News

'Illmatic' Book Brings Academic Approach to Nas Classic

Nas' 1994 debut, the stone-cold classic Illmatic, will soon be the subject of a book called Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas' Illmatic. Due out January 9 through Basic Civitas Books, the collection of essays features such scholars as Michael Eric Dyson, Sohail Daulatzai, Adilifu Nama, Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., James Peterson, Marc Lamont Hill, Mark Anthony Neal, Kyra Gaunt, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Imani Perry, and more.

Dyson explained the importance of Nas' breakthrough after one of the rapper's recent shows, saying, "[I admire] the intellectual ferocity and the political relevance of a young man who's speaking truth to power in these postmodern, postindustrial urban spaces. Where truth is being squeezed out, this brother is rising up with a rebellion and a kind of serious, serious political power that is necessary."

In other Nas news, the MC is still on the road supporting his current self-titled record.

Nas live:
9/9 Sparks, NV - New Oasis
9/11 Chicago, CA - Senator Theatre
9/12 Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
9/7 Richmond, VA - Toad's Place
10/10 Rochester, NY - Gordon Field House (Rochester Institute of Technology)

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
09.09.08