keep static like wool fabric
Pack a four-matic that crack your whole cabbage"

He used to sell small packages to earn quick cash to go out and party w/. Now he's seeing the bigger picture of how short lifee can be if you party it away and never make anything of yourself. He's gonna still hold his own tho.


2)VERBAL INTERCOURSE - Nas' 2nd best verse; this sums up Nas' whole discography basically. THe prophet sits back and observes the march of evolution/human history with a mix of resignation & melancholy.

"Cue the lights cameras and action, glamour glitters and gold"

He's gonna break life down for you, cutting a swath thru all that hollywood BS.

"I unfold the scroll,"

Deciphers prophecies.

"plant seeds to stampede the globe
When I'm deceased, plot in the beast arise like yeast
to conquer peace leaving savages to roam in the streets"

He plants seeds not just by 'stabbin women like the phantom', but also thru his lyircs which plant mental seeds in listeners domes. They guarantee his immortality and if the rhymes hit their target, these kids will grow up within the beast (the system that put him in the ghetto in the first place) to start the revolution and make the pigs fuckin squeal. His life mission.

"Live on the run, police paying me to give in my gun"

Just had to remind you that he's the ultimate rebel/gangsta/thug/badass/give him chicks.

"Trick my Wisdom, with the system that imprisoned my son"

Who knows what his genius could've accomplished if it hadn't been imprisoned by the system's web of deception('even my brain's in handcuffs').

"Smoke a gold leaf I hold heat, nonchalantly
I'm grungy, but things I do is real it never haunts me"

We smoke regular green leaves, but the prophet smokes gold shit fit for Imhotep himself. He may be forced to do gangsta shit (either lyrically or in reality), but he understands why it's neccessary and won't lose sleep over it.

"while, funny style, niggaz roll in the pile
Rooster heads profile on a bus to Riker's Isle
Holdin weed inside they pussy with they minds on the
pretty things in life, props is a true thug's wife
It's like a cycle, niggaz come home, some'll go in
Do a bullet, come back, do the same shit again"

Meanwhile the cycle of poverty continues in the black community, and it's inevitable (altho heart-breaking) so he can't let himself be distracted by it, other than to give props to those who stay strong in the struggle.

"From the womb to the tomb, presume the unpredictable"

He's a prophet. He called bank on Vanderjacht's field goal in Tampa last monday.

"Guns salute life, rapidly, that's the ritual"

Death makes life sacred, and what you do with the time you are here penultimately important.


3)MEMORY LANE - This is Nas reminscing on his life and giving you a snapshot of all the shit that contributed to who he is today.

"I reminisce on park jams, my man was shot for his sheep coat
Childhood lesson make me see him drop in my weed smoke"

"No sign of the beast in the blue Chrysler, I guess that means peace
For niggaz no sheisty vice to just snipe ya
Start off the dice-rollin mats for craps to cee-lo
With sidebets, I roll a deuce, nothin below (Peace God!)
Peace God -- now the shit is explained"

Dodging police, bullets, incarceration, addiction & hopelessness is all in a day's work in the nieghbourhood. This explains why 'the shit that he writes is even tougher than dice' and why he has such profound insight.

"My intellect prevails from a hangin cross with nails
I reinforce the frail, with lyrics that's real"

He is now the Christ-like savior of hip-hop who gives strength to the weak with rhymes that make sense out of and give meaning to their suffering.


4)ONE LOVE - The easiest track opn Illmatic to decipher, which is why a lot of people rate it the best I think. I have it as the 3rd best track on the album cuz of the emotion behind it.

"so stay civilised, time flies
though incarcerated your mind
I hate it when your mum cries
it kinda wants to make me murder, for real-a
I've even got a mask and gloves to bust slugs but one love"

^these lines give me chills everytime I hear them, along w/ Nas' hopeless advice to the kids on the park bench;

"words of wisdom from nas try to rise up above
keep an eye out for jake shorty what
one love"