Has any Hip-Hop album gotten as much attention at the 20-year mark as Nas’ Illmatic has this month? The Columbia/Sony Records debut, the subject of Illmatic XX, a reissue with a plethora of dope bonus material (freestyles, demo recordings, remixes, photos, liner notes), is just in everybody’s spotlight. One such curator is FUSE TV, who made a three-part documentary on the album, with some of the people associated with it.

Nas, plus his three production giants, Large Professor (who mentored Nas throughout the early ’90s), DJ Premier, and Pete Rock spoke, as did Miss Info (who, as Minya Oh, reviewed the album, with a perfect five-mic rating, for The Source magazine. Columbia’s A&R extraordinaire of the time, Faith Newman, and Irv Gotti (who was rumored to have tried to sign Nas after Columbia) also spoke in these three five-minute vignettes:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

As ego trip points out, these contain some crazy gems (including Nas justifying his opening verse on Main Source’s “Live At The BBQ”).

Related: Memory Lane: Noah Uman & Making Nas’ Illmatic XX & The Hip-Hop Reissue (Food For Thought Interview)