Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic

(Basic Civitas ) Nasir “Nas” Jones changed hip-hop, and the face of the musical world, with the release of his 1994 album Illmatic . Hailed as a masterpiece for its lyricism and beats, Illmatic is an account of life in the Queensbridge housing project and a meditation on isolation, inequality, and the despair of urban poverty. The essays in this book each examine an individual track from the album, questioning the album’s legacy, discussing its relationship with the evolution of hip-hop and culture, and re-affirming the place of hip-hop in American music. Michael Eric Dyson is University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University and the author of 17 books, including Can You Hear Me Now?, Holler if You Hear Me, and Is Bill Cosby Right? Sohail Daulatzai is an assistant professor in African Americans studies and film and media studies at the University of California, Irvine.