Hip-Hop Blasphemy: It Was Written Is Better Than Illmatic (Episode 2)

[Menelik II]

Nah, IWW has Watch Dem nikkas, the beat of which is superior to anything on Illmatic. Because g-funk is simply the greatest style of hip-hop music.

Maybe with the other tracks you could make a case but my logic for IWW having better beats than Illmatic is simple:

1. G-funk is music fit for the gods
2. Illmatic has no g-funk
3. It Was Written has one g-funk track
4. Therefore It Was Written has the superior production

G-funk??

 

[Sound (∀√a) Maths]

Agreed but IWW wasn't better lyrically. The GOD MC went from introspective universal to Mafiaso generic, plus a small drop in flows. When you put it in perspective he had crazy features at that time, we were expecting great things on the back of "one plus one", "eye for an eye" , "on the real", "true dialect" but IWW failed with lines like "drunk of champagne from Sicily" smh


You have to understand the climate at the time, and despite PAC Big et all, Nas was that nikka, the resurrection and torch carrier of Rakim legacy. IWW was commercial and artistically way below ILL, and a lot of cats were like "say it ain't so"

So other artists were able to eat and get the plaudits for doing the same thing but because the public anointed Nas as the second coming of Rakim, he shouldn't have done it?

 

[Asicz]

Is it was written a Non Bioom Nap album?
If so is it the GOAT non Boom Bap Album?

 

[Menelik II]

So other artists were able to eat and get the plaudits for doing the same thing but because the public anointed Nas as the second coming of Rakim, he shouldn't have done it?

After ILL he inadvertently backed himself into a upper echelon corner, whereby he couldn't go to the commercial and fad realms of the other rappers, e.g. Big, Jay etc , you can't go from talking about aesop n Levaithan to rnb hooks n "lex with TV sets the minimum"

 

[CASHAPP]

The wild shyt about the hip hop heads who shytted on Nas in 96 for IWW was they didnt even realize how on the VERY FIRST song on Illmatic in the opening lines he is rapping about holding an M16 like Scarface and sniffing coke

 

[CASHAPP]

This is blasphemy

IWW has some faults:
- it tried to follow a precedent from OB4CL and was never able to live up to it
- one or two tracks could disappear from the tracklist no harm done e.g. Watch Dem nikkas & Nas is Coming

Illmatic is a near flawless piece of work.

But lyrically IWW was a vast improvement you can't deny that.

Illmatic >>> IWW any day.

watch dem nikkas is one of the best songs on the album and has one of nas most famous lines

i will agree with u about nas is coming though. song is just trash. he should have replaced it with the street dreams remix with rkelly

 

[Menelik II]

One question for all the Team IWW stans,

Was IWW the first Nas album you heard, did you hear it on release in 96, or you heard Illmatic first and then thought IWW was better?

Discuss

 

[Sound (∀√a) Maths]

After ILL he inadvertently backed himself into a upper echelon corner, whereby he couldn't go to the commercial and fad realms of the other rappers, e.g. Big, Jay etc , you can't go from talking about aesop n Levaithan to rnb hooks n "lex with TV sets the minimum"

What does have to do with what I said? Nas did not say "I'm the new/next Rakim", so folks need stop holding him to their standard of what he should have been. Like @spliz said, he was doing features that was in the Escobar persona and then folks want to act all uppity when the albums drops with utilising the same persona he had during the whole 95/96!!!

I get it; Nas was supposed to be the saviour of rap in many "real Hip-Hop heads" eyes but how many of those same heads bought Illmatic when it first came out?

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

watch dem nikkas is one of the best songs on the album and has one of nas most famous lines

i will agree with u about nas is coming though. song is just trash. he should have replaced it with the street dreams remix with rkelly

You know? I'm listening to Watch Dem nikkas again and I think I've been mistaken lol because I like this song now.


I'm SURE there's another song other than Nas is Coming that was pretty poor/average but clearly it's not that song lol. I need to find it.

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

It Was Written will always be one of the most polarizing and controversial albums ever.

I personally think it's a masterpiece, but it's not near as good as Illmatic. I consider Illmatic in a tie for the GOAT hip-hop album period though.

 

[Menelik II]

What does have to do with what I said? Nas did not say "I'm the new/next Rakim", so folks need stop holding him to their standard of what he should have been. Like @spliz said, he was doing features that was in the Escobar persona and then folks want to act all uppity when the albums drops with utilising the same persona he had during the whole 95/96!!!

I get it; Nas was supposed to be the saviour of rap in many "real Hip-Hop heads" eyes but how many of those same heads bought Illmatic when it first came out?

Whether Nas accepted the the crown/title or not ppl had given him the GOD MC position, the hood prophet, which limited him creatively and commercially. His features pre IWW weren't in Escobar fauxcade, so the mafioso thing was a surprise

 

[Sukairain]

G-funk??

Yeah.

If instrumental copies of every rap album ever made were released today, I would not pick up a single east coast instrumental album, expect for Ready to Die and It Was Written. Illmatic wouldn't even enter my mind. G-funk is just a superior sound. You can kick back and smoke weed to g-funk beats. You can bump it in your ride. You can listen to g-funk beats while you train. East coast albums only have value because of the rapping. The lyricism is fantastic. The beats aren't bad, they complement the rapping, but if there is no rapping and no lyrics then there's no way I'd listen to boom bap. I would much rather take something by Lil' Half Dead over Illmatic if I had to choose between two instrumental copies.

Although to be fair to the east coast, if a capella versions of every rap album ever made were released, I would load up heavily. Only stuff by 2Pac, Ice Cube and Del tha Funkee Homosapien from the west would make the cut a capella. So I'm not biased. I got much love for both coasts. It's just a fact however that g-funk sounds better than any other type of music.

 

[Menelik II]

Yeah.

If instrumental copies of every rap album ever made were released today, I would not pick up a single east coast instrumental album, expect for Ready to Die and It Was Written. Illmatic wouldn't even enter my mind. G-funk is just a superior sound. You can kick back and smoke weed to g-funk beats. You can bump it in your ride. You can listen to g-funk beats while you train. East coast albums only have value because of the rapping. The lyricism is fantastic. The beats aren't bad, they complement the rapping, but if there is no rapping and no lyrics then there's no way I'd listen to boom bap. I would much rather take something by Lil' Half Dead over Illmatic if I had to choose between two instrumental copies.

Although to be fair to the east coast, if a capella versions of every rap album ever made were released, I would load up heavily. Only stuff by 2Pac, Ice Cube and Del tha Funkee Homosapien from the west would make the cut a capella. So I'm not biased. I got much love for both coasts. It's just a fact however that g-funk sounds better than any other type of music.

Talking about G-funk in Nas thread breh

 

[Sound (∀√a) Maths]

Whether Nas accepted the the crown/title or not ppl had given him the GOD MC position, the hood prophet, which limited him creatively and commercially. His features pre IWW weren't in Escobar fauxcade, so the mafioso thing was a surprise

Stop it! So because the people had anointed him with the GOD MC position that meant there was no need to support his first album?!!! So in other words, "the prize for being the best emcee is we won't support your endeavour and buy your album son"

 

[SirBiatch]

Yeah.

If instrumental copies of every rap album ever made were released today, I would not pick up a single east coast instrumental album, expect for Ready to Die and It Was Written. Illmatic wouldn't even enter my mind. G-funk is just a superior sound. You can kick back and smoke weed to g-funk beats. You can bump it in your ride. You can listen to g-funk beats while you train. East coast albums only have value because of the rapping. The lyricism is fantastic. The beats aren't bad, they complement the rapping, but if there is no rapping and no lyrics then there's no way I'd listen to boom bap. I would much rather take something by Lil' Half Dead over Illmatic if I had to choose between two instrumental copies.

Although to be fair to the east coast, if a capella versions of every rap album ever made were released, I would load up heavily. Only stuff by 2Pac, Ice Cube and Del tha Funkee Homosapien from the west would make the cut a capella. So I'm not biased. I got much love for both coasts. It's just a fact however that g-funk sounds better than any other type of music.

You're a G-Funk fanatic, it seems. Your Top 5 favorite G-Funk beats NOT on The Chronic/Doggystyle?