Let's actually have a hip-hop conversation for once... Does anybody else have "IWW > Illmatic"?

[JahBuhLun]

Wow that's crazy. Salute

Here's a link to paper if you're interested in reading it.

 

[RichYung]

Here's a link to paper if you're interested in reading it.

Good looks. I'm dead ass gonna read this.

 

[Medio]

it's close but I think IWW is slightly better.
Nas just seemed more developed and polished on that

 

[Medio]

Here's a link to paper if you're interested in reading it.

Queensbridge is in Queens, not Long Island

 

[YourMajesty]

Yeah I like IWW better than Illmatic as well

@RichYung you bugging for skipping Watch Dem nikkas, Nas floated on that but you right about Black Girl Lost. That shyt apply to so many chicks in 2015 lol.

Only songs I skip are If I Ruled The World (not wack but I always skip the big singles on an album due to hearing them so much) and Nas Is Coming (it's tough just getting past Dre's intro )

 

[LandryFieldsDad]

Illmatic gets played front to back
Iww I skip 30-35% of the album...

 

[T.he I.nformant]

...and the weakest track on it ("One Time 4 Your Mind") would be a huge club banger for someone with lesser talent...

No shade but what clubs you frequenting?

 

[L. Deezy]

IWW is more well rounded..

Illmatic was straight to the point.. just has classic after classic songs.

I like IWW better.. but thats not saying much. Its the best freshman and sophmore albums by a rap artist

 

[L. Deezy]

Illmatic is just perfection to me. That's the definition of a rap album that people are still trying to figure out. Nas doesn't slip up once on that record, and the weakest track on it ("One Time 4 Your Mind") would be a huge club banger for someone with lesser talent.

It Was Written is still a good/great album with me, but it just reeks of Nas trying to overdo the crossover thing. It felt inorganic like he had to do these tracks for the sole purpose of being recognized. I remember reading somewhere that Illmatic was really only appreciated here in New York City, and it took a while for everyone else to catch on because it was so underground and unpolished. Also, it said that had Nas continued on that Illmatic-type path (his second album was originally going to have Marley Marl of all people doing production), he would be in the same boat as someone like Immortal Technique. The under-performance of Illmatic and Biggie's meteoric rise to fame got to Nas and that's why he started overcompensating for it. Plus, some songs either start running together ("Suspect," "Nas is Coming") and are bland, or are just awful ("Black Girl Lost," one of the very few Nas songs I cannot listen to). Then again, Nas is still rhyming for his life and doesn't compromise any of his talent. The Trackmasters did great production work, and at least three songs are indisputable classics ("The Message," "I Gave You Power," "Take It in Blood"). Still, Illmatic takes it for me. A great comparison would be It Was Written to Reasonable Doubt or even some of Nas' later work (I Am..., Stillmatic).

Man stfu.. its nothing crossover about IWW

fukkouttahere

 

[Piff Perkins]

My general view is that Illmatic is a perfect album, therefore the only albums it can be compared to or measured against have to also be perfect. I'll compare Illmatic to Liquid Swords or Midnight Marauders or It Takes A Nation. IWW isn't a perfect album so that makes it simple for me.

IWW is really good but also has some glaring flaws to me. The production attempts to be more modern and mainstream but a few tracks just feel generic to me. Nas also rapped over one of the least interesting Dre tracks of the 90s. That shyt was a huge disappoint to me. It's not a horrible or even bad track but it's just...whatever. Then Black Girl Lost...sigh.

Next I always thought the sequencing was weird. It feels lazily thrown together which leads to some tracks feeling repetitive. I always felt like Suspect should have been the next track after I Gave You Power for instance. The skit at the beginning really works perfect as the next track. Overall the album just starts getting exhausting in terms of the mafioso shyt, in a way that Cuban Linx doesn't. CL just feels like track after track of classic shyt to me, whereas IWW tracks like Shootouts is kinda meh to me. Live nikka Rap is cool but nothing amazing either.

 

[Flav]

to me it was written was better imo

 

[RichYung]

A few ... Well a lot of y'all are dead on .... Like I really think I like IWW better because is slicker... Nas, was floating on that joint

 

[Asicz]

I never got the Crossover argument for IWW. For the vast majority of listeners IWW is the starting point. IWW almost IS his debut for everyone except older New Yorkers, journalist and certain active rappers. I bet the majority of people in this thread and in real life witnessed IWW Before Illmatic .
IWWE doesn't sound that commercial it just sounded current and next level. And today sounds up to date even in the Trap beat era that I personally hope we will come out of.

 

[Mac Casper]

It Was Written represents an advancement sonically and an elevation in content and diversification in songwriting.

Illmatic represents the last record made in the style of the golden age hip-hop era. It represents THAT done to perfection and it's put together in a cohesive way

This is the most definitive answer in this thread

 

[PIFF101]

illmatic was 10 tracks deep of raw street PIFF at its time which will never be surpassed. It Was Written was a broaden and more experienced Nas with street but commercial appeal.