Twenty years after the release of Nas’s debut album Illmatic, the hip hop artist is getting a retrospective of sorts. Showtime will air a 74-minute documentary about Nas, his upbringing in New York City’s Queensbridge projects, his influences, how he broke into the hip-hop scene (he dropped out of school after eighth grade), and how the socio-political conditions on the streets influenced his music. The film, Nas: Time Is Illmatic, will air Friday, December 12 at 9pm.
One9 directed the film that includes interviews with Nas, Q-Tip, Pharrell Williams, Jabari “Jungle” Jones and Alicia Keys who says, “It [Illmatic] is one of the best albums of all time.” If you still don’t get how influential Nas is in the hip-hop world, learn this: Harvard University just established a hip hop scholarship in his name. Rolling Stone reports: “The fellowship by the Hip-Hop Archives and W.E.B Du Bois Institute will fund scholars and artists who show productive scholarship and creative potential in the arts in connection with hip-hop.”