Link to Article by ANN POWERS for NPR

Best of all, as I heard it, was the special appearance by esteemed New York wordsmith Nas, peforming his classic album Illmatic along with select other tracks. On the same Moody Theater stage where Bruce Springsteen had blessed the crowd with his always ritualistic show two nights earlier, Nas showed how hip-hop can make for great theater.

Nas performed similar Illmatic based sets on last year’s brief Rock the Bells tour, and he brought his full stage set to Austin: a detailed replica of a New York streetscape, complete with tenements, graffiti, iron gates and his name in the flashing lights of the Great White Way. Joined by his fellow rapper AZ and his producers, Pete Rock and DJ Premiere, on 21st-century style decks, Nas reignited the intricate verse of Illmatic until the whole room throbbed with heat. Gesturing like a thespian, he gave a bravura performance that I believe would work on Broadway. Yes, he also promoted his new single, “The Don” — but this wasn’t just another career-boosting South by Southwest performance for those fans dancing in the aisles and grinning from ear to ear, or for Nas, whose excitement at the crowd’s reception was palpable. It was an event.