Nas Talk - "It Was Written"

[Legend of Josh]

There's been a lot of discussion on Nas in the OTC lately. Opinions on his legacy, beefs, consistency, skills (past/present/future), etc. There's been hints of debate regarding his individual albums, just too scattered throughout multiple threads to have structured discussion.

Starting with "It Was Written" - I will begin threads on individual Nas albums for discussion. Try your best to keep other Nas albums / songs out of bounds for now, just focus on It Was Written. Rate it, highlight its positives / negatives, etc.

I'll break each album down track-for-track, and give my $0.02 on each.

It Was Written

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/Nas-it-was-written-music-album.jpg

_____

1) Intro - bland really, nothing special, at all.

2) The Message - classic, beautiful hip-hop (10)

3) Street Dreams - indifferent, awe + dull, can't really explain it (7)

4) I Gave You Power - best concept song in hip-hop, period ill ill ill (10)

5) Watch Dem Ni**as - blah (4)

6) Take It In Blood - decent, love the Ultramagnetic MC (Kool Keith) sample (7)

7) Nas Is Coming - this one grew on me over time, still filler (5)

8) Affirmative Action - nice beat, had potential, never found its way (4)

9) The Set Up - another sharp beat, just didn't mix in the end (4)

10) Black Girl Lost - love this one, very underrated (9)

11) Suspect - getting warmer, decent (6)

12) Shootouts - love the instrumental, slightly above average (8)

13) Live Ni**a Rap - album starting to sound very repetitive, blah (4)

14) If I Ruled the World - masterpiece, nothing overrated (10)

15) Silent Murder - cheesy, blah (4)

Average: 6.5

_____

A few days ago rating this off the top of my head I gave it a 7.5. After digging up the actual album and listening to the entire thing again last night, this is the conclusion I've come to. I know I'm breaking my own rule here, but I've said it before and I'll say it again...

I Am > It Was Written

Feel free to add your opinions on this album or debate with me on mine. To quickly summarize my opinion on It Was Written, I would say there's definitely a few classics on here, just too much filler to be a "respectable" album from Nas IMO. To me, overrated. The few classics on here doesn't make up for the rest which is mediocre.

[High Potential]

There's been a lot of discussion on Nas in the OTC lately. Opinions on his legacy, beefs, consistency, skills (past/present/future), etc. There's been hints of debate regarding his individual albums, just too scattered throughout multiple threads to have structured discussion.

Starting with "It Was Written" - I will begin threads on individual Nas albums for discussion. Try your best to keep other Nas albums / songs out of bounds for now, just focus on It Was Written. Rate it, highlight its positives / negatives, etc.

I'll break each album down track-for-track, and give my $0.02 on each.

It Was Written

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/Nas-it-was-written-music-album.jpg

_____

1) Intro - bland really, nothing special, at all.

2) The Message - classic, beautiful hip-hop (10)

3) Street Dreams - indifferent, awe + dull, can't really explain it (7)

4) I Gave You Power - best concept song in hip-hop, period ill ill ill (10)

5) Watch Dem Ni**as - blah (4)

6) Take It In Blood - decent, love the Ultramagnetic MC (Kool Keith) sample (7)

7) Nas Is Coming - this one grew on me over time, still filler (5)

8) Affirmative Action - nice beat, had potential, never found its way (4)

9) The Set Up - another sharp beat, just didn't mix in the end (4)

10) Black Girl Lost - love this one, very underrated (9)

11) Suspect - getting warmer, decent (6)

12) Shootouts - love the instrumental, slightly above average (8)

13) Live Ni**a Rap - album starting to sound very repetitive, blah (4)

14) If I Ruled the World - masterpiece, nothing overrated (10)

15) Silent Murder - cheesy, blah (4)

Average: 6.5

_____

A few days ago rating this off the top of my head I gave it a 7.5. After digging up the actual album and listening to the entire thing again last night, this is the conclusion I've come to. I know I'm breaking my own rule here, but I've said it before and I'll say it again...

I Am > It Was Written

Feel free to add your opinions on this album or debate with me on mine. To quickly summarize my opinion on It Was Written, I would say there's definitely a few classics on here, just too much filler to be a "respectable" album from Nas IMO. To me, overrated. The few classics on here doesn't make up for the rest which is mediocre.
Like everyone knows, Illmatic was the greatest thing he did, everyone copped his subsequent albums hoping they'd be getting something even close to Illmatic's greatness and they all were sadly mistaken. It was written is his second best album to me, and like you I give it a 7.5. The Message is nice and all, I'd give it 8/10, and if I ruled the world is great, the one where he's the gun is cool too, but apart from that it's kinda meh.

[PK3434]

I agree that "I Am.." is better than "It was Written," but how can you rate Affirmative Action a 4? That song is a classic, even if it has a foxy verse that doesnt make much sense. The way AZ does the intro, followed by a hardcore Cormega verse, and then A nas verse with several quoteables, that song deserves a 10.

[Rasheed1]

Favorites off that Album for me were

I gave you power
Black girl lost
Suspect - you might ya sh*t pushed back tonightttt
shootouts
If I ruled the world


^good stuff... Good album.. not a classic but decent.. Nas lyrics pull most of the weight..

he needs more tracks with guys like Dj Premier... more songs like "nas is like"

[blasian]

There's been a lot of discussion on Nas in the OTC lately. Opinions on his legacy, beefs, consistency, skills (past/present/future), etc. There's been hints of debate regarding his individual albums, just too scattered throughout multiple threads to have structured discussion.

Starting with "It Was Written" - I will begin threads on individual Nas albums for discussion. Try your best to keep other Nas albums / songs out of bounds for now, just focus on It Was Written. Rate it, highlight its positives / negatives, etc.

I'll break each album down track-for-track, and give my $0.02 on each.

It Was Written

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/Nas-it-was-written-music-album.jpg

_____

1) Intro - bland really, nothing special, at all.

2) The Message - classic, beautiful hip-hop (10)

3) Street Dreams - indifferent, awe + dull, can't really explain it (7)

4) I Gave You Power - best concept song in hip-hop, period ill ill ill (10)

5) Watch Dem Ni**as - blah (4)

6) Take It In Blood - decent, love the Ultramagnetic MC (Kool Keith) sample (7)

7) Nas Is Coming - this one grew on me over time, still filler (5)

8) Affirmative Action - nice beat, had potential, never found its way (4)

9) The Set Up - another sharp beat, just didn't mix in the end (4)

10) Black Girl Lost - love this one, very underrated (9)

11) Suspect - getting warmer, decent (6)

12) Shootouts - love the instrumental, slightly above average (8)

13) Live Ni**a Rap - album starting to sound very repetitive, blah (4)

14) If I Ruled the World - masterpiece, nothing overrated (10)

15) Silent Murder - cheesy, blah (4)

Average: 6.5

_____

A few days ago rating this off the top of my head I gave it a 7.5. After digging up the actual album and listening to the entire thing again last night, this is the conclusion I've come to. I know I'm breaking my own rule here, but I've said it before and I'll say it again...

I Am > It Was Written

Feel free to add your opinions on this album or debate with me on mine. To quickly summarize my opinion on It Was Written, I would say there's definitely a few classics on here, just too much filler to be a "respectable" album from Nas IMO. To me, overrated. The few classics on here doesn't make up for the rest which is mediocre.

Disagree. Black Girl Lost is probably the worst song on the album while Affirmative Action is one of the best. Also, Live N*gga Rap, The Setup, and Shootout are all great, dark, and grimey hip hop. I'd give the album an 8 out of 10. Take off Black Girl Lost and Nas is Coming and you have a classic imo. I also think its far better than I Am...which I feel is Nas's second worst album.

[Legend of Josh]

Disagree. Black Girl Lost is probably the worst song on the album while Affirmative Action is one of the best. Also, Live N*gga Rap, The Setup, and Shootout are all great, dark, and grimey hip hop. I'd give the album an 8 out of 10. Take off Black Girl Lost and Nas is Coming and you have a classic imo. I also think its far better than I Am...which I feel is Nas's second worst album.

Yeah - I'd say we disagree quite a bit on It Was Written. The album really has no identity. These "dark" and "grimy" tracks you talk about sound too much alike to really standout. Not to mention, there's too much filler in between these tracks, except towards the end when a lot of them are lumped together.

This was somewhat an experimental album for Nas. It tried to rehash some of the dark feel that was Illmatic, but also crossover into new (more mainstream) territory. Both attempts both failed succeeded throughout the album. In other words, this album had potential, it was just put together the wrong way, and therefore had no real identity.

You're wrong about Black Girl Lost. Like I said, underrated.

[Legend of Josh]

Seems to be less interest in It Was Written than Stillmatic.

:confusedshrug:

I guess I find that somewhat abstract because fans are quick to say It Was Written is Nas' second best album.

I would rate Stillmatic ahead of It Was Written. I Am better than Stillmatic. God's Son better than I Am. I know I'm in the minority there, just can't say It Was Written is that good. It's just not.

[Richie2k6]

The Message, I Gave You Power and Affirmative Action are the best to me. How can you not like Affirmative Action? AZ was nice that. Cormega was pretty solid. Nas' entry line along with the quieted beat made his entrance epic.

"My mind is seeing through your design like blind fury."

Then:

"Life's a b*tch but God forbid the b*tch divorce me."

Doesn't get much better than that. Classic line. I don't see how you can give AA anything less than a 7.5-8. Even Foxxy killed it, once again proving why she's an upper echelon female rapper. Kind of hard to understand though. I can't decide if I like this more or I Am... If I Ruled The World was classic.

Average album overall. I never got a sense of balance from it. There's some amazing songs, and some ones that aren't very good at all. Better than Nastradomus at least.

[Legend of Josh]

The Message, I Gave You Power and Affirmative Action are the best to me. How can you not like Affirmative Action? AZ was nice that. Cormega was pretty solid. Nas' entry line along with the quieted beat made his entrance epic.

"My mind is seeing through your design like blind fury."

Then:

"Life's a b*tch but God forbid the b*tch divorce me."

Doesn't get much better than that. Classic line. I don't see how you can give AA anything less than a 7.5-8. Even Foxxy killed it, once again proving why she's an upper echelon female rapper. Kind of hard to understand though. I can't decide if I like this more or I Am... If I Ruled The World was classic.

Average album overall. I never got a sense of balance from it. There's some amazing songs, and some ones that aren't very good at all. Better than Nastradomus at least.

Nas' verse was good. Honestly though, we've heard better. AZ opened the track nicely. Foxy's verse was too long, and nothing really stellar. Seems I'm in the minority on my opinions of Affirmative Action too. What can I say? It is what it is.

If I Ruled the World - still sounds amazing to this day. Classic +.

[ArbitraryWater]

Classic album... I can listen through this without skipping anything.

[Kblaze8855]

I've always wondered if he decided in the early nineties on his album titles just so we could have the line he eventually used:

" Since Illmatic it was written I am nastradamus "

And if so that's quite a bit of foresight for a single line nobody but me probably remembers.

[andgar923]

It was the last album in which he had a consistent flow.

After this, his flow just disappeared. His lyrics weren't the same either, he'd show flashes of brilliance but was just average on most.

Im a Nas stan, but i gotta be real here... IWW >>>>> everything else he's done, including Illmatic.

Illmatic feels dated aside from 2-3 tracks.

IWW is more accessible while still giving you dope beats and rhymes. The best commercial hip hop album EVER.

[Mayweather]

8) Affirmative Action - nice beat, had potential, never found its way (4)


I'd give this song a 9.

[andgar923]

Take it in Blood is one of the best hip hop songs ever, and I'll even go as far as one of the best lyrical songs of all time.

The lyrics, the flow, the delivery, all GOAT level shit. Perhaps the best song on IWW.

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

IWW is just as good as Illmatic IMBO

[Norcaliblunt]

Nas is cool, but like a lot of east coast hip hop in that period Nas just seems really dry to me. There's no change of emotion or any comic relief in this shit.

[ArbitraryWater]

Stillmatic is another classic IMO...

here I like too many songs man, the best ones for me are:

The Message
I Gave You Power
Nas Is Coming
Affirmative Action
Shootouts
Live ***** Rap
If I Ruled The World

[GOBB]

Damn good album, near classic.


IWW is just as good as Illmatic IMBO

No it wasn't. But for someone to give it a 6.5 rating is just as funny.

[Im Still Ballin]

Liquid swords >

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Damn good album, near classic.



No it wasn't. But for someone to give it a 6.5 rating is just as funny.

Agreed, it was a very solid album but there are certain tracks I wasn't feeling.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Stillmatic is another classic IMO...

here I like too many songs man, the best ones for me are:

The Message
I Gave You Power
Nas Is Coming
Affirmative Action
Shootouts
Live ***** Rap
If I Ruled The World
:applause: Great songs that I love in this album.

[Bigsmoke]

One of my favorite albums ever

[Tarik One]

I think "It Was Written" was intentionally watered down to appeal commercially. In 1996, a lot of hip hop artists were having success on the hip-hop/R&B hybrid songs. It was a business move. As good as Illmatic was, Nas still wouldn't have gotten as many projected sales had he come out with a similar album from a commercial perspective.