Menelik II
I wanna see receipts!
So you're cool listening to totalWhat else would you think I was talking about?
just because they are 'cinematic'?I prefer my
served in movie format 
Hip-Hop Blasphemy: It Was Written Is Better Than Illmatic (Episode 2)
- Thread starter brooklyngohard
- Start date
just because they are 'cinematic'?I prefer my
served in movie format 
Inspect Her Deck
Skins of all colours come together as brothers
So you're cool listening to total
I prefer my
come on breh does that really matter tho?
you couldn't enjoy G Rap's Live & Let Die because he was killing at will? Or any Spice-1 album where every song he's catching 1000 bodies?
spliz
SplizThaDon
Also. contrary to belief. He barely even spit mafioso raps on the album. It was mostly fly street shyt if anything. But it was more than that. The album was versatile in subject matter. It wasnt about one thing. Which brings me to my next point. For a lot of the people who criticize the album. It seems as if they barely even listened to the shyt. They just regurgitate the rhetoric that people who was mad the album wasnt Illmatic part 2 like to preach.What do you mean by cinematic? If you mean vivid descriptive storytelling then
Unfortunately these were all
The Firm clique, that was an integral part of IWW, was a complete fantasy, where 3 young NY rapper kids were moving weight with the South American cartels
Menelik II
I wanna see receipts!
You were talking about "people bootlegging the album" though?
spliz
SplizThaDon
See what I mean bro? Nas catches flack for shyt everyone else around him did and got praise for.
Inspect Her Deck
Skins of all colours come together as brothers
I told you I agree with you on that from earlier.
But from my perspective only (which I care about I don't speak on others' behaves), the issue with IWW was not the supposed 'wave' Nas was riding. I could care less....in fact as you said it was better for him in terms of commercial success. The issue is it isn't as great an album as some others in that lane of music (namely OB4CL) and therefore it gets overshadowed in that regard. Since the album has weaknesses and Illmatic doesn't really have one, I don't see how you can compare the two, other than by assessing the lyricism which is extremely subjective.
Menelik II
I wanna see receipts!
Generally it wouldn't matter, but it's about the artists reference point, story and their previous work. If Rakim spat rhymes like G Rap there would be a lot of
. Why? Coz he's the GOD MC.Nas' moves in IWW were 'off brand', stylistically lower, littered with street sosa tales. I mean look at the street dreams video for example, really cringe material
Inspect Her Deck
Skins of all colours come together as brothers
Generally it wouldn't matter, but it's about the artists reference point, story and their previous work. If Rakim spat rhymes like G Rap there would be a lot of
Nas' moves in IWW were 'off brand', stylistically lower, littered with street sosa tales. I mean look at the street dreams video for example, really cringe material
I can see what you're saying but by this viewpoint you aren't allowing artists to evolve or change direction. You want them to stick to their lane.
Idk breh I don't agree but I respect your stance.
Now I do agree with you in that Nas didn't pull off that newly found character well enough to justify the transition but he had to do it.
This.
Illmatic is the better album and It Was Written is a classic but folks bytching about " ah he switched his style up" (Redman's voice) did not support with purchasing Illmatic! What's clear is a lot of 'real Hip-Heads' would rather he starved back in Queensbridge as long as they got Illmatic part 2.
spliz
SplizThaDon
Because people gave Illmatic all that praise and went out and dubbed and bootlegged the fukk out of it. Nas wasnt seeing any real life results from the praise Illmatic was getting. The nikka literally HAD to switch it up to save his own life and career. If the people would've supported him wit they pockets. And he didn't get snubbed in favor of his more commercial competition by the same publication that gave him his 5 mic rating. Maybe shyt would've been a lil different. One thing for sure is he couldnt keep moving in the same direction whIle the game passed him by. nikka released a more polished street album whIle expanding his creativity and keeping his lyrical integrity and those same people who didnt support him with they pockets the first time around bytched and moaned. But guess what?. That album saved Nas' career.
It's so simple as this but folks arguing a different case.
Menelik II
I wanna see receipts!
I'm happy for artists to change and mature but not sacrifice their artistic intergrity and then spin it as something else.
One thing Cube never did, in fact he turned it up after going solo
Sheeeeiiit. I wonder if they've even heard Illmatic. It's obviously a great album, but the arguments that I see people making on its behalf are almost always half-baked. Honestly, the album deserves a better defense than these tired, 20-year-old backpacker talking points that have more to do its purity than the music itself.
spliz
SplizThaDon
I'm happy for artists to change and mature but not sacrifice their artistic intergrity and then spin it as something else.
One thing Cube never did, in fact he turned it up after going solo
If this ain't one of the most bullshyt statements. u need to gtfoh wit that bs fam. lol. U forgot about Westside Connection and all that shyt? In fact Common's The bytch In Yoo wouldn't have been as effective if what u sayin is true.
Menelik II
I wanna see receipts!
Nas' life and career were fine. Did Ill movemajor units, no, but he was still one of the hottest acts in the industry and everyone wanted piece of the action. It's not like Colombia were going to drop dude. Did he make less cash off Ill than he should of, of course, but making out that he had to go commercial or it was over is
