NY state of mind

i'm a big nas fan. in the 'nas vs. jay-z' debate, nas wins everytime. one of his most celebrated albums was his debut, illmatic and and one of the best singles of that album was 'ny state of mind.' before jay-z jacked the idea, nas was putting it down on the real new york. below we see the influence has had on artists from across the us.

Let's begin with the original.

"i keeps some e&j sitting bent up in the stairway" fuckin classic new york!

Now here is Fashawn's version, Cali State of Mind of the Ode to Illmatic tape (which you should get if you haven't)

i like how he used the same cadence as the original... dope

Now we go to the northcoast, detroit. slum village alum, elzhi, kills it with Detroit State of Mind.

check out for his mixtape Elzmatic coming soon

and i'm saying. when REAL emcees are remaking your song a decade after you originally released it,you know your doing something right. it's like illmatic is hip-hoppers Kind of Blue. classic.