It Was Written turns 20 today

[ChiTownGuevera]

Already trending on twitter worldwide

Let's talk why this album is Nas best album in terms of rhymes, singles, sales, and last but not least the influence it had on rappers


Nas portrayed a different level of rhyming on IWW. His rhyme schemes were on some next level shyt..

The album that made him into rap superstar...it took Illmatic 2 yrs n plus some to reach platinum while It Was Written went plat in less than a month


If I Rule The World: The biggest single record of his career to date..ain't no debating that..


Despite jigga's It Was Written helped birthed all of the rappers y'all dikkriding today.


N of course it has this



Why shoot the breeze bout it when you could be bout it


Let's discuss


Edit: fukk ya mods for moving my thread

 

[GeeEffKay]

Just listened to this a few days ago. Still greatness

 

[Illeye buckmatic]

Imagine That:naswon:

 

[mobbinfms]

 

[Zero]

Lets talk about Prodigy being top 5 in 1996 though

Yo NYC, U-N-I-verse, se-riously
Havoc and P, Queens nikkas so it seem to be
Monopolize, strategies of war, exercise, mega
Got word back from Noreaga
The D.A. got video cassette taper
The god with the God-U-Now, pullin a caper
Runnin up in the spot, mask and duct taped up
Pig tied they motherfukkin wrists to they ankles
I been through, crime shyt my nikkas into
Peep the issue situation like this, we stickin him too
JFK on our way to L.A
Got links with big cats down to Santa Barbre
My crew do it the Mobb way, everyday
Crime pay, who wanted gunplay? Drill me
nikkas kill me, grillin me, you wanna look?
Peep the nine milli, now undress, you know the drill-y
nikkas suspect, weak links pose threats, I have yet
To met challenger who go against my set
Gem stars razor sharp like Gilette, shavin closely on
Any character approach me
I let the streets get the best of me, infamy, my destiny
While cat burg-lars tryin to sneak peep the recipe
Inside my rap cookbook, paragraphs is gourmet
You pay about $5,000 a plate

Song/verse wasn't even intended for Nas but Philathropist P blessed him anyway

 

[DPG]

That Take it In Blood sample

RIP Big Stretch

"TAKE IT IN BLOOD"
Produced by: Live Squad, Lo Ground, and Top General Sounds

Nas: I met Stretch [of Live Squad] by some dangerous cats that I was hanging with. Stretch became my brother immediately; we hung out all the time, almost every day. He wasn’t really recognized for the great work he was doing with 2Pac and the hardcore records he did with his group Live Squad, with his brother Majesty.

Stretch was really hurt by 2Pac. I would hear him talking about how 'Pac was so mad at him because Stretch was with 2Pac when he got set up and robbed in the lobby of Quad Studios in Manhattan, in Nov. 1994. 'Pac was mad at everyone after that. I felt bad for Stretch because he really had a lot of love for 'Pac and couldn’t believe that 'Pac thought he had something to do with it.

Stretch dropped me off at home, then went home and was killed [in Dec. 1995, in Queens]. That was a real great guy. He produced “Take It in Blood” and “Silent Murder”—the irony. It was just a messed up moment for me. It was the last work he did.

Tone: We actually didn’t have the multitrack for that record. What happened was, Stretch submitted the record and then passed away so we had to finish the record for him. That’s when we came in and we didn’t have the multitrack, so we were trying to finish it on cassette.

So we put our thing on it but we tried not to take away any of the original elements that he already had on the record. Nas already loved the track but Nas was also giving a tribute to him by doing the record.

http://www.complex.com/music/2012/05/the-making-of-nas-it-was-written/take-it-in-blood

 

[Deucage]

Suspect is a track that will forever sound like some nighttime movie shi

my avi says it all..goat album with 7 day theory for me

Same here breh
Nas & Pac my GOATs

 

[Zero]

I'm loving this video...this is a series?

Hold this rep breh

 

[mson]

Street Dreams: Revisiting Nas’ ‘It Was Written’ Album 20 Years Later
Written By J. Pablo July 2 2016, 12:34 PM ET
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Looking back at the impact of Nas’ sophomore album through the eyes of writer J. Pablo. As a life long New Yorker, he has covered music and lifestyle for publications such as The Village Voice, Billboard, and VIBE for the past 15 years. Here, J. Pablo puts his thoughts down about what the album truly stands for.

“Nas has a new song out yo…”

Mike Price from Corona, Queens shoves me excitedly as he shares the morning news during the pre first period cypher. I ash the blunt on my Asolo boots accidentally from the shove. He smokes while I find Kool G Rap’s 456 cassette in my backpack and fast-forward to “Fast Life.” This will have to do for now.

That night I try to record the new song off the radio, no dice. Next day no dice. Finally driving in my brother’s Volkswagen Golf we hear it. Angie Martinez plays it on HOT97. I’m hyped for a minute before I realize I’m not at home recording it.

It was great. It was the introspective and contemplating Queensbridge as a microcosm for the-world-that-I-liked-Nas, (mixed with some observations about the street life and balling hard of course). The next day it gets played at a school jam and me and Mike Price laugh as the crowd reacts. I almost shed a tear—Nas Is Coming.

After years of people championing Ready To Die and Tical, Nas was finally wining over the masses. But it wasn’t such an easy transition. The process that went into this album wasn’t nearly the same.

You put your entire existence into a single body of work. Your close friends have gotten killed or sent upstate with football numbers. You’ve put those traumatic experiences and a slew of others deemed standard for a child dwelling in the rotten apple. All these factors culminate as the most concise (and in my opinion, best) hip-hop album of all time. Acclaim of all sorts abounds — except where it counts. The album doesn’t sell.

Now you’re creating your follow up album. The sophomore jinx pressure is on and you’ve got your peers going platinum to boot. What do you do?

You create It Was Written.

After the single with Lauryn made its rounds the album made its presence felt almost immediately. It was definitely released at the onset of summer and pretty soon every BBQ and house party was bumping it.

From the jump you knew that even though there would be elements of Illamtic sprinkled throughout, this was a wiser Nas. Aside from the slave skit, The Tracksmasters samplingSting “The Message” lets you know there will be no attempts to hide Nas’ attempts to crossover.

From there the listeners get acquainted with Nas Escobar over Trackmasters production on “Street Dreams” and “Watch Dem nikkas.” Both are crystal clear narratives of life in mid-1990s New York — unflinching violence and Nautica vans. He ups the ante however with “I Gave You Power.”

With NYC murder rates and gun violence still very much an issue in 1996 Nas speaking out about the way guns get passed around from hand to hand and hood to hood was extremely timely and poignant.

“Take It In Blood” resonated deeply. It was vintage Nas but also not. Nas had seen too much to maintain the wide-eyed wonderment to his writings on Illmatic. This is a more seasoned Nas. He’s got a little money to play with now. Also the hood has changed. Hoodies and Timbs have been replaced by DKNY sweaters and Hilfiger button ups (Timbs were still there though). Parasucos have replaced Guess jeans. The Pretty thug era is full blown.

This becomes more apparent with “Nas Is Coming” and its a janky Dre beat (yeah I said it). Still he whizzes right through and is on the more familiar sounds of one of the illest posse cuts ever with “Affirmative Action” and the vengeful “The Set Up.”

Then the album takes an unexpected turn. There’s a girl record but not in the “I Need Love” LL style type. He spins sonnets instead for the young black girl lost in the world trying to hold down a job “but your boss is into getting screwed.”

This was a new Nas for us. He had always woven loads of social commentary within his rhymes and “I Gave You Power” was genius but this was the first time Nas rapped so thematically about the plight of the black woman. It was his “Keep Your Head Up.” No wonder ‘Pac was salty with him. It wasn’t the line about getting shot and leaving the hospital the same night it was “Black Girl Lost.”


Looking Back At The Impact Of Nas' 'It Was Written'

 

[mobbinfms]

If I Ruled the World was a Whodini sample?
Trackmasters must have chopped the hell out of that

 

[mr.africa]

That I Gave You Power sample
Unbelievable

is what i'm saying - god damn!!!

 

[mobbinfms]

Yeah illmatic had me thinking nas was top tier but after it was written I knew he was potentially on his way to being king of new york





Primo must've chopped the hell outta sample cuz I'm just not hearing it

You can only hear it the last couple seconds before he switches over to I Gave You Power.

 

[mobbinfms]

Lets talk about Prodigy being top 5 in 1996 though

Yo NYC, U-N-I-verse, se-riously
Havoc and P, Queens nikkas so it seem to be
Monopolize, strategies of war, exercise, mega
Got word back from Noreaga
The D.A. got video cassette taper
The god with the God-U-Now, pullin a caper
Runnin up in the spot, mask and duct taped up
Pig tied they motherfukkin wrists to they ankles
I been through, crime shyt my nikkas into
Peep the issue situation like this, we stickin him too
JFK on our way to L.A
Got links with big cats down to Santa Barbre
My crew do it the Mobb way, everyday
Crime pay, who wanted gunplay? Drill me
nikkas kill me, grillin me, you wanna look?
Peep the nine milli, now undress, you know the drill-y
nikkas suspect, weak links pose threats, I have yet
To met challenger who go against my set
Gem stars razor sharp like Gilette, shavin closely on
Any character approach me
I let the streets get the best of me, infamy, my destiny
While cat burg-lars tryin to sneak peep the recipe
Inside my rap cookbook, paragraphs is gourmet
You pay about $5,000 a plate

Song/verse wasn't even intended for Nas but Philathropist P blessed him anyway

shyt was a mixtape throwaway from the gawd :pdahell:

 

[Apollo Creed]

"My Movado says seven, the God hour, that's if you follow
traditions started by the school not far from the Apollo"

 

[mr.africa]

suspect sample