"Trillmatic" is a song by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

ASAP Nast Tariq Amar Devega (born July 26, 1990), better known by his stage name ASAP Nast (stylized as A$AP Nast), is an American rapper, songwriter and model from Harlem, New York. Nast is best known as a member of the hip hop collective A$AP Mob. As ...

from the New York-based

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"Collegjthk ctive Souls" ''This Magazine'', November/December 2004. The concept is distinct from th ...

ASAP Mob ASAP Mob (stylized as A$AP Mob, ASAP being an acronym for "Always Strive And Prosper") 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), record producers, ...

. 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 issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

'' 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), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also half of t ...

. The song has since peaked at number 29 on the

UK R&B 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, the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Singles and the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Albums, or simply the UK Urban Chart) are 40-posi ...

Background and composition

The song originally appeared as a one-minute snippet on the end of

ASAP Ant ASAP Mob (stylized as A$AP Mob, ASAP being an acronym for "Always Strive And Prosper") 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), record producers, ...

's "The Way It Go". On December 4, 2013, "Trillmatic" by

featuring

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...

, 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 criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

, 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 group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

, AZ,

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American hip hop duo, consisting of Texas record producer DJ Premier and Massachusetts rapper Guru. For the entirety of their association, they were based out of Brooklyn, New York. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 2 ...

—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 ( ...

' debut album ''

Illmatic ''Illmatic'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Nas. It was 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 King Studios, D&D Re ...

''. It contains a sample of "

The World Is a Ghetto ''The World Is a Ghetto'' is the fifth album by American band War, released in late 1972 on United Artists Records. The album attained the number one spot on ''Billboard'', and was ''Billboard'' magazine's Album of the Year as the best-selling a ...

" by

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

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 a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

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, music producer and record executive. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a membe ...

and ASAP Ferg 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 and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

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, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' praised both rappers performances, the

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

and the song's production. Andy Bustard of The BoomBox stated, "Trillmatic" "is a fun and refreshing throwback to '90s 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