Represent- Nas

            A bouncy fun track to add to the already successful life of Illmatic. Has a lot of clever lyrics from Nas and an interesting theme. Basically Nas tells us how he represents himself and his friends, and how he is part of QB. Telling us a lot about the daily life. Whether:

...any day could be your last in the jungle
Get murdered on the humble, guns'll blast, niggaz tumble
The corners is the hot spot, full of mad criminals

As you can see there is some hostility where he lives. And it is better he sticks with his crew. He also introduces what he is about:

Yo, they call me Nas, I'm not your legal type of fella
Moet drinkin, marijuana smokin street dweller
who's always on the corner, rollin up blessed
When I dress, it's never nuttin less than Guess
Cold be walkin with a bop and my hat turned back
Love committin sins and my friends sell crack
This nigga raps with a razor, keep it under my tongue
The school drop-out, never liked the shit from day one

His comment about school has always intrigued me. Considering he has a ridiculous vocabulary, and has the incredible flow to match multi-syllable words that even I don't know the definition of. That always blow me away. While he introduces his life and his character, he not only represents himself, he represents all his friends. A quality that makes the song fun, all his friends singing the chorus! Adds a lot of life to the track. Also including a long list of people he worked with, or knew. Another way to REPRESENT!

          The production is tight. The xylophones are really something that add a light feel to the song. While the drums are simply from Premo. Produced by him, he sampled Lee Erwin's "Thief of Baghdad". Listening to the actual song is quite a treat, the songs quite feels like it contains 10 songs. A lot of interesting transitions in that beautiful competition. In fact, I am listening to it for the 1st time so I can tell you about it. OH! It just changed pace again. The piece sampled it towards the beginning of the track. So there you have it one great production and a genius sample, considering how obscure it is within "Thief of Baghdad".  He was for sure digging in the crates to find this one! Made in 1924! Can't believe it, bravo Premo!