1001 Albums Summary

This album is so… ok. Like I think I’ve just heard nearly every single song so many times that it’s made me numb to the fact that this was once genre-pushing. Still a solid 7/10 but was definitely once a 10/10 for me. Also the reverb on “The Handshake” is nauseating.

It is now that I am deciding that I will only listen to these albums once, and only once before I write anything. And I will not be editing these blurbs. This album is like the Beatles if I liked them at all. They have that old studio sound of a group of artists just hanging out in their prime. Peak chilling on a lot of these songs. 7/10 also Hot Fuzz reference

Dude it’s a classic. We all know this album is a masterpiece and what it did for story telling in music is essay worthy. For not even being their best album, it’s still near perfect in close to every aspect. 9.8/10 closer to 9.9 than 9.7 and one of the few albums a white dad would rave about that actually stands the test of time and remains up to snuff with music today.

Nas is an anomaly in hip hop. Very few artists burst onto the scene with this distinct of a style and attitude, let alone put the rap game in a chokehold with a debut album. Nas’s presence (specifically the energy captured on illmatic) is still seen today and will exist forever throughout the genre. Extremely formative personally, as well as for countless hip hop artists. 5/5

Chances of me finishing this album today are low so I’ll say some stuff now since I have heard this one so many times. It’s only flaw is it’s length in my opinion, the beats all over both parts are so fucking FUN. OutKast has always prioritized their vision above all else and it yields the truest versions of themselves which allows the music to be consistently entertaining, even more than some music releasing today. Being someone whose main exposure to rap has always been northeast coast and west coast, I’ve always been a firm believer that the south makes the best version of it and the longevity of this album proves that for me. 4.8/5