Old music: Nas – NY State of Mind

Nas only has himself to blame. Nobody was expecting perfection on his first album, Illmatic. He could have picked inferior producers. He could have resorted to tiresome cliches about violence and misogyny that have served countless other rappers so well. But no, he had to go and work with four of the best at the time – Large Professor, DJ Premier, Q-Tip and Pete Rock – and write those mesmeric verses, stuffed with the sort of internal rhymes schemes and complex wordplay that would have had Coleridge and Keats nodding in appreciation. The combination resulted in a five-mic rating from the Source and a billing Nas would never quite live up to. But all of that does not take away from the immensity of Illmatic and especially the opening track, NY State of Mind.

The track epitomises the quality of the album. The beat, made by Premier, is dark and slow and splashed with an eerie piano loop. It sounds sinister and ruthless, the type that bullies other beats into giving up their lunch money. The rhymes follow the beat's lead. Unlike the Fisher Price my-first-raps coming out of California in 1994, Nas deals with the complex issues surrounding the everyday dramas, dreams, pressures and frustrations of a young black man – Nas was only 20 at the time – who feels ensnared by the ghetto. And he does it with a skill, power and attention to detail that has rarely, if ever, been matched in hip-hop.

But after reaching perfection, the only way was down for Nas – not even a reunion with Premier, a remake of this track and a battle with Jay-Z would see him regain the heights and depths of Illmatic. But there will always be the thought of NY State of Mind to keep fans warm at night while they dream wistfully of what could have been.