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

[Awesome Wells]

Except this wasn't the case. "Favor For A Favor" featuring Scarface was mentioned in the review. Timbaland is listed as a producer. Certainly, "You Won't See Me Tonight" wasn't on the bootlegs.

"Favor for a Favor" and the Aaliyah joint were part of the OG double album, but they didn't leak.

Most of the songs that leaked ended up on Nastradamus and The Lost Tapes. The double got scrapped because of the leak, so Nas went back in and did new sh*t and the rest of the joints that had already hit the street got put on ice.

 

[Controversy]

"Favor for a Favor" and the Aaliyah joint were part of the OG double album, but they didn't leak.

Most of the songs that leaked ended up on Nastradamus and The Lost Tapes. The double got scrapped because of the leak, so Nas went back in and did new sh*t and the rest of the joints that had already hit the street got put on ice.

I don't think Favor for a Favor nor You Won't See Me Tonight were only OG I Am

I think Hate Me Now, You Won't See Me Tonight, Favor for a Favor, Nas Is Like, NYSOM 2, Life Is What You Make It, and Big Things were all newer tracks after the leaks

 

[JustCKing]

I don't think Favor for a Favor nor You Won't See Me Tonight were only OG I Am

I think Hate Me Now, You Won't See Me Tonight, Favor for a Favor, Nas Is Like, NYSOM 2, Life Is What You Make It, and Big Things were all never tracks after the leaks

All of those songs definitely were album cuts. They just never leaked. Songs with huge features rarely leak especially in the case of Nas.

 

[Controversy]

All of those songs definitely were album cuts. They just never leaked. Songs with huge features rarely leak especially in the case of Nas.

None of those songs fit the mood of all the unreleased tracks

Thematically, you can see why Nas made songs that would fit his beginning, ending & rebirth. Fetus, Poppa Was A Playa, Project Windows, Undying Love, Drunk By Myself, Amongst Kings, My Own Worst Enemy, etc..

 

[JustCKing]

None of those songs fit the mood of all the unreleased tracks

Thematically, you can see why Nas made songs that would fit his beginning, ending & rebirth. Fetus, Poppa Was A Playa, Project Windows, Undying Love, Drunk By Myself, Amongst Kings, My Own Worst Enemy, etc..

They don't. It was a double album and there was never a tracklist for the double album. However, we know that a lot of what made the album was intended for the album. There are pre-album interviews where songs like "Hate Me Now" and "You Won't See Me Tonight" are mentioned. These weren't last minute additions.

 

[Controversy]

They don't. It was a double album and there was never a tracklist for the double album. However, we know that a lot of what made the album was intended for the album. There are pre-album interviews where songs like "Hate Me Now" and "You Won't See Me Tonight" are mentioned. These weren't last minute additions.

But how soon before the album release?

We were anticipating the album since fall 98

The records start to leak & Stoute said Nas scrapped the idea for a dbl album, that had to be very late 98 or early 99...the album originally submitted as the advance copy doesn't include all the songs I mentioned...and the album is supposed to drop in March...he reworks the album, now it comes out in April

I think in that final two months, we get the X, Scarface & Aaliyah features on the album

 

[Mike the Executioner]

Y'all nikkas after 9 pages still don't know what the original I Am tracklist was?

Seems like there's a lot of conflicting stories over which tracks were made before the leak and after the leak. I remember finding out last year that "Nas is Like" was made at the last minute.

As far as I know, there was never an original tracklist because the album was bootlegged before it was finished. Nas had the idea for a double album and got rid of it after the leak, then recorded new songs to compensate for it. There's no way to know which songs were 100% going to be on the album, and Nas doesn't remember anything, so we're never going to have the answers.

 

[Awesome Wells]

Seems like there's a lot of conflicting stories over which tracks were made before the leak and after the leak. I remember finding out last year that "Nas is Like" was made at the last minute.

As far as I know, there was never an original tracklist because the album was bootlegged before it was finished. Nas had the idea for a double album and got rid of it after the leak, then recorded new songs to compensate for it. There's no way to know which songs were 100% going to be on the album, and Nas doesn't remember anything, so we're never going to have the answers.

Big facts.

The advance was only like 1/2 the album. It was basically all the joints that Nas felt good about at the time, that had been recorded. But he was still in the lab. Once those leaked, Sony made him go back in again to make new sh*t. Advances leaked from time to time back then, but this was the first time it was done on mp3. So people started making their own versions of the album and selling them. We never saw anything like that before, at the time. The Ready to Die advance was out there too before it dropped, but Puff made sure it was only on cassette. So that didn't spread around the city as quickly.

By the time I Am dropped, Nas had done like 50-60 songs for it. The label had spent millions, so the move was to release whatever they didn't lose too much bread on. So they went with the joints that most people didn't hear yet and had Nas rush to record pretty much a whole new album of songs. That's why the album sounded all over the place.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

Big facts.

The advance was only like 1/2 the album. It was basically all the joints that Nas felt good about at the time, that had been recorded. But he was still in the lab. Once those leaked, Sony made him go back in again to make new sh*t. Advances leaked from time to time back then, but this was the first time it was done on mp3. So people started making their own versions of the album and selling them. We never saw anything like that before, at the time. The Ready to Die advance was out there too before it dropped, but Puff made sure it was only on cassette. So that didn't spread around the city as quickly.

By the time I Am dropped, Nas had done like 50-60 songs for it. The label had spent millions, so the move was to release whatever they didn't lose too much bread on. So they went with the joints that most people didn't hear yet and had Nas rush to record pretty much a whole new album of songs. That's why the album sounded all over the place.

Do you remember all the songs that were on the advance?

And it sucks how devastating leaks were back then. The industry didn't know how to handle it and the technology was relatively new, so people were able to get away with it a lot easier. The same year I Am... leaked, Murda Muzik and Vol. 3 leaked, but I don't know how much they were affected by it..........other than Jay's man stabbing Un and making him take the blame.

When The Eminem Show leaked (I don't know if you know anything about that), Eminem was furious. He called someone at Interscope and was screaming at them over what they were going to do. The album leaked a couple weeks before it came out and they just pushed up the release date, but it could have ended up being like Encore if Eminem decided to record more songs.

Eventually, artists started pushing their release dates forward to avoid leaking, but I don't know if that solved the problem.

 

[Izanami]

Dope discussion on I Am… and what could’ve be

NAS - I AM Anniversary - ((Stoop Stories))

 

[The Dust King]

"Favor for a Favor" and the Aaliyah joint were part of the OG double album, but they didn't leak.

100 % incorrect breh

none of this is accurate