S. Samuel
With the long-awaited Time Is Illmatic film opening the Tribeca Film Festival Wednesday (April 16) night, SOHH made sure to join the sold-out crowd at New York's Beacon Theater for a first-hand experience.
While the Erik Parker and One9-produced film covers an array of topics centered around Nas’ Illmatic 1994 debut, the duo focused heavily on the living conditions God’s Son grew up in.
“I’m just sitting back watching,” Nas says during a portion of the film. “You’re seeing what’s going on around you, pregnant ladies smoking crack. Dudes were just out late night waiting to rob you and you were manuevering your way through that. And then the crazy cops were coming through because they had to be crazy running after somebody in that neighborhood at night. The atmosphere was mixed.” (Time Is Illmatic Premiere)
Nasir also let viewers into his personal struggles with embracing the school system as a kid.
“I still had dreams of what it would be like if I were in art design or some other school that would really push some of my talents that I thought I had,” Nas said referring to his educational upbringing. “But when you grew up in an environment where the taxpayers are not making a lot of money, then you aren’t going to have funding for schools. … I would just stop paying attenion. I would day dream and in junior high school I got kicked out and put into another junior high school. So by the time it was time for high school, grades were terrible, I didn’t care. … I really wanted to do something around music and writing, arts. I just knew this couldn’t be my career, this other thing. It can’t. I had a passion for creating things so that was going to be my album.” (Time Is Illmatic Premiere)
The rap veteran’s father, Olu Dara, also spoke on encouraging his kids to ditch school to better their craft despite backlash from other family members.
“The assistant principal and the math teacher told us they didn’t want to be there,” Olu said referring to his sons. “They were old enough then. I thought I was a man at that age, 13, 14. I said, ‘So what’ll you do? Go work. Make some money. It’s America. Quit school if you want to save your own life. Develop your craft, whatever you want to do and I’ll back you.’ They smiled. I got calls from my mother, my sisters, everybody. ‘How could you do it!?’ I wouldn’t have felt right if I let them just stay in school and keep being beat down by the teachers that didn’t really have any love for the kids.” (Time Is Illmatic Premiere)
Peep some footage from Nas’ post-premiere performance:
