Nas "I Am" got 4.5 Mic when it came out. WHY DOES THE COLI&the internet HATE IT?!

[JustCKing]

Favorite rapper but its not a 4.5. I'd give it a 4.

I think this album is lowkey more polarizing than It Was Written.

I think the Source realized they short changed It Was Written and gave this album a little extra credit.

With the 4.5 mic rating, I think a lot went into that:

1) Hype- first Nas album in nearly three years

2) The good songs on the album being incredible. I mean, "NY State of Mind Pt. 2", "Hate Me Now", "Small World" is a crazy run of just ridiculously good, even classic songs. Even crazier depending on how you feel about "We Will Survive", "Ghetto Prisoners" and "You Won't See Me Tonight". Then there's "Nas Is Like" and "Undying Love".

I could see them giving the album 4.5 mics on the strength of the good to classic songs and viewing the weaker songs as not really bringing the album down that much. It's in the 3.5 range for me. Nowhere near a bad album, but a good album with classic songs on it.

 

[BulletProof]

With the 4.5 mic rating, I think a lot went into that:

1) Hype- first Nas album in nearly three years

2) The good songs on the album being incredible. I mean, "NY State of Mind Pt. 2", "Hate Me Now", "Small World" is a crazy run of just ridiculously good, even classic songs. Even crazier depending on how you feel about "We Will Survive", "Ghetto Prisoners" and "You Won't See Me Tonight". Then there's "Nas Is Like" and "Undying Love".

I could see them giving the album 4.5 mics on the strength of the good to classic songs and viewing the weaker songs as not really bringing the album down that much. It's in the 3.5 range for me. Nowhere near a bad album, but a good album with classic songs on it.

Agree with everyting but the 3.5 rating.

Can we invent an "almost dap" option?

 

[Heavy_Handz]

I Am… was FIRE. I think a lot of heads who heard the bootlegged version just had their sights set on something totally different than what we got with the retail version. Personally, I think that the album is great as is. Some of the bootlegged tracks just didn’t fit the album. Expectations be fukking some of y’all up

Definitely a 4.5 MIC worthy album

With that said, Nastradamus was GAHBAGE.

 

[JustCKing]

Agree with everyting but the 3.5 rating.

Can we invent an "almost dap" option?

The songs below bring it down for me:

Dr. Knockboot- it's funny, but overall adds nothing to the album and is low tier Nas song

Big Things- this one is just sloppy from the flow to the production

Kissing- the "When A Woman's Fed Up" sample works, but the hook brings this down a bit.

Life Is What You Make It- lackluster for a Nas/DMX collabo especially when the Nas/Scarface collabo delivered earlier in the album.

I Want To Talk To You- Lyrically, this is nice, but again the hook and the production bring this down a bit.

Money- this one's just aiight and is another example of the hook bringing it down. This was a bit repetitive for me.

 

[Mastamimd]

Still dope to me, I played the hell out of it when I got it

If Nastradamus never happened he'd have a fire Illmatic to God's Son run

 

[BulletProof]

The songs below bring it down for me:

Dr. Knockboot- it's funny, but overall adds nothing to the album and is low tier Nas song

Big Things- this one is just sloppy from the flow to the production

Kissing- the "When A Woman's Fed Up" sample works, but the hook brings this down a bit.

Life Is What You Make It- lackluster for a Nas/DMX collabo especially when the Nas/Scarface collabo delivered earlier in the album.

I Want To Talk To You- Lyrically, this is nice, but again the hook and the production bring this down a bit.

Money- this one's just aiight and is another example of the hook bringing it down. This was a bit repetitive for me.

Your rating isnt unreasonable.

I agree with your take on Kissing. I also think Dr. Knockboot is out of place.

Big Things, Money, and I Want to Talk to You arent the strongest cuts on the album but not enough to bring it down underneath a 4.

Life is What You Make It is great in my book. At the worst, it may suffer from unrealistic expectations like Nas/Jay collabs.

Dap for backing up your position on it.

 

[yesiambowling]

Album has it's moments, but as a whole? Nah.

I feel like this album along with Vol. 2 are the most overrated for nostalgia

 

[Mike Wins]

Always hit the when I don't see Favor For A Favor listed as a top track on I Am

One of the hardest () tracks I ever heard

Scarface's verses had me like

But do agree that 8 tracks in it feel like it’s headed classic status but second half is very uneven. If they just followed You Won't See Me Tonight with K-I-SS-I-N-G (I know the purists hate it but that shyt was getting radio play without being a single or getting a label push), Life Is What You Make It, Nas Is Like and Undying Love the retroactive rep would be better

But this was for sure considered a hot album in real time. And in context of 1999 major label East Coast albums it was strong even if it suffered from some of the tropes of the time. Hate the revisionist shyt that started getting pushed years later

 

[Pop123]

3.5, imo. The album that Nas intended to release is like a 4.5 tho..

The Source isn't the end all be all, btw, lol.

 

[Funcrusher]

I prefer my I Am/Nastradamus/Lost tapes playlist. And from the first two I got three songs each.
Did the same for Stillmatic and Gods son, such a better listen than having to skip through a Smoking or Zone out.

 

[ShaDynasty]

Beats stunk the album up for the most part. And some of the song concepts not executed as well as possible.

Theres some great songs in there but overall its not a great listen.

Do people really like Hate Me Now?

 

[O.Red]

The Coli is infested wit Algorithm Bots and 16 year old cacs and indians. What u expect?

That makes no sense

Everything you named wouldn't even be aware enough of I Am to retroactively hate it. This is a topic that relies on Nas fans and the products of the era

 

[Techniec]

NY dikk riding

 

[getmoney310cpt]

Kissing didn’t age well but I remember in real time my older cousins thought the song was fire and hook was funny cause it was different..

 

[Jefferson Jackson]

nikkas are trippin' , personal classic......

that album gave us these classics.....

1.


2.



personal favorite joints:
RIP X