Today is the 18th year anniversary of Nas’ landmark debut Illmatic. Nas has made so many great songs (and a few awful ones) but still, his legacy lies in his debut. Illmatic is arguably the greatest rap record ever and an album just about anyone who calls themselves a hip-hop fan knows all the words to.

While last night’s Behind The Music on Nas taught us lots of things about Nasir Jones most of us didn’t know (or things we don’t believe, like that whole bit about a shuffle with 2Pac) we’re willing to bet that there’s things about Illmatic that even the biggest Nas stan doesn’t know.

That’s why in celebration of the album, we dug through the archives of various articles about the album and pulled together 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Nas’ Illmatic. And if you do know these things already, then congratulations you win the Rap Nerd of the Day award....

Written by Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)