Concert review: Nas, Powerstation

Queensbridge rapper Nas.

If you're a major Nas fan, you've had two opportunities to see the celebrated rapper perform in New Zealand: once as Kanye West's opening act in 2008, and again alongside Damian Marley with their joint rap-reggae side-project Distant Relatives in 2011.

But ask anyone with even a passing knowledge of hip-hop what kind of show they really want to see from the Queensbridge rapper, and they'll give you just one response: his debut album Illmatic in full.

Kiwi hip-hop fans got to tick that off their bucket list in emphatic fashion as Nas kicked off the second of two sold out nights at Auckland's Powerstation, winding back the clock to celebrate his debut album, a record many consider to be hip-hop's bible.

Released in 1994 and consisting of just nine songs, Illmatic was an instant classic and has cast long shadows ever since, across both hip-hop and Nas' career: last year's film fest doco Time is Illmatic proved it's as much revered by fans as it is by his peers, an album so good he's never been able to top it.

But Nas' wayward mid to late career output wasn't on the minds of his fired up fans as he emerged on stage in a hat, gold chain and sunglasses, beaming from ear to ear during Illmatic's mission statement NY State of Mind, with many in the crowd rapping those iconic lines - "I never sleep / Because sleep is the cousin of death" - with him word-for-word.

Backed by DJ Green Lantern and a gigantic video screen spanning the entire stage, it was pure hip-hop nirvana, with Nas proving why Illmatic is one of the most lyrically dense hip-hop albums around: the tongue-twisting antics of Halftime, the soul-drenched lope of Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park), the schoolyard battle cry of Represent, and the Michael Jackson-sampling It Ain't Hard to Tell, all delivered with bass tuned so loud it rattled rib cages.

Tellingly, the second half of the show was a greatest hits set that didn't include anything past Nas' 2002 album God's Son, running through a quickfire medley of Hate Me Now, If I Ruled the World, a fired up One Mic and a reworked Made You Look, before a one-song encore of the bombastic Got Ur Self A Gun. It's unlikely Nas will ever tour any of the albums those songs are from in full, and even he struggled to remember their names when he tried to list them.

But it was Illmatic that was the star of the show here, and if you were looking closely, there was a telling moment during lighter-waver One Love as Nas briefly took off his hat and sunglasses, wiped his face with a towel and stared at the frenzied crowd singing the song's hook for him.

The satisfied smile spread across his face was the complete opposite of the gruff, determined little boy from Illmatic's album cover who would go on to change hip-hop forever; a smile that said simply: 'Job done'.

Nas
Where: The Powerstation, Auckland
When: Saturday, January 17

- nzherald.co.nz