The first few minutes of this year's Tribeca Film Festival carried no booming fanfare. Instead the voice of Nasir Jones, aka Nas, and the muted sound of the city from inside a towncar crept out amidst a screen lit by images of the Queensbridge projects. "There was a little, little hope that came in that darkness," Nas said. From there, the evening exploded.
The world premiere of Time is Illmatic, the much-anticipated documentary about Nas, served as the official opening of the festival last night at the Beacon Theater. The documentary, which delves deep into the early life of Nas, his masterful debut record Illmatic, and the continuing legacy of his work, took a packed house of cinephiles, hip-hop heads, and legendary music producers deep into the trials and triumphs of life in the Queensbridge housing projects under Reganomics, aggressive policing, and the scourge of a crack-based economy.
As a historical document, Time pulls no punches. Filmmakers Erik Parker and One9 devote most of its screen time to the narrations of Nas and his brother Jabari who reflect back on friends gunned down, a father gone off, and the reality of rampant incarceration amongst their peers. This was the setting that made it possible for the then 20 years-old Nas to channel his almost superhuman determination into the making of Illmatic, which has for two decades been a hip-hop cornerstone; a ten-track foray into the peril of projects living and the artistic power that life could offer.
The documentary's strongest moments stem from Nas's own lyrical material. After a scene in which Jabari Jones holds up a photograph taken in 1994 of Nas and his Queensbridge friends, listing one-by-one the jail sentences and violent deaths that have befallen each man in the frame, footage of Nas performing "One Love" immediately follows. A hypothetical letter to a friend locked away in prison, the track's captioned lyrics captivated the audience with a power far greater than its booming backing track.
The film was surpassed by what came after the credits rolled: the screen was raised to reveal a stage and the rapper's name in lights. Nas walked out to a roar that ran up both balconies to the roof. After Alicia Keys covered the opening piano lines of "N.Y. State of Mind," Nas performed Illmatic from beginning to end.
While the album's lifeblood still shone in his eyes, Nas also took time to bring his brother and nephews on stage in what might have been the fullest realization of what his 20 year-old self set out to do. As the Tribeca Film Festival crowd cheered for more, Nas and his family held their hands in the air. Last night, New York, and the world, was his.
