The Genesis of Illmatic
Like construction workers, changing the layout of a building inherited by someone else, destruction is necessary. It’s necessary for expansion, not only in the architectural sciences, but in human existence.
Religion and science seem to be at ends with each other in everyday conversation. They spark controversy. But their controversy seems to be at the center of a point, neither have grasped yet. A shared misunderstanding of the experiences of the other. The more I grow, the more experience I have of arguments with siblings and others in my life, and the more I realize that emotional reactions and arguments are born out of misunderstandings.
I grew up a Christian, and in my opinion, the rest of the Bible should not be read until someone understands what is taking place in Genesis. But this isn’t the case. The reason for misunderstanding Genesis is simple, yet not easily communicated.
Being exposed to the court of public opinion for quite some time, Adam and Eve have become martyrs for the words Free Will. They receive all of the negativity associated with it, and not being here to defend themselves, we are left to question what really went on in the Garden of Eden and whether or not it actually exists. Or, we’re left to disregard the story in its entirety, and seek revelation in some other way.
If you are a Christian, think about it. Adam and Eve are rarely mentioned in the Catholic Church.
There is no holiday dedicated to their decision, and so their names are treated like Voldemort in the Harry Potter series. But yet, Genesis — the origin or coming into being of something — is the starting point of everything that is dicussed. Genesis is the beginning of the Bible, and thus to break apart the pieces of the Bible that happen after Genesis, is to miss the point entirely.
Maybe my point of view is incomplete. Most adults I come in contact with, are twice my age, and have more experience with life than me. My observations by definition, are my own, and since my experience does not encapsulate the entire human experience, its obvious they know something more about it than me.
So why leave me to figure it out on my own?
- One possibility is that adults are so far removed from young life, that they have forgotten the things they once questioned. This is certainly possible. Of course, human memory isn’t perfect, and our memories are not as sharp as time goes on. But many adults direct children on the right path. Showing that they are aware of the mistakes they made in the past, and can sense someone who is heading in the wrong direction, and help them to steer accordingly.
- The second possibility is that ignorance is bliss. Like playing a game on Easy mode, life would be boring if we were told about all of the roadblocks and all of the challenges. So steering someone in the right direction, while simultaneously keeping things from them, keeps the game of life exciting
- The third possibility which I believe is closer to the truth, is that there are many factors that make up the experience of the generation above and below us. Experiences which, due to gaps in comprehension of technology and communication, go unnoticed.
And so, parents say things like . . .
“Don’t drink until you’re blah blah blah.”
“Clean your room blah blah blah.”
This ongoing conversation seems to be that of someone building a sandcastle at the shore. All of their effort, in vein, because of the nature that allowed them to build something in the first place. The nature of being human.
So we have to figure out how to solve our own problems, deal with them ourselves and with the help of our friends. Friends who understand our experience more directly, than those much older. Interestingly enough, those problems that we encounter, are what push us forward.
Genesis
LUBLIN: The challenge originally was we have these people who are moving from welfare to work. How do you get them into the system without passing a judgment on individuals? And then how do we solve our labor problem in the shop? So we combined that. And what we did was we screened agencies. We would approve domestic violence shelters. We would approve job training programs. We would approve homeless shelters. And then they could send whoever they wanted to the shop. As a barter we required them to send someone to staff the shop one day a month. So we got free labor and high quality referrals and didn’t ever have to pass any judgment on the individual so everybody who came to us was worth dressing because one of our employees essentially had referred them…. And by the way this model of staffing the shop and referring stays today in over 100 locations around the world. — Nancy Lublin in the Masters of Scale podcast episode “Grit Happens”
Nancy Lublin, founder of Dress for Success, spoke about a problem that she encountered in her early years as an entrepreneur with Reid Hoffman on the podcast Masters of Scale.
She talks about a problem that became the solution. A roadblock, that paved the way to an answer, was for all intents and purposes, a knot.
How do you get out of a knot?
It can be explained in the following logic pattern.
The Logic of Genesis
LUBLIN: My father growing up was a lawyer and he used to tell me that when he was hiring secretaries he’d look out the window and watch them go from the car to the building and then he’d know before they reached the building whether or not he’d hire them. So I thought that was the worst thing I had ever heard. I was like you just described discrimination to me. That’s horrible. And he said and it’s the truth so go comb your hair. And so I mean I just knew that the world works this way we discriminate based on a first look on everybody. And so that’s where Dress for Success came from.
A. Nancy was aware that in some situations, conclusions are reached about women and their competency based on their appearance and not necessarily their qualifications.
B. Nancy had an idea to provide women in need of jobs with professional clothing so that they would not be judged in interviews.
C. Nancy, the person who had the idea, had the idea because of who she was, and an experience she had with her father growing up. Because of the situation she was placed in. Nancy, being who she was, wanted action NOW, instead of incrementally.
D. To right this wrong she could only use a few things at her disposal, the only things that she had:
- Her idea
- 5,000 seed money from her Grandfather’s estate
- Her position in Law School
- A law professor (the advice of her law professor, to visit nuns in Spanish Harlem)
So Nancy took 1–3 with her to visit Nuns in Spanish Harlem.
The Nuns told her to put the $5,000 into a CD in the bank. Which effectively locked up the entire amount so she could not use it. So cross out #1.
Step 1
“So like don’t take financial advice from people who take an oath of poverty is like the lesson there” — Nancy Lublin
Nancy was in an even further hole than she was before. But ironically she was in a better position, for her idea to blossom than if she had the $5,000.
“And the thing about the nuns is I really had no relation to them before. But they knew fucktons about moving people from welfare to work. They knew exactly what was going on in New York City and how to make this happen and how to get it started. They were actually the exact right people to start this with.” — Nancy Lublin
The judgement her father passed on the women he interviewed, was a blessing, but that blessing was trapped in the box that she was placed in by way of the limitations of her situation to solve the problem.
The Logic of Ill Will
“Never knew murder until I seen my man get popped, no blood soaking, laying there, eyes still open, I got a little closer put my hand on his palm, he was looking right through me yo, staring beyond. I wonder what he saw, the limos movies, and tours? Did he die in vain and represent for the cause? Now I put his name on everything I’m involved. And that’s the game, if y’all can’t relate, fuck y’all” — Nas in the song My Way
“After he passed, it felt like he [Ill Will] was orchestrating things from upstairs. It was around that time we felt like something was happening. Something good was about to happen.” Nas — Time is Illmatic Documentary
The Hip Hop album Illmatic by Nas is considered to be one of the best hip hop albums to date. Those who were teenagers in the 90's remember it vividly. It captured the essence of the life of a young black male growing up in the projects. But those like me, not from the projects, but a young black male born in the same year that the album came out, missed out on a period of transformation in hip hop.
In interviews Nas speaks about the feeling that he was trying to capture, his words were propelled by the death of his childhood friend Ill Will.
Let me explain the full story.
Nas was a teenager who grew up in the projects in Queensbridge, NY. When he was 20, he published IllMatic, but to understand Illmatic, you have to go back to when Nas was little.
Nas is from a long line of musicians. His father, Olu Dara — which means God is good — was a jazz musician, and an avid reader. When he was young, Nas wanted to play the trumpet. Most likely this was a primal inclination — as described by Robert Greene in the book Mastery — to music and the instrument that his Dad played.
But as he grew older, he started to write. His brother, Jungle, recalls Nas waking him up early in the morning and sharing his rhymes.
Nas perfected his craft and in time got better at writing. His friend Willie “Ill Will” Graham made music with him. Both had music careers set firmly in their sights.
GENESIS
“ The Ghetto is my Garden of Eden, so I keep bobbing and weaving. . .” — Nas on the song Film
In the beginning, Nas, his friend Bo, and his friend Ill Will went to see a movie — Aliens 3.
“Nas: Will never smoked weed. But we thought it was the best thing, smoking weed chilled us out. Especially Will, you never know, he’s unpredictable, somebody come around say the wrong thing. . . he’s on their head. So I thought if he smoked, he’d be chill. We’re watching a movie, Will said lemme hit that. . . When we got back to the block, me and Bo had went to go get some weed, but Will stayed on the block. He was collecting money cause we was throwing a barbecue. . .Somebody thought that he was extorting them, and started yelling and smacked him. He had a big Gucci link chain, with a big mercedes benz medallion and she popped it [the chain]. We was already on one, we was lit up from the movie, so he just reacted.
Jungle: She called her baby father and her brother.
Nas: My man aint never hit no girl in his life. Matter of fact if a girl got hit out there, they could come get him, and he stepping to somebody for the girl. It’s just like in the heat of the moment, certain violations, you know you react to em. That was a first.
Jungle: I was sitting right here and the niggas had stepped to me like yo, where’s Ill Will at? One nigga was like, he was gon do it. I knew they wasn’t playing, I tried to lie to em, but they was serious. Then when Will came. . . they saw us and I was like Will they coming now. Will was like nigga I’m not running from nobody. When the dude just did the shots, I looked at him, and he looked at me, and his eyes opened up wide, and I saw the life leave. . . Nas came out the building right here, he was talking to a girl in this building. . .
Nas: I came outside. . . the first person I saw was my bro, and his eyes was open he was good. Then I seen my man and he wasn’t moving.”
those familiar with Genesis, will recognize some patterns here. Patterns that I’m sure Nas will explain on November 15th.
Read carefully, because if you do, you will realize the truth inherent in the first story of the Bible.
Now hustlers are more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord had made.
When Nas saw that smoking was okay and desirable for gaining wisdom, he took the blunt from Nas and smoked it.
“Will never smoked weed. But we [Nas and Bo] thought it was the best thing, smoking weed chilled [them] out. Especially Will, you never know, he’s unpredictable, somebody come around say the wrong thing. . . he’s on their head. So I thought if he smoked, he’d be chill.”
Nas also gave the blunt to Will, who was with him, and he smoked it.
Jungle: Then when Will came. . . they saw us and I was like Will they coming now. Will was like nigga I’m not running from nobody. When the dude just did the shots, I looked at him, and he looked at me, and his eyes opened up wide, and I saw the life leave. . . Nas came out the building right here, he was talking to a girl in this building. . .
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Ironically enough, the song that put Nas on the map before he dropped Illmatic, was called Live at the Barbecue.
