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

[Digital Omen]

I heard the bootleg first so I was expecting some 10 mic shyt, because of shyt like:



Name a rapper he ain't influenced:





Look at your woman, anal ripped out:



GOAT shyt, sequel to Undying Love:





Then when I Am came out it was aight compared to the bootleg. Still dope, but it wasn't the original vision.

 

[Notorious 1 E.Y.E.]

You sure youre not mixing it up with nastrudamus?

 

[FunkDoc1112]

I Am falls off a cliff after the first half.

To me it's comparable to In My Lifetime. A lot of classic tracks bogged down by some of Nas' absolute worst material.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

Looking at the track list, I like more songs than I don't. But the sequencing is definitely a problem in the second half. I don't know what the double album would have looked like since some average or even bad songs would have made it (impossible for a double album to avoid that), but if you take the Lost Tapes stuff, some Nastradamus stuff, and other leaked songs from that era, you could have had a certified classic on par with Life After Death and All Eyez on Me. It could have been Nas' best album. It could have completed the greatest three-album run in hip hop history. But we'll never know since Nas was robbed of that opportunity.

 

[Icewatermetallik]

Man that Nature verse on Sometimes i Wonder is flames...... " living sin, holdin rocks Benjamin Grimm, figured once I got knocked it would end, never that....."
Too bad dude only came out with that 1 album For All Seasons in 2000 then disappeared.....

 

[Icewatermetallik]

If the bootleg version of I Am dropped it would have been one of his best albums.......take off some of the trash songs on there and add Sometimes I Wonder, Blaze a 50, Fetus, Poppa was a Player, and Drunk by Myself and I Am woulda been a certified classic.

 

[ADP]

Have been going through the thread and want to give my 2 cents as the information is spread and there seems to be some confusion about "bootlegs"

The initial plan was to record a concept album loosely as an autobiography from birth, life, death and resurrection as possibly a prophet of sorts (Nastradamus). The tracks were leaked from the studio sessions for this, there was NEVER a version completed and put together, so a bootleg version of this can not exist. Once this happened it was decided for the recorded material to be split between two separate albums while at the same time recording new songs since the initial idea was forfeited. Some of the tracks are easy to guess were part of the initial concept while others it's more difficult...

The version reviewed in the magazine is very likely the same one that was bootleged by the infamous RNS group, it is not the exact same that made it to retail, however the name of the tracks coincide between review and pirated (CIA and Ghetto Prisoners Rise stand out) as per below:

nas-01-intro-rns.mp3
nas-02-ny_state_of_mind_(pt_2)-rns.mp3
nas-03-hate_me_now_(feat_puff_daddy)-rns.mp3
nas-04-favor_for_a_favor_(feat_scarface)-rns.mp3
nas-05-we_will_survive-rns.mp3
nas-06-ghetto_prisoners_rise-rns.mp3
nas-07-you_wont_see_me_(feat_aaliyah)-rns.mp3
nas-08-cia-rns.mp3
nas-09-nature_shines_interlude-rns.mp3 nas-10-dr._knockboots-rns.mp3
nas-11-life_is_what_you_make_it_(feat_dmx)-rns.mp3
nas-12-big_thangs-rns.mp3
nas-13-nas_is_like-rns.mp3
nas-14-k_i_s_s_i_n_g-rns.mp3
nas-15-money_is_my_bytch-rns.mp3
nas-16-undying_love-rns.mp3
nas-17-afterlife_interlude-rns.mp3
nas-18-among_kings-rns.mp3

Only full track that was removed is Among kings, Small World was added while some naming also suffered alterations for the retail. This was likely a press copy that got into the hands of rabid neurosis.

One can speculate how great the double album could have been but the truth is some fan favorites may not exist as well, depending on what was created after the concept was scrapped.

I Am + Nastradamus + Lost Tapes+ session tracks would equal an incredible album if curated properly.

Only one thing I'm really sure of, NaS the GOAT y'all

 

[Cladyclad]

puffy feature was the only feature that worked

x
baby girl
face
tracks were missing something

 

[Budda]

I want to talk to you is a great track

 

[JustCKing]

Salute to @LevelUp

 

[JustCKing]

puffy feature was the only feature that worked

x
baby girl
face
tracks were missing something

Co-sign on DMX.

"You Won't See Me Tonight" and "Favor For A Favor" worked for what they were.

 

[Elim Garak]

It was just decent for the time for the time expectations for albums were very high then.

 

[Elim Garak]

puffy feature was the only feature that worked

x
baby girl
face
tracks were missing something

I actually liked these songs.

 

[Controversy]

As someone who absorbed the album in real time, the album was well-received by the masses when it dropped...it wasn't considered mediocre...it did #s, hot singles, kept Nas in the forefront of hip hop

But all early 99, MTV kept talking about the leaks...and in hindsight, I Am...The Autobiography would've been a CRAZY 3rd album

It literally would've been his ending and his new beginning

The album changed the trajectory for Nas bc he rushed an uninspired Nastradamus, took time off, and the industry thought he fell off

IMO I Am is a borderline top 10 Nas project