Stillmatic
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Stillmatic is a hip hop album by Nas. It was released in December of 2001 and was Nas' fifth studio album, following 1999's I Am ... and Nastradamus.
Stillmatic was one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year, primarily due to the fallout from Nas' heated battle with rival Jay-Z. Jay-Z had previously insulted Nas in his single "Takeover", taken from his September 2001 release, The Blueprint. On Stillmatic, Nas retaliated with "Ether", a response to "Takeover" that labeled Jay-Z as both a sell-out artist and hypocrite.
Stillmatic is hailed as Nas's best album since 1994's Illmatic. The CD marked Nas's reemergence atop the rap scene, after many said he had fallen off with his last two LP's, I Am... and Nastradamus. The album received 5 mics from The Source magazine, a distinction set aside only for classic albums. Nas remains one of the few hip-hop artists to have two 5 mic albums--Illmatic and Stillmatic.
The lead single from Stillmatic was, "Got Ur Self A Gun", with a piano loop reminiscent of the music for a king's coronation. The second single was "One Mic", which gained Nas MTV airplay that he had not always their before, and the song recieved acclaim for its content and video.
Track listing
- "Stillmatic (Intro)"
- "Ether"
- "Got Ur Self A ..."
- "Smokin'"
- "You're da Man"
- "Rewind"
- "One Mic"
- "2nd Childhood"
- "Destroy and Rebuild"
- "The Flyest" (featuring AZ)
- "Rule" (featuring Amerie)
- "My Country"
- "What Goes Around"
- "Every Ghetto" (bonus track)
The first pressing of Stillmatic featured "Braveheart Party", produced by Swizz Beatz and featuring Mary J. Blige and The Bravehearts, as track number eleven, between "The Flyest" and "Rule". "Braveheart Party" was removed from future pressings of the album as Blige stated that her vocals and the instrumental track were culled, without her permission, from unfinished recording sessions for her own album. As "Braveheart Party" was cited by many reviewers and fans as the weakest track on the LP, it was removed from the album without dispute.