Illmatic vs Ready to die

[00:00:00] Speaker A: And now it's the time you've been waiting for. You're in the mix with film producer Jason Slack, aka the talk of the Town. Now, the 40 vision films man himself, the owner of the Jason slack brand, the place to be is here on the Vision live network. And now let's get it. Everybody has a sick as far as they cheers. [00:00:25] Speaker B: There's a party over here, there's a party over there. Everybody have a sip, have fun and say cheers. I walked in the club shorty dancing all around twerking she dipping low ass all on the ground give me a shot of something strong I could sip on I did a two step to DJ play my favorite song everybody's getting welcome to the slackest call podcast, aka the talk of the Town. Now, I'm your host, film producer Jason Slack. And today is Thursday, October 26, 2023. And on today's episode, after doing a series of serious topics the last couple of weeks, as per request, we go switch it up a little bit and have some fun. We go take it back to our roots. That's right, I'm talking about a versus battle. We talking about nas illmatic versus biggie, ready to die. Who you got? Let's get it. As always, I gotta give an answer. I gotta tell you which one is better. So without a doubt, let's get it in. Hey, this is your boy, Jason Slack, aka. The talk of the town. Now, the slackest talk podcast is available on all your favorite podcast platforms. Choose your favorite podcast platform, go to the slackest talk, hit that follow or subscribe button and that's it. All your work is done as soon as you hit that follow button. A new episode or new content of the Slackest tall podcast will be delivered straight to your device as soon as it becomes available. Now, here's the best part. You can listen to my show live, which I definitely recommend, but it gets even better. Let's say that you busy that day. The slackest talk podcast episodes will be available 24/7. So you can listen to the show later, you can listen to the show the next day. You can listen to three episodes a day. You can listen to an entire series on your way to work, on your way to the gym, however you want to do it. So you see, it's simple, easy and convenient. So what are you waiting for? I'll see y'all Thursdays at 09:00. You heard. And welcome to another epic edition of the talk of the town now. Y'all. Now rocking with the best, it's your boy, film producer Jason Slack, aka. The podcast King, aka the talk of the town. Now. As always, man, it's a pleasure to be here, man. I want to thank y'all once again for tuning in. Is this a blessing? Man, another week here on the slackest talk podcast. Man, I enjoy talking to you all so much, man. It seems like even though we only get together once a week, man, it kind of seemed like it's like every other day, you know what I'm saying? When you enjoy what you're doing, man, at the time go by fast, man, you know what I'm saying? It seems like every other day and we'd be having so much to talk about, you know what I'm saying? I need to get to a point where, you know what I'm saying? We need to link up three times a week at least, you know what I'm saying? That's definitely coming, man. It's coming, it's coming, it's coming. But I appreciate y'all thanks for rocking with me. Y'all already know what it is. Y'all could have been anywhere in the world right now, but you're right here with me. I appreciate that. October 26, man, the last podcast in the month of October, the last Sluggish Talk episode, I should say, in the month of October, you know what I'm saying? Like Tom is winding down, end of the year, you know what I'm saying? Thanksgiving and Christmas be here before you know it, you know what I'm saying? We nearing that time where it's the end of the year, lot to celebrate, a lot to look forward to, a lot to reflect on, and a quick schedule note, you know what I'm saying? By being the end of the year, unfortunately, you know what I'm saying? It's that time. We got like four more episodes in the month of November, and following Thanksgiving, I'll be going on vacation, man, in the month of December, you know what I'm saying? All my day ones, you already know what it is, you know what I'm saying? I do that each and every year, you know what I'm saying? December is my time off. And as always, man, I tell y'all, man, if something major happens, you know what I'm saying? We'd be right back here, you know what I'm saying? I'll do an emergency episode, you know what I'm saying, what I like to call it, and we still got the social media thing going, so it's like I'm on vacation, but I ain't going nowhere. Each and every day, I'm sitting here on the slaggers Talk podcast, you know what I'm saying, at my office, thinking of ways to improve the show, thinking of, you know what I mean, what can I add, you know what I'm saying? What more can I bring to the table? And I got to tell you, you know what I'm saying? You all know me. I don't wait to the last minute, you know what I'm saying? At the end of the year, I start getting on my ground in September. As far as everything goes, at the end of the year, I start that in September. And man the month of January for the slaggers talk. I got a lot of new content, man, a lot of new stuff for you all, man. You all go love it. You all go love it. You know, nothing stays the same. The only thing that stays the same here on the Slackest Talk, man, is we will keep it real. It's going to be entertaining, but I'm always bringing stuff to the table and I got a lot, a lot of stuff coming next year, you know what I'm saying? A lot of stuff here on the but you know, I'll be taking off the know, borrowing change of anything happens, you may still be able to catch me over at the Sports Core Network. As y'all know, NBA started this past two days ago, I'm sorry, on Tuesday, you know what, so, you know, that just started. We in football season. There's a lot going on over there. So, you know, you catch me over there on the Sports Core Network and my sports know, happy to be labeled Slacking Sports. And I also post those episodes right here on the Visualize Network as well. So be on the lookout for that. Also coming in January. It's New Year's. We celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King. He on the Sligas Talk podcast. I hope to have some special guests, you know what I'm saying, to help me along the way, you know what I'm saying? Martin Luther King was my man, as you know, it's before my time. I never got a chance to meet him. And it'll be good this time around. I also did it this year, too. It's good to hear from people that actually lived it as well, you know what I'm saying? So I hope to get some guests on the show to help us out with that. Then we got Black History Month coming up in February where I'll be featuring four people, four African Americans that contributed greatly to the culture, you know what I'm saying? That's what I do. And I always tell you all, those are my two favorite months here on the Slackest Talk podcast because it challenges me. It puts me on my toes, you know what I'm saying? I'm talking about people that I love, but also people that's before my time, you know what I'm saying? I'm talking about stuff that I didn't get to live live, you know what I mean? I didn't get to live through. But because I'm a fan of my culture and where I come from, you know what I'm saying, fan of history. I'm a fan of how I got here. I'm a fan of how I got a chance to start the Slackest Talk, you know what I'm saying? So I talk about people that contributed to our culture. I talk about the people that made the Slackest Talk possible, and it just challenges me, you know what I'm saying, to get information, to get knowledge, and you got to challenge yourself, baby. That's what I do. And those are my two times. And just be on the lookout. I promise you I will not disappoint yet again. This will be our fourth time doing it, and it's going to be one of the best ever. Promise you that. Shout outs to my October birthdays, man. Bond. It being the last day here on The Slackest Talk in October, I hope you all enjoyed your birthdays, you know what I'm saying? My man, Rasheen, Vivian, Eugene, I just hope y'all enjoy it. I hope y'all celebrated it all month long, you know what I'm saying? I know your birthday is just considered one day, but we don't do that here on The Slackest Talk, you know what I'm saying? We give y'all your flowers all month long because y'all deserve it. Y'all keep grinding, you know what I mean? Y'all enjoy yourselves. I can't wait to see what the future holds. And we love you. Vision for kids, man. My favorite. That's where it's at, man. Happy birthday once again. Enjoy it. And now that I got all the announcements out the way, I'm not going to hold you no more. The wait is over, so let's get it in. Today we doing A versus Battle and per your request, you know what I'm saying? The Slackest Talk Nation, this was requested and this was also a question. I'm going to call y'all out on this one because this was also a question I saw like, don't around on a couple of other shows as well, you know what I mean? I'm starting to think that that's where you got the idea from, you know what I'm saying? But lo and behold, it is what it is. Y'all brought it to my attention. Y'all brought it to the table. So now I must answer it. I must answer the question which one was better? And I must give you a reason why. If you don't know and you're just tuning in live, our versus Battle today is album versus album. And also part of it being the album is artist versus artist too. That's the way I look at it. We're talking about Nas Illmatic versus the Notorious B-I-G Ready to Die album. Which one was better? Now, first off, you know what I'm saying? Like me being a New York cat, that tells you, man, the impact in music that we have, you know what I'm saying, where you could put like two classic albums together like that against each other like that, you know what I'm saying? And they both being from New York and I mean, it's plenty of them. It's plenty of them. It's plenty of them. Now, first off, let's start out with Nas, you know what I'm saying? Nas is simply put, man, cut, no corners. Nas is simply one of the best to ever do it, you know what I'm saying? Period. Period. If you feel like he's the best ever, I'm going to disagree. Y'all know who my man is. My man is pop. You know what I'm saying? That's a different topic. But if you say Nas is the best. I won't argue that, you know what I'm saying? Deserving well, deserving, well deserving. I remember when Illmatic first came out, and to show you his greatness, he was out before Biggie. He was out before Jay Z, you know what I'm saying? To show you his greatness. Right? I remember when, you know, first came out, I'm a Queens cat, and he's a Queens guy. He's from Queensbridge. So we still like an hour apart. If you don't know, you never been to New York. Queensbridge is right next door to Manhattan, pretty much, you know what I'm saying? On that side. But nevertheless, I had family members there, you know what I'm saying? I still have family members there now. And Queensbridge is infamous. Man they got Mobb, Deep, a lot of rapper noid, a lot of great rappers came out of Queensbridge, man. A lot of talent. A lot of talent. Not just music, basketball, too. Ronaldest is from Queensbridge, if I remember correctly, you know what I mean? So a lot of talent. A lot of talent. I remember when Illmatic came out, and, man, all I heard was, whose world is this? The world is mine. It's mine, it's mine, it's mine. And I'm like, Yo, that track that track is fire, man. You know what I'm saying? That track is smooth. And he just, like, flowing, like, flowing to the beat. And what caught my attention was when I first started listening to music, I can say, basically, I came up on rap groups. At first, the first people that I listened to was NWA. And def squad. You know what I'm saying? Eric sermon. Well, I should say not. Def squad. I take it back. It was EPMD eric Sermon and Paris Smith. Those were the first two groups. That that's when I really started getting into music, you know what I'm saying? I catered to them two. First, I knew about El Cool J and all that, but you know what I'm saying? It was NWA. They set it off, man. They set that era off, like gangster rap and all that. They set it off. But when Nas came out, it was like it was different. Like, usually, man, especially when I first started listening to music, I was all for that hardcore sound, you know what I'm saying? Like, fuck the police. Like I said, EPMD was the headbanger. That was my style, you know what I'm saying? When I heard Nas, he was rhyming about the streets, and it was hardcore, but the beats were soft like jazzy, you know what I'm saying? And he just had, like, a consistent flow over the beat, you know what I'm saying? He was actually the guy. When I first started listening to music, I liked the lyrics. Don't get me wrong, I was a beat guy. If the beat was tough, I like the song. Like, the lyrics the lyrics didn't have to really be top notch, but if the beat was sick. You got me. When Nas came out, I still love the beats first, don't get me wrong, but he was the first person to kind of make me pay attention to the lyrics. It was just like the flow. That was like one of the first times I could say I really looked at an album or a song that way, instead of the beat. Now, the beats were tight, you know what I'm saying? The beats were sick. Don't get me wrong. That album is a classic, man, from top to bottom. You got the World is yours. You got life's a bitch. You got one love. It ain't hard to tell. I love the track represent, you know what I'm saying? Beats on there is sick, too. But it was all, like, lyrical, and aside from him being lyrical, the thing that stood out and drew it to me the most was it was like, to me, because we didn't have social media back then, you know what I'm saying? So when a person came out, when you saw their video, the chances are, unless you knew that person personally, you know what I'm saying, or like, you hung out and you heard of them. I was a kid, so I wasn't in the club yet and all that kind of stuff, but no social media. So for me, nine times out of ten, when you heard their song on the radio for the first time, or you seen a video that was like the first time you seen that artist or heard of them, you know what I'm saying? Like, one of the two, either the radio or the video, it wasn't like no social media presence. It wasn't no Snapchat where this person was talked about, none of that. Your name had to make the rounds. That was the only way you was getting on back then, you know what I mean? So, for me, he just kind of, like, came out of nowhere, man. Like, who is this cat? You know what I'm saying? The thing that stood out the most, and I like how he did it was he didn't have a crew. He didn't have a major label. What I mean by major label, like Big had Bad Boy, he stood next to Diddy. Not to take nothing away from him, but Bad Boy was up and coming, my man Pop, you know I mean, Death Row was a powerhouse, you know what I'm saying? NWA. Was ruthless, you know what I'm saying? Jay Z later on with Rockefeller, you know what saying? Everybody. Every prominent artist like Busta had flip mode. Every prominent artist had a crew on the label connected to them. But this dude, Nas, he didn't. It was just him. And for a long time, you wouldn't even really know what label he was signed to unless you actually did the research, remember? Computers and all that kind of stuff wasn't really all that prominent yet. Like the Google and all that kind of stuff that was there. But you know what I'm saying? It wasn't prominent like that yet. So you never even really knew what label he was with unless, you know what I mean, did the research. That counts for something when you can stand on your own, too, and you're not around a powerhouse, there's nobody else, like, as famous as you are and stuff like that, that counts, you know what I mean? That counts. And to come out, dolo your first album being a classic, that's saying something, you know what I'm saying? That's saying a lot. That's saying a lot about you. Now. Biggie, biggie's. Ready to die. You know what I'm saying? Another classic, another classic, another classic, another classic. Now Biggie again, first album like Nas first album, you know, saying out the gate now, Big, same way, album was tight, you know what I'm saying? From top to bottom. When he came out with Ready to Die, the West Coast was dominating the charts at the time. You had dr dre the chronic you had Snoop Doggy style you had the dog pound. You know what I mean? That's my death row squad, man. They were taking over. They ran the charts, man. Warren G. You know what I mean? He was doing his thing even though he wasn't officially never signed to Death Row, but he was out there, and it was just a West Coast thing at the time. When Big dropped ready to die, that bought New York and that bought the East Coast back to prominence. You know what I'm saying? It put the East Coast back on the map, you know what I'm saying? It filled that void that was missing. There was really no, of course, don't get me wrong. Nas was over there. You had a lot of people on the East Coast doing their thing. Like I just mentioned earlier, Nas was out at that time and stuff like that. Buster was doing his thing. But as far as, like, impact and the timing of this album, it was this impeccable, you know what I'm saying? It bought a whole coast like back on the map. It was the start of Bad Boy, the record label, even though he wasn't the first album on Bad Boy that belonged to Craig Mack. But that's like another side note, too. Craig Mack came out first, and he went gold. So there was like a little pressure on Big to top that, you know what I'm saying? A little pressure on Big to top that. And man, to say he topped it, that was an understatement. But let's look at the track listing on Ready to Die. And just like Illmatic, you can listen to the whole album from top to bottom. You had. Probably my favorite track. The What On there featuring Method Man. You had Juicy, you had One More Chance, you had respect, unbelievable warning, and I take that back, man. I take that back. I love the song. The what? Featuring Method band. I almost forgot. Man. I almost forgot. My favorite track on the album, without a doubt, man, was Give me the Loop. You know what I'm saying? Give me the loop. My man is crazy. That's the genius of Big, man. He's talking about robbing people and he's rapping from two different perspectives, man. You know what I mean? That's genius. That was one of the first times I heard of that, too, and seen that, you know what I'm saying? That was genius. That was genius. That's by far, without a Doubt Man, my favorite track on that album. Now let's get into the comparison between these two albums. I think a lot of people it's hard to say, it's hard to say. It's hard to say in the streets. If I was to ask people this question, I think it would be like more down the middle, like 50 50. I think as far as commercially, as far as commercial in the industry, people that look at record sales and and stuff like that. I'm not talking about like, other artists, like rap. Like if you're a rap artist, like, you should be able to judge fairly, like, you know what I'm saying? If you rap, you know what all goes into making an album and how to create a song, the beats, who does what and all that kind of stuff. So if you any kind of artist or something like that, you should be able to have a fair judgment. But I'm talking about entertainers that don't do music that's more commercial, that judge, who's more famous, who's more popular, who record was played more on the radio, that type of thing. I think if we were going by that, I think everybody, without hesitation, would probably say Ready to die, you know what I'm saying? And don't get me wrong on this, you know what I'm saying? Like I said, both albums are classic. Both artists are dope you know what I'm saying? They write their own lyrics. They lyrical, they geniuses. Hard to really say that anybody's better than the two both unfortunately, Big passed, so he doesn't have the body of work, but Nas does. But on this in particular one, we going by one album and getting back to the point, like commercially, everybody would say Big because of the impact. As far as really nobody really took the lead in the East Coast at that time. Everything was rocking on the know, the timing of it, that was all lined up. Bad Boy was up and coming. Pete Diddy had a little name for himself as being a young executive to work under so many, you know, he already had a name in the game at the time. And all that is good. All. That is great. All. That is great, man. All that is great. Like, Big was coming behind Craig Mack. He put brooklyn on the map. All that is great. But if, you know one thing about me is that I take my scouting very seriously. I take my scouting very seriously. I look at things that other people may not notice or other certain things that people might not care about that I believe is highly important in the matter. I dig a little bit deeper, you know what I'm saying? I check all the T's and the I's, and everything counts to me from top to bottom. The artists, the lyrics, the songs. When was the album made, how it was made, who had influence. I look at every single detail from top to bottom. And I do this because whenever we have a judgment about something, I always love to be the person that people look at and say, later on, Slack is tall. Jay did say that first or Jay was the first person to notice that, you know what I'm saying? I love being that person. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. And more importantly, when I make my judgment, I don't jump to what's more popular. I don't jump to, well, this is what the crowd is saying. I'm not influenced by that at all, you know what I'm saying? That doesn't carry a weight. I'll consider it, but that doesn't carry anything in my final decision and my decision for this versus battle being that everything is almost equal. Both artists are dope. Both albums are classic. I got to find the difference maker. I had to find the difference maker. I love both albums. I love both artists, you know what I'm saying? So I got to find the difference maker. Like, what's the difference? What stands out between the two? And sometimes it might not actually be a song, you know what I'm saying? It's like one edge, like one single edge. And when I thought about it, that edge goes to Nas and Illmatic. And the edge is exactly something I spoke on earlier. It's genius. And it's something that has to be said that he was able to do this classic album alone. You know what I'm saying? Alone. Alone. Now, what I mean by alone, yes, he has a record label. No, he didn't produce the songs. No, he didn't do everything by himself. He didn't. But if you're a regular here on the Slackest Talk podcast and you heard me talk about music a number of times, right? And I'll say it again, this is one thing that I always say, and I stand by it. Music is probably the only profession where you could be successful because of something that doesn't have anything to do with the actual music. I'll give you some examples of that. And when I say this, it's not to take away from the artists at all, you know what I'm saying? It's not to take away from the artist whatsoever, you know what I'm saying? It's not artists can't help what label signed them or who produced their records or their situation. Everybody's situation is different than others, you know what I'm saying? Everybody's situation is different. Snoop snoop is my man. I love mean, there's no hating in my blood. I love Snoop. I grew up on it. That's one of my favorite artists, man. Love Snoop. I'm a Death Row fan. It definitely helped that Dr. Dre produced his whole album, you know what I'm saying? It definitely helped, you know what I mean? It guaranteed him a certain amount of success. Now, it's not to take away because he still had to do the lyrics, you know what I mean? He had to do that. It's his album, you know what I'm saying? But that helps. Let's go with Biggie. Many people, when he came out with Ready to Die, people probably didn't know the story back then, but now with everything being out there and social media and all the interviews and stuff like that, if you're a fan of his, you would know that he didn't even like the song Juicy. He didn't like Big Papa, especially like the song Juicy because it's a remake of an old school track, you know what I'm saying? Him being an artist from Brooklyn and all that, he thought people would laugh at him, you know what I'm saying? That wasn't hardcore, you know what I'm saying? It wasn't his style. P. Diddy talked him into doing that for radio, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, as you know, like Juicy went on and blew up. But P. Diddy, who's also an artist and a public figure, assisted with that, you know what I'm saying? He had a lot to do with the tracks and what came out and stuff like that. Whereas Nas don't have a figure that was over him. Yeah, he's signed to a label, but he didn't have that figure. There's no Rockefeller. There's no Dame dash next him. There's no there's no, uh you know what I'm saying? There's no, like, tupac and snoop. There's none of that. Like, Nas was the guy, period. He's still alone, you know what I'm saying? And that says a lot. That says a lot. And I'm sure he probably has stories about songs, how they came together and stuff like that, too. But like, him being the artist and him being the guy who came out with that alone, there's nobody as famous as him to tell it, you understand? What who what famous person helped work with him on that album? Like with Snoop, you could say it was Dre. With Biggie, you would say it's Diddy with Jay Z, you could say it was Dane. Like what public figure that was just as big as him. That helped with the album. You see what I'm saying? That says a lot. And he was able to produce a classic album. Now, the argument here with me picking Nas all the. Biggie fans out there that will have an argument. The first thing they would say is, Well, Biggie put New York on the map, you know what I'm saying? He brought the East Coast back to prominence. That would be their argument. Now, I can't argue that. But once again, me being the scout I am, I'm not just a scout in basketball. I'm not a coach for nothing. I scout. And I look at everything. That's music, that's movies, that's every single thing that I do. Podcasting everything, filming everything, right? Part of me being a scout is you find the diamonds in the rough, you find the gems, you find the superstars. Even though even when other people don't see that this person is a superstar, you find the superstars. Even if sometimes the actual person himself doesn't want to be a superstar, you still notice it. It's the scout of me, you know what I'm saying? Now, no doubt big and Diddy, they produced great music together. They did that. Part of them bringing the East Coast back was the personality, you know what I'm saying? Again, like a music figure, somebody that doesn't be in music, becoming popular for something besides the music. Now, what I mean by that is music was great, but Big had that kind of personality that drew attention to himself, you know what I'm saying? He had like an aura around him. When they did an event or something like that, or an interview, it drew a crowd. Like everybody knew about it, you know what I'm saying? It was ten times bigger than what it was originally supposed to be, you know what I'm saying? Where it was just another interview. It might have been just an interview for somebody else. It was a major event because it was Big, you know what I'm saying? He commanded that attention. You had Diddy, like entertainment, like dancing in the videos and all that kind of stuff. People love it, and it drew attention. It made you notice them. And that's a good thing. I'm not dissing. I'm not doing the mouth shakenight thing. If you don't want people dancing in all the videos and all that, I'm not doing that. I'm not going to do that today, you know what I'm saying? I'm not going to do that. But it draws an attention. Like, people love it. Like the classic music that diddy was picking people love it. And all that is great. Sometimes you have people like Nas that's great and just as good as everybody else, but that's not what they really going for. And what's crazy is I said this about Nas years ago, before anybody else saw it, before anybody else said it. I never met him, and I saw this about him. Nas one of the best ever classic albums, you know what I'm saying? Hall of Fame. All that. Like I said, just as good as a rapper as anybody. You mess with them, you go get dealt with, you know what I'm saying? Lyrical can't too many people mess with them, right? But certain people are just good at doing what they do and going about their business. What I mean by that is, you see, Jay Z jay Z wants to take over the world, you know what I'm saying? Biggie and Diddy, they wanted to be the top guns in New York. They wanted to take over the world. Nas is laid back. Nas is the kind of guy that I'm gonna come out once a year or once every two years. I'm going to give y'all my classic album and be no, I don't want to be the king of New York. I don't want to be the spotlight, the main event and all that good stuff. I'm going to give y'all my classic album. I'm gonna make my money so I can take care of my family, and I'm gonna go about my business, and there's nothing wrong with that. I always thought and knew, like, Nas could have did more than what he's doing, you know what I'm saying? And it's not to say that it's bad. He just didn't want to go for it because he's comfortable in his skin. He's comfortable with the money he got, you know what I'm saying? He don't want that attention. He don't want to be the king of this or the king of that, you know what I'm saying? Like all the spotlight and all the clubs and stuff like that. Quiet dude that does his thing and makes his money, you know what I'm saying? And there's nothing wrong with that. But sometimes people see that and they mistake it, and they go with the people who they feel are more popular. They go with Big and Diddy because they outspoken, they flashy. They this and they that, and I get it, you know what I'm saying? I get it. But to me, that doesn't always make it better, you know what I'm saying? Yes. You know what I'm saying? Biggie came out at the right time, the culture and all that, and I think Nas could have did that if he wanted to, but I think he just want to make an impact, make his classic music and be done with it, you know what I'm saying? And I think we shouldn't hold that against him, you know what I'm saying? Like, he's still going to this day, still putting out classic music. Never fell off, you know what I'm saying? Never had a crew around him the entire time, you know what I'm saying? It's something to be said. And to go back into my point, there was a time where he was about to sign the Murder Inc. And when I saw this interview, I never forget it. Irv Gotti was on, I believe, drink camps, and he talked a little bit about it, and Murder Inc. Classic example. They were flashy. They thought they was the best. They was on top of the world and all that yada yada yada. Irv gotti was trying to get Nas to buy into that. Nas was like, Nah, I'm good. And that would have been at the know, murdig was doing anything, him and Jaru, that would have been formidable at the time, you know what I'm saying? Nas was like, Nah, you know what I'm saying? I'm good. He just don't want all that spotlight. The spotlight is his music, period, point blank. So my answer, and it was a tough one. I love both albums. I love what Big did, how he changed the culture and everything, the East Coast, the impact he made. But before that, there was a young artist solo by herself that came out with a classic banger, you know what I'm saying? Right here in Queens that did his thing, you know what I'm saying? And that was Nas Illmatic. So I got to go with my man Nas Illmatic. It's his world on this one. And, like, you know, popularity is good. It's great, but it doesn't always overshadow the talent. So I gotta go. Nas, illmatic on this one. All biggie fans. I love ready to die, man. I love ready to die. You know what I'm saying? I can already see y'all coming. But I love biggie. I love ready to die. I love all his albums. I love what he did. But this one is Nas, man. This one is Nas. Y'all know my email address. Y'all know how to get at me at the Talk podcast. All biggie fans, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. But it's Nas world on this one. It's nas world. One love, baby. One love. This has been the Slackest Talk podcast, aka the Talking Town. Now, I'm your host, film producer Jason Slack. And quick reminder before I get out of here, the second album, it was written, man, that's not too far off from Illmatic. That's not too far off. Man, that's a dope album, too, but y'all know where to leave the comments, you know what I'm saying? We'll do this again anytime, any album, any person. Y'all be safe out there. Y'all enjoy y'all Halloween. Y'all enjoy the rest of the month. And we'll be back again to talk next week. Peace. [00:47:13] Speaker A: You're listening to the Slack Ears Talk podcast, aka the talk of the town. Now, find out what's going to happen next.