By spring 1994, the potent combination of West Coast G-funk (the domain of Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Warren G) and gangsta lyrics had become the dominant style in hip-hop. Then Nas delivered his debut recording. His hard-edged, unapologetic, and literate tales of project life lived up to the hype generated by the success of his early single "It Ain't Hard to Tell." Nas grew up in the infamous, sprawling Queensbridge Projects of Queens, and his New York state of mind was vastly different than Billy Joel's. On "One Love," he rapped, "I sit with a buddha sack/ Mind's in another world/ Thinking how can we exist through the facts/ Written in school textbooks, Bibles, etc.You may say I need time alone/ To relax my dome/ No phone/ Left the nine at home," and the caliber of rhyme skills rose three notches. With ILLMATIC's ghetto verité, Nas prefigured Notorious B.I.G. and fellow Queensbridge neighbors Mobb Deep -- and quietly but firmly reestablished the merit of East Coast hip-hop.
