Nas Collabs With The National Symphony Orchestra For Live Rendition of ‘Illmatic’

An upcoming PBS concert film has teamed up Nas with the National Symphony Orchestra for a live performance that takes you back to the 90s.

The iconic rapper will be doing a live rendition of his legendary, 1994 album “Illmatic” at the Washington, D.C. arena on Feb. 2. It is titled by PBS as, “Nas Live From the Kennedy Center: Classical Hip-Hop, the concert film musters the energetic appeal of the profound collaboration and wistfulness of the audible hip-hop Queensbridge fable.”

“It’s crazy, you know, I wrote this in the projects in New York City. Here we are in the capital of America, Washington, DC, and, you know, a bunch of white people with strings and all that, playing this album, and they feeling it,” Nas said in the film trailer.

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The recording of the concert film took place in March 2014, when Nas was celebrating Illmatic’s 20th anniversary. The film will portray the Queens native’s  upbringing, career, and musical background. It will also feature rehearsals, preparation and Illmatic’s journey to Kennedy Center stage.

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“This was the first time me as a classical orchestra conductor was going to branch out into the realm of doing hip-hop music and rap music. And the idea of finally tackling this genre was something I was really looking forward to do,” National Symphony Orchestra Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke said in a statement.

The performance is set to premiere on the PBS network nationwide on Friday, February 2 at 9 p.m