Joe Budden and Crooked I say "It Was Written" was even better than "Illmatic"

[Hawaiian Punch]

there not lying.

Forreal tho. It was written is just smooth to me. It was refined nas, spitting hard and mastering the lyrics. A lot of artists became artist because of that album.

 

[Walt]

 

[Hawaiian Punch]

No

I feel there is too much revisionism in hip-hop. Illmatic been called the GOAT so long that it becomes cooler to pick something else over it.

No one can deny the greatness of illmatic, but to me the true test is what happens over time. To me everybody was bumping illmatic back in the day, as was I. We also was bumping it was written. Many years later I'm still bumping it was written. Not saying I won't bump illmatic but I'm not running to it. Whatever man, both albums is classic to me

I like IWW because it doesn't sound as dated as Illmatic plus IWW sounds more polished as opposed to just raw talent spitting.

I also feel this was about mobb deep. Love the infamous, but Hell on Earth be having me in another zone.

 

[OG Talk]

Illmatic=Goodfellas


IWW=Casino

 

[Bolzmark]

IWW was a pretty good album but on no day is it fukkin wit Illmatic.

 

[AV Dicey]

Illmatic=Goodfellas


IWW=Casino

AEOM track >> Street dreams

Nas was 'the one' and IWW was him telling us he needed some space n/h, we are still salty over that

 

[yesiambowling]

Illmatic=Goodfellas


IWW=Casino

Perfect analogy.

 

[Art Barr]

I'm not saying he's really bad or anything but just saying that there are a lot of artists all over the place who have paid far less dues and show far less respect for their hip hop integrity than the people hip hop culture-keepers want to dump on

if nas is a fallen-off sellout, what the fukk is nicki minaj? lol

nikki minaj is a biter and ghostwritten talent.

lying to the public is her way of trying to cover all her bases.

in an attempt to not be branded what she really is.

she still has not fooled anyone,..and is a sellout.


art barr

 

[ChieferSutherland]

Both of em are classic to me...not one joint on either of em that I don't fukk with.

 

[Art Barr]

that's what I'm saying, these arcane elite dudes go super hard on Nas and other sincere spitters meanwhile 98% of the airwaves is full of tepid mediocrity. And if the first people you're going to dump on are Nas, Common, Black Thought, Lupe etc instead of the Meek Millz, Big Seans and and associated fukkery that passes for music I have to wonder what your point is. If we go by Art Barr's methodology, the hip hop universe has 50 b-boys and 200 million toys. Fine, but this frame of reference has no rooting in the reality of the nature of rap music as its creators and audience exist.

when has nas been sincere,..other than his wack acting in belly.

also,...i am going to crap on the guys who have shown they are ho ass nikkaz.
who pandered to the culture then sold it out,..asap.

plus tried to diss others and did the same exact sellout move.

hoping nobody would smack their hands they were trying to hide.

they helped create why we have wack rappers .

plus hiphop,...as a culture was removed as a component of the business of rap.

those sellout nikkaz created why wack rappers plague the airwaves.

wack rappers like l'trimm didn't used to sell or get on entertainment news. now weak racist rappers get on because these nikkaz sold out.

especially nas as he was the segueway from trying to keep it pure in 92.

then he sold out cause of his failure to perform.

with his bytch ass talembout i Am broke and biggie was paid, at thr source awards.

well if you went to your shows...instead of no showing you would not be broke.

how az at the show and common gotta host and take your place,...

nikka fukk nas bullshyt deflectuon gamesmanship......

nikka i was at three shows when nas ain't show up my damn self from 94-95 for starters. not to mention nas started off 96 no showing amd my guy in the d,..with the candy paint caddy got you smokimg blunts with him in michigan. with pix for proof,...i grab the pix and i am like man,..this nikka was supposed ti be at depaul. my nikka is like,..yeah nas did say he was supposed to be in the chi.

when nas supposed to be aT depaul.

when nas finally did perform, my guys opened up for him.

outclassed him and rap nowhere near nas level all becaue they were prepared, in 2ooo.

,...nikka, nas had a luke bootyshake contest at a daytime all ages show cause he could not remember the words to his own records.

plus his giys backing him up were awful. how do you perform wacker tham odb amd odb has a great shoe and you are nas? odb is supposed to come out all unprepared and unprofessional.

if you went to an odb show he was clear and did not need his backup guys at all.

i seen odb twice and it was all tight amd professional. why in the fukk is nas got luke records playin with bootyshake contests,...like wtf!!!??!?!

nikka please,...nas been on bullshyt,.....

 

[Wacky D]

p

Nah son..it was nikkas that was over critical then and over critical now...nikkas DID NOT.want NAS to be successful bro...Matta fact...the nikka didn't get the proper accolades for Illmatic he was supposed to get...not only did it get bootlegged heavy...and didn't sell as much...they straight gipped the nikka for lyricist of the year for RTD and Biggie..who not only bit off Nas for the album cover...straight up had a more commercial and cleaner sounding album and singles overall..and shyt got mad praise...nothing short of hypocritical...if u gonna feel a way about one artists...feel that way about EVERYONE..that nitpickin shyt is for the birds...

i can understand why artists like nas are held to higher standards than artists like biggie in terms of "keeping it real" and "not selling out". my thing is, if youre gonna be extra-critical about certain rappers, THEN SUPPORT THEM. niccas expect nas to stay in QB while these other dudes are blowing past him, buying mansions. and then they sat back and watched nas get disrespected. WHY DIDNT THESE HOLY HIP-HOPPERS PROTEST WHEN NAS LOST LYRICIST OF THE YEAR? or do something. its bad enough that they didnt buy the album.

 

[Insensitive]

He's one dimensional. He's like a wack(er) version of Ace Hood. I thought Rozay had fixed his flow because he was outstanding on that MMG Vol. 1. But his mixtapes are boring and retarded.

I know this is offtopic but this is probably the single most inaccurate
description of meek mill I've run into online.
He is in no way "one dimensional" the guy can fill in multiple roles
from telling stories to just making party tracks.
He's rather diverse actually.

 

[Insensitive]

I'm speaking from the perspective of a nikka who had both albums when they dropped..fukk all the bullshyt..I know what the hate was about...nikkas like u and Big Mel are fukkin hypocrites...point blank...u nikkas will tell the nikka who created hop hop he don't know shyt about hip hop if he disagree wit yall..

I can actually picture this.

I actually kinda like that Wayne record....

Chu's a Lame Ass G00F J0E
You not Culturally relevant to the time at hand
BOI !
You don't know the flood gates of Hip Hop was bombarded
on some Katrina Sh1t J0E
You VIOLATIN RIGHT NOA BOI !
Matta Fact you shoulda never hooked up dem Turn Tables !
THROUGH'D the Dining Table !
DON FoRGEt THe cutLeRee !

G00F @ss LAME FAWK BOI!
Triple Hip Hop Head
I gots 2 times the certifications to speak on this Hip Hop sh1t
Yah G00F !

you are the same dumbass listening to kenny gee talembout,..jazz needs to make a resurgence, ol goof lame ass boi.


art barr

More insults.
That's typically what you resort to.
So because I like "It Was Written" and think it was a great album.
I'm a "goof lame ass boi".
Well okay then.

And I'll readily admit I don't have the context you guys have.
Clearly you guys would be better judges on the climate and people opinions
but hey that's all they are OPINIONS.

 

[The War Report]

i can understand the sellout arguement to a certain degree. i mean iww did have more commercially presentable singles with rnb hooks. trackmasters worked on alot of the tracks. the videos for the singles were big budget with nas dressing in suits instead of army fatigues. he did switch it up to a degree.

but you know what, i enjoyed the album. i mean, lyrically nas was spittin like crazy, and even though it was trackmasters, the production was still very dark, even moreso than illmatic and definitely more than any other "commercial" album at the time. it wasn't boom bap but it wasn't light either. also, i dont just listen to boom bap and reject everything else.

as far as content, its not like nas went from being phife dog to becoming eazy-e or mc hammer or something. he was talking about drug deals and shootouts on illmatic too. sure iww was a little more mafioso, but it really didn't seem like that much of a drastic change from what he was talking about on illmatic. it was still very much centered around things going on in the projects, only this time it was from the perspective of a dude who had dough instead of a dude scramblin on the street corner. but it is still a project narrative. the escobar persona was not about flying around the world, eatin breakfast in paris and dinner in japan, it was about a nikka being known in his projects and dealing with the drama that comes with that, which really kinda paralells where nas was at in life after illmatic.

nikkaz blaming nas for the commercialization of hip-hop is fukkin idiots. that shyt would have happened regardless. badboy, deathrow and defjam were already doing the radio friendly rnb joints in a major way. nas isn't the god of hip-hop, he is just one dude who is nice on the mic.

I agree. Dudes acting like IWW wasn't on some grimy shyt. It wasn't boom bap but the beats thumped harder, which is what dudes on the street like their music to do. Nas was never on that Natives Tounge shyt like some people would like to believe. He was very street oriented from the get go. What made Illmatic, Illmatic, was the production. What fukked up Nas was him trying to keep up with Jay Z and Biggie's raw but mainstream style of rap that was very successful. The staying true to the essence of Hip Hop doesn't hold much weight over when you're trying to get the fukk out of the projects and make enough to feed you and yours. I think Nas has done enough to redeem himself from deviating into the mainstream. The same arguments you can for Illmatic/IWW can be applied to Reasonable Doubt and his commercial successors, and Ready To Die/Life After Death.

 

[spliz]

i can understand why artists like nas are held to higher standards than artists like biggie in terms of "keeping it real" and "not selling out". my thing is, if youre gonna be extra-critical about certain rappers, THEN SUPPORT THEM. niccas expect nas to stay in QB while these other dudes are blowing past him, buying mansions. and then they sat back and watched nas get disrespected. WHY DIDNT THESE HOLY HIP-HOPPERS PROTEST WHEN NAS LOST LYRICIST OF THE YEAR? or do something. its bad enough that they didnt buy the album.

But this.is.the shyt I was sayin...the nikka got.bootlegged to.death and nobody supported..then the nikka gets snubbed for a.nikka who not only bit him a Lil bit but also had a cleaner more crossover sounding album...its actually one of the main reasons he switched it up for IWW...