30 Years Of Illmatic: Nas Rocks The Mic & Symphony Halls

Nas is a hip-hop legend. When his classic Illmatic dropped in 1994 it was an explosion that expanded and enhanced the art form. Nas was just 20 years old, but his lyricism, intricate flow and narrative skills deeply connected with fans while blowing critics’ minds with depictions of his life in Queensbridge, New York. Three decades later he has, and his message continues to resonate. His lyrics are taught alongside Shakespeare in schools (including my own in Oakland, California) and The Library of Congress recently selected Illmatic for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

When it came to touring the album again, Nas (real name Nasir Jones), now 50, wanted something that could make the show more dynamic for him and for fans. He describes playing the same songs over and over again as “robotic.” In March 2018, Nas performed Illmatic alongside an orchestra arranged by composer Derrick Hodges. Steven Reineke conducted 96 players from the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. for that show, which became something of a proof of concept.

“It felt like theater,” Nas tells Pollstar of playing the Kennedy Center. “I remember feeling like I was the star of a theater show and it was like hip-hop ‘Phantom of the Opera’ meets Sinatra meets Michael Jackson, with a splash of Stephen King with the storytelling elements. Some of the sounds are eerie. The whole symphony adding this cinematic and a theater vibe that just took me away.”

Six years later, on Illmatic’s 30th anniversary year, Nas is touring the symphonic concept, including Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado with the Colorado Symphony and Hodges conducting.

At his June 30 Red Rocks show, far from Queensbridge, Nas raises a glass of whisky to the crowd. He’s dressed in a black tuxedo and sunglasses despite the sun having long set. Illmatic takes on a new life with the orchestra with a performance that is as dramatic as Nas himself. Each orchestral section — the horns, strings, woodwinds, percussion — accentuate the original tracks’ drama with even more of a gut punch when he spits bars like, “Life’s a bitch and then you die, that’s why we get high, ’cause you never know when you’re gonna go.”

Nas, these days, has a penchant for taking the stage, where he can look into fans’ eyes and see his music resonate. He describes performing in ethereal terms invoking the word “spiritual” and calling these shows a “thorough workout of the mind, body and spirit.”

Nas is managed by Anthony Saleh and Gabe Zardes at Emagen Entertainment Group and represented by WME’s Kevin Shivers and Brian Cohen. In 2023 he embarked on the “N.Y. State Of Mind” co-headline tour with Wu-Tang Clan, with highlights from the trek including a Sept. 27 date at Brooklyn, New York’s Barclays Center that grossed $1.4 million.

Pollstar caught up with Nas just before his 28-date Illmatic symphony tour, which is currently touring across 11 countries with 23 upcoming dates. This includes the Filene Center at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia; All Points East 2024 in London; Masseria Ferragnano in Locorotondo, Italy; and Nice Jazz Fest in France. He’ll return to the U.S. for three dates at Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 before heading to Japan and returning to Europe where he’ll close out the run in November at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He also released a new single with Illmatic collaborator DJ Premier in April called “Define My Name,” released via Mass Appeal, a record label co-founded by Nas. He and DJ Premier teased that a new album will be released later this year.

Pollstar: What’s your favorite part of doing these live shows?
Nas: The fact I get to stand in front of the audience who only heard the song, maybe saw a video, but now get to meet me in person and I get to meet them in person. I sit and wonder, sometimes, who likes what I’m doing. I wonder if what I’m doing is satisfying to people. And, when I get to see their faces, it’s like we finally have this meetup and it’s spiritual and full of emotion.

This isn’t your first time orchestrating Illmatic. How did this come about, the decision to breathe new life into this album and orchestrate it?
Speaking of spiritual, that was the definition of spiritual. It was a celebration. Playing the Kennedy Center was an honor itself, the people that came out were hyped. It felt like theater. I remember feeling like I was the star of a theater show, and it was like hip-hop “Phantom of the Opera” meets Sinatra meets Michael Jackson, with a splash of Stephen King, with the storytelling elements. Some of the sounds are kind of eerie, with the violin sections. And the whole symphony adds this cinematic and a theater vibe to it. That just took me away.

How long were you rehearsing the show?
We only rehearsed once or twice. We rehearsed the day before, and that was it. Our conductor, Derrick Hodges, was incredible. He knew it was my first time. I expected him to be more of a classical music snob, and maybe not even look at rap music as something he would want to do. But, when I met him, he tore all of that down. He was the total opposite. He was very enthusiastic about what we were going to do together. He put together the notes with me and took my music and turned it into a symphony. It was just a beautiful combination of myself and the orchestra. It was easier than I thought it would be. I thought it would be like, ‘Oh my God…’ I didn’t know it would be so easy. I really just walked in there, he taught me my cues, and we hit it instantly.

For this current tour with the symphony, how did you decide on playing these cities?
I tried to play places that I didn’t get to the year before. I try to go to cities that I love; I try to go to places that love hip-hop because I appreciate them. And this is the thing with going overseas. They’re people that you don’t see all the time. Going over there, you get to experience their culture. And that’s something completely different because these are people who have a different language (unless it’s in England). They’re listening to your music and they know your music, even though it’s from an English-speaking place. It’s crazy to see that people can enjoy the music and have a good time. I love that.

Is there a preference for the types of venues you play?
I don’t have a preference. Each one is a challenge. I learn from each different venue, they bring me something different. They keep it fresh, they make sure it still feels like a flow. I like the bigger audiences, I like intimate audiences, I like them all.

Is there anything you’ve brought back from overseas to incorporate into your live performances or music?
Oh yeah. Sometimes I find new music. Hip-hop is not just America, it’s other places which are booming with their music and it’s the biggest thing in that country. We come as visitors and we get to experience different artists in that country. Sometimes, I don’t have time to experience too much of it because of just being on the road. It makes you deal with a schedule that doesn’t give you a chance to really go see the city the way you’d like to. But, you get there and realize these people are doing amazing things musically and I just appreciate that they are still listening to me at the same time.

What about during the performance itself, is there a particular moment that’s your favorite part?
My favorite part is walking out on stage. That’s the biggest moment, walking on stage and getting started. In the middle of the show, I don’t know who I am. It’s like Nas takes a break, and Nasir Jones enters the stage. Towards the end, Nas is back. It’s great, because you test your physicality. You test your mental memory bank. Your fast wit with the spontaneity of it all in-between songs. You’re kind of writing new lyrics as you go. Sometimes you bust out a freestyle you didn’t know you were going to do. So the process is exciting because I entertain myself at the same time. It’s a thorough workout of the mind, body and spirit, and it’s an incredible musical exercise.

Has performing these songs on stage changed for you over the years?
It’s been refreshing for me [releasing new songs and playing with the orchestra]. It relieves me from doing what I’m used to doing. It felt sometimes robotic, doing the same thing every time. So, doing new songs gave me a chance to feel like I was doing something fresh. It gave me a new glow, a new voice, a new feeling, excitement, a tad bit of fear. It made me feel like what I’m doing is taking my music to the new day and experiencing that with people who’ve been listening to me for years, it’s something that is just fulfilling.

Looking back on your career, were there any specific live performances that continue to stand out to you?
There are a few really early ones. I used to do House of Blues in Los Angeles, and that was a big deal to me. The most recent one was Madison Square Garden last year. That one was nice because it was based on my new music. And my first official show in New York was one of my favorites, I think it was in 1991 and it was a guest appearance on stage, but it was one that sticks out. It was a show with the Group Main Source in Manhattan.

Were there any shows from your initial trek in 1994 that you still think about today?
From New York down the I-95 highway to North Carolina – I hit everything, Jersey, Philly, D.C., Virginia – everything we did was huge to me. It was a first for me.
It was the first time having my name out there with more than one song. I was attached to shows where there were bigger names and I only had one song out at the time, but I had a whole album in ’94. It was a big deal, because now it was my turn.
It’s a blur. They all felt like a big party and it was just my introduction to the whole [touring] thing.

Last year you were very hands-on with the hip-hop 50th celebrations and spent years working to pull it all together. What was it like seeing those celebrations come to fruition?
It was like I could finally wipe the sweat off my forehead. Plop down on the sofa, kick my feet up and say, finally. It was so much work getting to that point. It was years of pushing this thing. Hip-hop 50 was on everything I did and turned a lot of companies onto hip-hop 50. The significance of the whole thing was major. With them, we were talking about this maybe four or five years prior, and then as it got closer to the year, all these people that we spoke to about what hip-hop 50 meant, it was an aha moment. Like, “Oh, I get it now.” Having a sold-out concert at Yankee Stadium, I’m going to put that as one of my biggest accomplishments ever. It was done on the date we all agreed was hip-hop’s birthday. Aug. 11 (when DJ Kool Herc played his sister Cindy’s block party in the Bronx in 1974). So, to have Yankee Stadium in the Bronx sold out, it was mind-blowing for all of us.

Who are some of your hip-hop inspirations?
My top favorite guys go from Rakim, Big Daddy Kane to Ice Cube, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar. Thank you to these guys for really putting the inspiration into the business, into the art form. I think hip-hop has got 50 more years and then some.