Trust me when I say it wasn't just 1% of the fans that heard it. The bootleg was prevelant in NC so I can only imagine how many people heard it up north.
Nipsey Hussle tweets about Nas' scrapped double album "I Am" & songs from it
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Trust me when I say it wasn't just 1% of the fans that heard it. The bootleg was prevelant in NC so I can only imagine how many people heard it up north.
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
Internet was around back then
Technically, yeah. But I think he just meant that most people weren't downloading full albums at that point.
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
1999: The Year Hip-Hop Sprang a Leak
1999: The Year Hip-Hop Sprang a Leak
In 1999, as the world was prepping for Y2K, another, less heralded innovation in the world of computers was about to change the music business: “Napster launched in 1999, and over the next three years tens of millions of music fans eagerly (and by today’s standards, incredibly slowly) downloaded oft-mistagged, low-bitrate mp3 versions of new music to their hard drives, and shared what they’d ripped themselves with software like the WinAmp player.”
The industry would never be the same.
The illegal copying and sharing of music wasn’t new, of course. Back in 1969, bootlegs from three legendary rock artists were released within a few months of one another. In July came Great White Wonder, a bootleg of Bob Dylan demos and outtakes; September brought The Beatles’ Kum Back, an early mix of Let It Be; and a Rolling Stones concert from November became Live’r Than You’ll Ever Be, one of the first recordings of a live show.
Over the years, as technology improved, bootlegs appeared on cassettes and CDs, some even making their way to independent record shops. 2Pac, who was known to confront vendors that illegally sold his albums, addressed it on the track “Guess Who’s Back” off 1993’s Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.: “Everybody’s got a mic now, it’s like a hobby/But more like a job ’cause bootleggers tryin’ to rob me!”
Before the Internet, the bootlegging of hip-hop albums had been contained to specific locations, most especially inner cities, far from the suburbs where kids frequented malls and paid upwards of $20 for an album. You couldn’t get a DJ Clue tape at The Wall or Sam Goody.
But by 1999, all of that changed: “Before Napster, a leaked album had caused only localized damage. Now it was a catastrophe. Universal rolled out its albums with heavy promotion and expensive marketing blitzes: videos, radio spots, television campaigns, and appearances on late-night TV. The availability of pre-release music on the Internet interfered with this schedule, upsetting months of work by publicity teams and leaving the artists feeling betrayed.”
Technology was exploding and everyone was scrambling just to keep up.
The music industry, petrified that the eggs laid by its golden goose were being swiped from under them (and rightfully so), initially went into damage control. Instead of adapting its approach and trying to get in front of this new world of technology, it doubled down on its existing business practices, hoping that the problem could be contained and, ultimately, overcome.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued Napster. Metallic sued Napster. Dr. Dre sued Napster. For its part, Napster not only fought back, but also sponsored tours featuring Limp Bizkit and Cypress Hill.
But those were the exceptions. Most artists and labels believed that if enough of the album that was for sale were different from the version that leaked, it would force people to still go to the store and buy the updated version, thus negating the impact that Napster and other sites had.
But this approach was misguided for a few reasons. First, it overstated just how many individuals were involved on the various file sharing sites. Most people were still not part of the P2P sharing community, so they would still have bought those albums anyway. Also, a large portion of people that were on Napster still wanted physical copies of albums, with the proper track orders and gapless playback, actual discs to play and booklets with linear notes to look at and read. Finally, it ignored the fact that those people on Napster and other sites were big music fans that were now being exposed to artists with which they may not have previously been familiar:
“Many Napster users say that having access to so much new music encourages them to buy more CD’s.”
That would ultimately change, of course, but the shift from physical to digital was a gradual one that occurred over years, not overnight. And the industry would eventually catch up and incorporate the ‘net as a major part of its strategy, but it would be years before that happened. In 1999, when all of this was new and no one really knew how to react, the decision was made to change three prominent hip-hop albums at the last moment before they were pressed and shipped.
And all three were weaker as a result.
.
.
For Nas, who was once anointed “the next Rakim,” the leaking of his album was an especially devastating blow, one that nearly ruined his career. After the underground greatness of Illmatic and the commercial success of It Was Written, Nas had intended his third album, I Am…The Autobiography, to be an ambitious, sprawling double disc – the first following him from birth to suicide, the second chronicling his return to Earth as a Jesus-like prophet.
This version of the album received rave reviews, including four-and-a-half mics from The Source, but about half of the album leaked online and Nas or Columbia Records (or both) decided to scrap the double album idea, remove numerous songs, record a few new ones, including the Puff Daddy-featured “Hate Me Now,” and release I Am… as a single disc that understandably sounds schizophrenic and contradictory.
And the second disc? Well, Nas can’t blame the suits at Columbia for Nastradamus:
“When it was time to release the second half of the disc, which was now called Nastradamus, he went against Columbia’s wishes to release the previously leaked material which was supposed to have been on the second disc to I Am…The Autobiography. For whatever reason, Nas decided to scrap those songs entirely and re-record a whole new album in less than seven months. This was a big mistake as it was critically panned and is widely considered as his worst album.”
Many of the remaining unreleased songs would wind up on the heralded compilation The Lost Tapes and over the past decade-and-a-half fans have cobbled together their own versions of the original double album (I’m actually listening to mine as I type this) while at the same time wondering what could have been.
1999: The Year Hip-Hop Sprang a Leak
nikka you know what I meanInternet was around back then
Prevalent in certain circles, sure but the market was huge in 1999. Nas was a platinum artist at the time. You think he was gonna lose hundreds of thousands of sales? Cuz thats the only way it makes sense. If a significant number of people skip out on buying it cuz they already have it.
Is it better to put out a weaker album of new material? I don't think so...
Piff Perkins
Veteran
If that album came out as intended Hov would have had to attack Nas differently or not at all. Nastradamus gave him an opening due to how weak it was.
Figaro
Superstar
The undying love transition to amongst kings is pretty well known
Didn't know fetus transitioned from amongst kings though
Didn't know fetus transitioned from amongst kings though
I can't say for sure.
I don't think I've ever heard Nas or anyone from his team discuss this in depth.
prophecypro
Hollywood North
Oh but this album and Murda Muzik's tracks were bootlegged like HELL winter 98/99 though. Like tons of tracks were leaking on mixtapes and pirate radio I remember. Both albums were greatly affected and pushed back from that. Even in those days pre-internet leaked albums was an issue especially for New York artists.
prophecypro
Hollywood North
I think it still would have been a polarizing album because of the backpack audience that would have wanted more Premier than one cut on a double disc and no Pete Rock. Obviously not panned as Nastradamus but debated more as how the second I am album or IWW when first released were.
I just think double discs in general are just difficult to maintain quality. People forget this now but Wu-Tang Forever left some people uncertain about the Wu, and even All Eyez on Me while popular had mixed reviews. I think had Biggie lived even that album would have probably been viewed like IWW in 96. Popular with radio and a large audience but I think you'd get more elitist grumblings which felt like a bigger deal back then.
As such I think I am would have been recieved a bit strange. Its not overtly commercial or has that one crossover hit like if I Ruled the World nor does it have a boom bap type golden age track like Ilmatic. It would be a very dark and neurotic album like what Lost Tapes would have been. Sure it would be better than what we got but I also think the feelings about Nas then to that audience in the late 90s would have been the same even if he would have had more success.
Frida Giezman
Banned
Y'all don't remember bootleggers?
Everyone I knew would rather cop a $5 (or 3 for $10) bootleg
If ur album leaked early I'm sure it would put a dent in ur sales
Everyone I knew would rather cop a $5 (or 3 for $10) bootleg
If ur album leaked early I'm sure it would put a dent in ur sales
If that album came out as intended he would have bodied the game something fierce. Just incredible what dude is capable of.The undisputed GOAT
Scary for his competition
NV-ME
Make It Hot-ta
Ya'll imagine a Nas & Nipsey track???
