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

[Inspect Her Deck]

That's true. Illmatic came out at the end of a different era it seems like. RTD changed everything on the East Coast

At least mainstream wise.

East Coast renaissance in 93 was that dark boom bap shyt and or jazz influenced a la Tribe and some of Illmatic Nas. But once RTD came out there was a shift in subject matter and production became polished. The other half tho was still very much boom bap with the DITCs and BCCs of the world. But it was Biggie's type of hip hop that was gaining traction for sure.

 

[spliz]

It's not surprising. They prefer pop/gloss. And IWW is certainly the poppier side of Nas. It has nothing to do with the production. The production on Illmatic holds up way better than IWW.

Nothing "poppy" about IWW. shyt the visuals for the album was more poppy/flashy than the actual songs.

 

[Billy Ocean]

Sounds nothing like RTD or OBFCL. The shyt went the direction he was going in the whole year prior to release. When everybody was praising all his guest spots n features n all that. nikka makes an album full of dope shyt like that and it's a problem. Yet everyone else around was able to do wtf they want and get praise for it.

Facts. Nas was Hip Hop's golden child and held to totally different standards. The backpackers were on some "how dare he talk about that coke selling, gun busting, gangsta sh!t!"

It was ridiculous then and it's ridiculous now. At the end of the day he was at his apex lyrically imo and showed his growth as a MC with the storytelling and concepts. I also don't think that Track masters gets enough credit for the excellent job they did on this album.

 

[SirBiatch]

Nothing "poppy" about IWW. shyt the visuals for the album was more poppy/flashy than the actual songs.

Trackmasters themselves said IWW was poppy and they were reaching for pop audiences.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

You really gotta be the biggest Nas hater on this board. It must eat you up every second of your life that Nas has a better discography than O'Shea.

Illmatic is a beautiful piece of work but IWW is probably my favorite Nas album. Conceptually and lyrically superior than Illmatic and the production was beautiful and varied. Only throwaway on the album imo is Nas Is Coming.

Both albums are certified classic. And in my circles it's not "blasphemous " to like IWW more than Illmatic.

I was saying blasphemous in response to the series title and the YouTube vid. It's not a crazy opinion to have but I think Illmatic should be heralded the greater album.

Nah I'm not the biggest hater. I like some of his work. If you wanna discuss discographies against Cube or whatever we can save that for another thread. But you're wrong.

What did I say that was wrong and I'll respond to those comments instead of vague general accusations.

 

[Piff Perkins]

While I think the OG I Am would have been received well, I'm not sold on the argument that it would be seen as a classic. The OG track lists are very low on "bangers." Hate Me Now wouldn't be on the album since that was recorded afterwards, so you'd be left with Nas Is Like and a couple other bangers plus a lot of thematic tracks that don't knock.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

At least mainstream wise.

East Coast renaissance in 93 was that dark boom bap shyt and or jazz influenced a la Tribe and some of Illmatic Nas. But once RTD came out there was a shift in subject matter and production became polished. The other half tho was still very much boom bap with the DITCs and BCCs of the world. But it was Biggie's type of hip hop that was gaining traction for sure.

Remember tho even the BCC changed up their sound on For The People and Fat Joe tried on Don Cartagena but nobody cared

Even OC tried his hand at a big single on Far From Yours but it didn't work for him either

 

[spliz]

At least mainstream wise.

East Coast renaissance in 93 was that dark boom bap shyt and or jazz influenced a la Tribe and some of Illmatic Nas. But once RTD came out there was a shift in subject matter and production became polished. The other half tho was still very much boom bap with the DITCs and BCCs of the world. But it was Biggie's type of hip hop that was gaining traction for sure.

And this is what I'm saying. But guess what. Biggie gets damn near NONE of the criticism Nas gets. And he came out the gate more commercial than Nas. Instead. He gets lyricist of the year over Nas. From the SAME publication that gave Nas 5 mics. Nas got snubbed for every award. Then people actually went out and bought Biggie's album. Supported Biggie wit they pockets. Nas had to watch all that shyt go down right infront of him. nikka got zero real life credit for Illmatic. Then these dikkheads had the nerve to criticize him for switchin his shyt up? Some of the most fukk shyt I ever seen happen to a rapper.

 

[Billy Ocean]

Trackmasters themselves said IWW was poppy and they were reaching for pop audiences.

Post that.

 

[Art Barr]

You are a jiggy sellout fan if you think this.

Art Barr

 

[Piff Perkins]

You can prob find a lot of street dudes who like IWW more than Illmatic.

 

[ISO]

Nas didn't do the mafioso shyt because of anybody. It was a general trend at the time on the East Coast that was popularized by Kool G Rap and Mobstyle.

He is a Kool G Rap stan, has songs on Illmatic talking about "lamp like Capone", "Uptown was Alpo heard he was kingpin", and "I'm like Scarface sniffing cocaine" has a whole song called The World Is Yours. He was featured on AZ, Kool G Rap, and Raekwon's albums all mafioso albums in '95 and going by Esco on The Infamous.

Nas catching shyt for doing R&B/rap collabs with Jodeci, Lauryn Hill, and R. Kelly but nobody say nothing when Wu-Tang working with SWV and Method Man putting out songs with Mary J. Blige.

Man, foh.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

And this is what I'm saying. But guess what. Biggie gets damn near NONE of the criticism Nas gets. And he came out the gate more commercial than Nas. Instead. He gets lyricist of the year over Nas. From the SAME publication that gave Nas 5 mics. Nas got snubbed for every award. Then people actually went out and bought Biggie's album. Supported Biggie wit they pockets. Nas had to watch all that shyt go down right infront of him. nikka got zero real life credit for Illmatic. Then this dikkheads had the nerve to criticize him for switchin his shyt up? Some of the most fukk shyt I ever seen happen to a rapper.

Ready to Die was the best album of 94 tho why would he get criticism? That's a truly flawless execution of a cinematic album if I've ever seen one.

The real destroyer of hip hop to put it harshly was LAD.

Nas is unfairly criticised for that transition I get that....doesn't change the facts about the main focus of this argument. Illmatic is considerably better than IWW, which has some flaws as an overall work.

 

[spliz]

Trackmasters themselves said IWW was poppy and they were reaching for pop audiences.

It wasn't poppy. It was more polished. Album was still dark as fukk in tone.

 

[neko_804]

in 1996 he was a better rapper than Nas idk how you wanna define it...lyrics, delivery, flows, albums, whatever it is....Pac was better

and if you're going on that East Coast "lyrical" tip, then what about Redman, HOV or P? Rae/Ghost? What about Ras Kass even tho he was West Coast but was spitting like he was East Coast?

Let's be reality here. Pac was better at charisma & passion, talking tough, snatching azz and live performance. Dude was a good rapper, not lyrically on Nas level.

Creativity
Flow
Delivery
Lyrics
Story Telling


All go to Nas.