I was thinkin' about it. 9 tracks only, but damn what a 9. I wish he would have put atleast 1 more track on there. But that's still probably the best album ever in my opionion. He should have put that Live at the BBQ verse on the intro to where you could fully hear it.

Yea it was short...theres actually a few tracks he coulda added on there that would have fit right in to the perfection of that album. He dropped some tracks after Live at the BBQ and before Illmatic. They just wound up floating around and didnt make the album. All of those tracks were hot too, was right along the lines of the lyrical young Nasir.

Some may not think it. But does anyone have a problem with this album being acclaimed as the greatest? (opinion)

Some may not think it. But does anyone have a problem with this album being acclaimed as the greatest? (opinion)

No, I love it. It's my favourite Hip Hop album before Ready 2 Die and then maybe All Eyez On Me/Me Against The World. Your right, it is short but think about albums now with 20 tracks on but only about 5 of the 20 are actually good, but with Illmatic every track is amazing.

Nowadays, rappers put out one or two listenable singles along with 10 or even 20 filler singles/skits and figure you'll buy the album because you heard a song on the radio. How about an album that you don't have to fast forward through, or take the two decent singles off onto your itunes? Illmatic is that...

It's not too short.

Nowadays, rappers put out one or two listenable singles along with 10 or even 20 filler singles/skits and figure you'll buy the album because you heard a song on the radio. How about an album that you don't have to fast forward through, or take the two decent singles off onto your itunes? Illmatic is that...

It's not too short.

There isn't many albums i can listen to all the way through.

Illmatic
Ready 2 Die
Life After Death
Me Against The World
Slim Shady LP
Marshall Mathers LP
Dre 2001
College Dropout
Food & Liquer.

Obviously there's more but like you said most albums now are full of fillers and ****.

Its perfect as is.

I think it's as great as it is because it is a short album.

dont think it was short...

i'd rather have a cd with a fair amount of tracks that are all sick then to add a few average tracks just to make numbers....

It was a short album but thats why its so great. Every track was just sick.

dont think it was short...

i'd rather have a cd with a fair amount of tracks that are all sick then to add a few average tracks just to make numbers....

Co Sign...

Wow, Tuggers, you have great taste ! LOL...j/k...but those are some of my favorite albums as well !



Anyways, I don't think that Illmatic was too short, I don't judge the quality of an album by how many songs it has, but rather, by how many great songs it has. Also, its easy to get bored listening to filler tracks with a good song sitting in between them all.

I feel like a great album is cohesive in that it should all come together to form one piece of work.


Another one of my favorite albums of all time Common's Be, only had 12 tracks on it, and IMO its nothing short of a masterpiece. RIP J-Dilla.