"Trillmatic" is a song by American rapper ASAP Nast from the

hip hop collective Musical collective is a phrase used to describe a group of musicians in which membership is flexible and creative control is shared.Liisa Ladouceur"Collective Souls" '' This Magazine'', November/December 2004. The concept is distinct from that o ...

ASAP Mob ASAP Mob (stylized as A$AP Mob) is an American hip-hop collective formed in 2006 in Harlem, New York City, that consists of rappers (most of whom carry the "ASAP" moniker; except Da$H and Playboi Carti), record producers, music video directors, ...

. It was released on December 4, 2013. It was originally intended to be a first single from ASAP Mob's debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'' L.O.R.D.'', which was originally scheduled to be released around 2014, but the album, however, was scrapped. The song, produced by ASAP Mob's ASAP Ty Beats features East Coast rapper

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), known professionally as Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He is a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, and is half of the hip hop duo Method Man & R ...

. The song has since peaked at number 29 on the

UK R&B Chart Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart The UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart and the UK Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart (also known as The Official UK Hip Hop and R&B Charts, and previously the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Singles and the Top 40 Hip Hop and ...

Background and composition

The song originally appeared as a one-minute snippet on the end of ASAP Ant's "The Way It Go". On December 4, 2013, "Trillmatic" by

's ASAP Nast featuring

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, O ...

, and produced by ASAP Ty Beats, was originally released as the first single from their debut album '' L.O.R.D.''. But, on September 26, 2014, fellow ASAP Mob member and general manager, Steven "ASAP Yams" Rodriguez, announced on his Tumblr account, that the album was scrapped. In an April 2014 interview with

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

, Nast spoke on the song saying, "Basically what I wanted to do with that was put people in that time machine and bring them back to 1997, 1996—with

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip< ...

, AZ,

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo, consisting of Houston-born record producer DJ Premier and Boston-based rapper Guru (rapper), Guru. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 2003, and is considered a widely influential MC-and-pr ...

—all these guys were coming up, and it was all about rapping. It wasn't about your fancy clothes. Well it was, but to an extent. "Trillmatic" was basically to showcase that we're in 2014, but we could still shine with the whole Golden Era. So I just wanted to put people in that zone, and that was it. I think we got the point across." The song features a hard-hitting, vintage 1990s boom bap beat. The song title, "Trillmatic", is a reference to

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air (S ...

' debut album ''

Illmatic ''Illmatic'' (stylized in lowercase) is the debut studio album by the American rapper Nas, released on April 19, 1994, by Columbia Records. After signing with the label with the help of MC Serch, Nas recorded the album in 1992 and 1993 at Chung ...

''. It contains a sample of " The World Is a Ghetto" by

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

from the 1972 album of the same name.

Music video

The music video for the song was mainly filmed at the Castle Hill Houses in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The video was released on December 4, 2013. The group appeared on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

to premiere the video. The video was directed by Jonah Schwartz. All the members of ASAP Mob including

ASAP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a member of the hip hop music, hip hop coll ...

and

ASAP Ferg Darold Durard Brown Ferguson Jr. (born October 20, 1988), known professionally as FERG (previously A$AP Ferg ( /ˈeɪsæp/ ''AY-sap'')), is an American rapper from Harlem, New York City. He is a lead member of the hip hop collective ASAP Mob, f ...

make appearances in the video. In the video the group roam around the streets of New York City from the Bronx to

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

Critical reception

"Trillmatic" was met with generally positive reviews. Billy Johnson Jr. of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' praised both rappers performances, the

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeated in poetry or in music">poetry.html" ;"title="Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeat ...

and the song's production. Andy Bustard of The BoomBox stated, "Trillmatic" "is a fun and refreshing throwback to 1990s East Coast rap." Nast has "two stellar verses and a surprisingly dope hook, but it’s Johnny Blaze who lights up the track with an effortlessly acrobatic guest appearance. A$AP Ty Beats' sample-laced, boom bap production proves that the true New York essence is hiding beneath all that Houston flavor after all." Jeff Rosenthal of ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' said, "it's been years since Method Man sounded so urgent as he does" on "Trillmatic".

Chart performance

Release history

References

{{Method Man 2013 songs 2013 debut singles ASAP Mob songs Method Man songs RCA Records singles Songs written by Method Man