Home › Genres & Styles › Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic
  • Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic by Michael Eric Dyson book cover
1 1

Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic

by Michael Eric Dyson

Be the first to review this book

A track-by-track scholarly engagement with Nas’s Illmatic

$18.51 USD
$28.93 USD $18.51 USD
Save 36%

Paperback New English

Delivery to your door
In stock·Dispatches in 1–2 business days
Standard shipping* from $4.35
Standard shipping transit* 5–8 business days after dispatch

Faster options are available.

Rates and delivery estimates depend on your destination and item quantity. Estimates are informational only; the final shipping method and rate are selected at checkout.
Secure checkout
American Express Apple Pay DiscoverGoogle Pay Mastercard PayPalVisa
30-day eligible returns Returns & refunds policy

AlbakiReads Editorial

A track-by-track scholarly engagement with Nas’s Illmatic

Born to Use Mics assembles essays on individual songs from Nas’s 1994 debut, Illmatic. Edited by Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai, the collection places the album’s beats and lyricism alongside its first-person depictions of urban poverty, isolation, and desolation. Its song-by-song structure gives multiple writers room to approach the record from distinct angles, framing Illmatic as both a landmark of hip-hop and a body of work shaped by social conditions. The contributor list brings together scholars, critics, writers, and figures from hip-hop culture, making the book a multi-voiced examination of one influential album rather than a single-author biography of Nas.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Listeners interested in Nas’s Illmatic and its individual tracks
  • Students and readers exploring hip-hop history, lyrics, and cultural analysis
  • Fans of essay collections with multiple perspectives on a single album

Themes

Hip-hop historyLyricism and beatsUrban povertyIsolationAlbum criticism

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

At the age of nineteen, Nasir "Nas" Jones began recording tracks for his debut album -- and changed the music world forever. Released in 1994, Illmatic was hailed as an instant masterpiece and has proven one of the most influential albums in hip-hop history. With its close attention to beats and lyricism, and riveting first-person explorations of the isolation and desolation of urban poverty, Illmatic was pivotal in the evolution of the genre.

In Born to Use Mics, Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai have brought together the best and brightest writers of the hip hop generation to confront Illmatic song by song, with each scholar assessing an individual track from the album. The result is a brilliant engagement with and commentary upon one of the most incisive sets of songs ever laid down on wax.

Featuring:

Adilifu Nama - Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr. - James Braxton Peterson - Marc Lamont Hill - Mark Anthony Neal - Kyra D. Gaunt - Eddie S. Glaude Jr. - Imani Perry - Jon Shecter - Matt Life - Bobbito the Barber - Greg Tate - Dream Hampton - Adam Mansbach - Kevin Coval - Jon Caramanica - Charlie Ahearn - Suheir Hammad
Shipping & returnsShipping options, delivery timing, and our return policy.

In-stock items normally dispatch within 1–2 business days. The ZIP-code estimator on this page is informational only; the final shipping method, price, and availability are confirmed at checkout for your full order.

For the initial delivery estimate we use these transit windows after dispatch: Standard 5–8 business days, Expedited 2–4 business days, and Priority 1–2 business days. Holiday delays are not included.

Eligible items can be returned within 30 days in accordance with our return policy.

Customer reviews

You may also like

View all