It was written > illmatic

[MurderToCassette]

Played this album last night after not hearing it for a while, and as a whole, it holds up tremendously after 25+ years. The concerted effort put forth here lyrically is still untouched IMO. This is in stark contrast to Illmatic, you can hear Nas was still growing plus Illmatic was written kind of between stylistic eras (which he ushered in).

"Halftime" was from 92, rhymes from "I'm A Villain" (which is pre-"Live At The BBQ") were used on "Represent", and "It Ain't Hard To Tell" where some of the same rhymes appeared on Illmatic. Illmatic seemed to go through a lot of workshopping as there's different versions of songs like "Memory Lane" and "Represent" based on the oft stated competition between the producers.

However you feel about the Trackmasters, I like that It Was Written seems to have a more consistent tone and I think that was helped by letting one set of producers helm a good chunk of the album. Whatever flack he got at the time for not using Large Professor or Pete Rock (who are in my top 5), I can't front when you get tracks like this




Plus with the anniversary we got a domestic release of this classic naS/Stretch banger on something besides cassette

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

yep, artistically and rapping wise its better

you definitely grew up around cacs and Mexicans


rapping wise??


Only joint on IWW on par with Illmatic rapping wise, is Suspect Witness
There's nothing touching Memory lane,It Aint hard to tell,One Love,Life"s bytch or Represent rapping wise

Illmatic is the most lyrical and hungriest Nas will ever be
Im pretty sure you were in your 30's when u first listened to it
go kill yourself

 

[Ty-Fife]

you definitely grew up around cacs and Mexicans


rapping wise??


Only joint on IWW on par with Illmatic rapping wise, is Suspect Witness
There's nothing touching Memory lane,It Aint hard to tell,One Love,Life"s bytch or Represent rapping wise

Illmatic is the most lyrical and hungriest Nas will ever be
Im pretty sure you were in your 30's when u first listened to it
go kill yourself

Act like Take It In Blood, Watch Dem nikkas, Shootouts, Live nikka Rap, Silent Murder and The Set Up ain't on this album, brehs.

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

you definitely grew up around cacs and Mexicans


rapping wise??


Only joint on IWW on par with Illmatic rapping wise, is Suspect Witness
There's nothing touching Memory lane,It Aint hard to tell,One Love,Life"s bytch or Represent rapping wise

Illmatic is the most lyrical and hungriest Nas will ever be
Im pretty sure you were in your 30's when u first listened to it
go kill yourself

So Kool g rap must be a cac then. Because he thinks nas elevated himself as a mc on iww. Royce too. It's not like we are talking about two master lyricists right

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

Act like Take It In Blood, Watch Dem nikkas, Shootouts, Live nikka Rap, Silent Murder and The Set Up ain't on this album, brehs.

like i said Only Suspect Witness is on Illmatic level...rapping wise
Shootouts and Silent Murder??
cut it out

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

So Kool g rap must be a cac then. Because he thinks nas elevated himself as a mc on iww. Royce too. It's not like we are talking about two master lyricists right

Nas better than all em nikkas..so fukk their opinion
Nothin is seeing Illmatic
Even my youngin self knew that first time i heard it
ran it back so many times,i knew half of the lyrics the next day
If you didnt listen to it on cassette tape,you will never know the feeling
we are done here

 

[I'm Blackman]

After Magic, ran through the Nas catalog again like I always do when he drops a new one.

IWW is his best album from a straight rapping perspective. No question. His lyrics and flow were insane on IWW. Bars, rhyme schemes, concepts, overall focus were flawless. Every damn song. The musical version of an A-list crime film. If he dropped the same rhymes over Illmatic style beats it'd be consensus

It Was Written is the best any rapper has ever rapped on a album

Been going back and forth on this one since '96, right now I'm pulling towards IWW

 

[IWasntMadeToPlayTheSon]

IWW is better by quite a bit. The first album that hit every base. Pop hit, street single, concepts, knowledge tracks, posse cuts. The real blueprint of how to make an album.

 

[Piffery]

Delusion.

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

Nas better than all em nikkas..so fukk their opinion
Nothin is seeing Illmatic
Even my youngin self knew that first time i heard it
ran it back so many times,i knew half of the lyrics the next day
If you didnt listen to it on cassette tape,you will never know the feeling
we are done here

Illmatic is my favorite nas album. Perfect & flawless. And the thing that set it apart from iww is the genuine innocence and pure rawness of nas. Strictly poetry with no compromise. But I get why people consider nas better on iww. Aside from the production, nas switched his rhyme style a bit. The multisyllabic style was already overused by 95, a lot of copy cat like milkbone, Eminem, mic geronimo started to pop up. G rap and az took it too the fullest but nas became more complex. He had more control on his voice. He was smooth and more elegant. The vocabulary and the storytelling was more advanced. Don't get me wrong. 94 nas was a already a monster but 95 96 he was at his peak

 

[Mac Ten]

It Was Written was very cinematic…


Watch Dem Nikkas, Take It In Blood, I Gave You Power, Live Nikka Rap, Shootouts, Street Dreams.

Songs felt like a movie inside of a movie. Nothing on Illmatic is matches up to the tracks i named.


It’s one of my favorite Nas albums next to Stillmatic that I had to buy so many times due to me playing it so much.

It’s the first Nas album that I brought with my own money. Found a copy for 9.99 back in 2009 with my Mom. She was surprised that I knew that album.

People stay d-riding Illmatic and it’s disgusting, Like goddamn. Did yall ever listen to any other Nas album after that???




He ain’t making an another one so get over it(Nas reused the Baby photo of Illmatic for the disc art of Stillmatic which was ingenious).


If cats really wanted to celebrate, they would have brought the 10th Year Anniversary Platinum Edition with the bonus disc that included Star Wars.

 

[Awesome Wells]

The internet is a very weird place.

Illmatic ain't better than It Was Written now? Come on.

N*ggas get bored and lonely and hop online to say crazy sh*t, just to have conversations with other people. FOH!

 

[DraymondT]

The internet is a very weird place.

Illmatic ain't better than It Was Written now? Come on.

N*ggas get bored and lonely and hop online to say crazy sh*t, just to have conversations with other people. FOH!

Honestly it's an opinion a lot of people in they 30s to early 40s have and it's not just internet. Lupe, Royce, Schoolboy, Budden, Cordae, Dave East, Conway, Westside Gunn, Banks, Danny Brown etc. all have IWW as better and Nas best

I don't agree that IWW is better but I see why nikkas feel that way

 

[spliz]

The internet is a very weird place.

Illmatic ain't better than It Was Written now? Come on.

N*ggas get bored and lonely and hop online to say crazy sh*t, just to have conversations with other people. FOH!

Son there's alot of people who always felt this way including Nas' own brother and daughter. One of my young homies got IWW as his favorite and greatest hip hop album of all time. Alot of MCs feel this way too. Such as Fab, G Rap, Royce, Budden etc etc. It's not some new internet opinion.

 

[Soymuscle Mike]

Son there's alot of people who always felt this way including Nas' own brother and daughter. One of my young homies got IWW as his favorite and greatest hip hop album of all time. Alot of MCs feel this way too. Such as Fab, G Rap, Royce, Budden etc etc. It's not some new internet opinion.

Lupe said that he was trying to model The Cool (or one of his other early albums) after IWW, plus that era Nas gave him half his name.
Dre said Nas was an alien around this time, Snoop said Street Dreams is his favorite Nas song. 50's favorite verse was the first verse off The Message.
We know Pac was loving it and inspired to write Me & My Girlfriend.

Definitely not an online, or a new, thing.