Nas "I Am..." Is underrated

[ISO]

I have it as his fourth best album behind Illmatic , It Was Written, Lost Tapes. Nobody talks about this album although it should be considered a borderline classic. This is essentially a perfect mix between the grittiness of Illmatic and the glamour of It Was Written. The album also has features from Scarface one of the Southern G.O.A.T's, DMX who was arguably the hottest rapper in the late 90s, Puffy and Aaliyah (RIP) the princess of R&B.

This intro takes us all back to '94 when Illmatic first dropped beautiful sampling from Premo. Then you got Jungle talking wild sh*t kinda like Prodigy did in The Infamous Prelude.

This isn't as good as the original, but this sh*t still goes hard. Nas goes in and the beat is fire.

One of Nas most well known songs, the story of his comeup.

When Nas and Scarface come together you know you in trouble.

A killer code, secret untold, how we bury beef with a rose
To his wake we send a wreath that explodes
Beneath us sleep with the Reaper, they sleep eyes closed
That's how real Brad Jordan keep it, to him I owe
Five fo-fo's ready, five masks, five machetes
Attack em like Freddie, then we toastin over spaghetti
[ame=[MEDIA=youtube]yVd2cBYEeXg[/MEDIA] - You Won't See Me Tonight [f. Aaliyah] - YouTube[/ame]
After mostly rapping about mafioso subjects and his upbringing in Queensbridge, Nas shows how versatile he can be alongside Aaliyah with this love track.

Nas teams up with DMX to make this great track. In the first verse he makes great analogies.
You a killer or a hustler, dealer or customer
Gangsta or buster, youngster or old nikka
A weed head, a coke sniffer
You rich or a broke nikka
Know you all relate to this shyt that i wrote nikkas

[ame="[MEDIA=youtube]Kxxvc4Tk_ug[/MEDIA]"]NAS- We Will Survive - YouTube[/ame]
We Will Survive. This is on some "One Love" sh*t as Nas pays tribute to Big and Pac and disses some of his peers.
Whattup Big? You know shyt is rough after you slid
You in God's hands now, keep a place for me kid
Ain't nuttin changed still Party and Bullshyt

Dear 'Pac, every thug sheds a tear drop -- and use teeth
to bite off beer tops, and _Pour Out a Lil' Liquor_
You was more than just the wildest nig*a
+2Pacalypse+, I understand your style nig*a


This is arguably Nas best song ever, with juxtapositions, similes and metaphors he paints a vivid picture and shows people what Nas is like.

 

[Tom]

Nas is goat

 

[No_bammer_weed]

im a nas stan, but as a community we gotta stop trying to re-write the I Am/Nastradamous era...them bullsht ass records almost killed his career. He was so confused about the changing era in hip hop, and how to fit in. Hate me now was just embarrassing.

 

[MouseTeeth]

I loved this album....I'm actually in the minority bcuz i think NYSOM2> the original

Also, favor for a favor is

 

[Tom]

im a nas stan, but as a community we gotta stop trying to re-write the I Am/Nastradamous era...them bullsht ass records almost killed his career. He was so confused about the changing era in hip hop, and how to fit in. Hate me now was just embarrassing.

funny u say that when there are 90s babies (and some 80s babies) now who think Illmatic, IWW and all his critically acclaimed sh1t is garbage but will say that Hate Me Now and You Owe Me are his best songs.....



Again, Nas is goat and I fuk with all his sh1t, his weakest stuff is better than most artist's best



I'm just glad I was born during the same century of the great one and don't gotta read about him thousands of years after he's gone




Thank you Nas

 

[Asdfhhklpiyrewss]

Undying Love

 

[Ashtrey]

It was iight

 

[Methodical]

If that album wasn't leaked where he could have double album "I'm...Nastradamus". that would be one of the great double album of all time but too bad he had to change the album just like Mobb Deep's Murda Muzik got leaked and they had to change it.

 

[TrapHouse Rock]

bigtime nas fan here the GOAT


but this album is pretty appropriately regarded, the highlights remind you he's the GOAT and the lowlights are just


i think everyone regards it somewhere in the 3/5, about average type of release

 

[FreedS[ohh]lave]

bootlegs leaking that were then left off the album killed it

 

[Threnody]

I remember an old ass lost interview where Nas admitted after the bootlegging the double album idea was scrapped and Nas said he smoked maddd weed and just knocked "I AM" out experimenting and shyt.

Even tho stillmatic & iww are better albums I like I am more for some reason.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

i personally think it's one of his albums with the most variable replay value - as in, you don't have to be in a particular mood to hear that album or you don't have to be somewhere where you actually need to listen to the lyrics. i probably have more regard for it than the average person, but that shyt was a banger IMO

i think "purists"/the nas fans that don't like him to make commercial music are the biggest reason he hasn't been able to be the behemoth that he could've been...ol nas shouldn't have fun on a song or cover these topics ass nikkas

 

[blazn101]

[ame=http://youtu.be/EGIaXHn0U38]nas small world - YouTube[/ame]

forgot this one, one of my favorites from the album.

 

[Rapmastermind]

"I am" was far from wack. It was just uneven. Sadly the REAL I am was aborted at birth prematurely. We will never get the album that we wanted. There is no real track listing cause it was bootlegged a few times over. All we have are "I am Era" songs. "The Lost Tapes" kinda made up for it. The reason people love "The Lost Tapes" is mostly cause of the "I am" era songs that was left off. What hurts "I am" is he followed it up with "NaStradamus". Sure collectively they both sold about 3.5 Million when the dust cleared but critically "I am" was about a 3.5-4 and "NaStradamus" was a 2.5-3 at best. So it's like "I am" kinda gets dragged into the "NaStradamus" pit. "I am" had plenty of bangers but the bad songs did stand out. I personally liked the album mostly cause I loved the Bootleg. "I am" remains NaS highest selling opening week of his career.

 

[Yagirlcheatinonus]

Its soo underrated its multi platinum