Official Nas Thread

Slim Charles

Slim Charles

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Honestly the sequencing is part of the reason it got this commercial label with The Message and Street Dreams (plus the first single). Both still street and classic Nas in their lyrics but the former beat mellow and the second is glossy and got a pop sample.

It set a tone I feel for lot of backpack rappers when first listening. Both are classic songs to me but if he started with some of the more Illmatic esq tracks at the start perception would be a bit different.

most of the less ‘commercial’ songs are near the end of the album in terms of production.

I wasn’t around listening in 1996 but as someone who heard Stillmatic first then Illmatic then It Was Written. When I first bumped IWW the production hits you as clearly different with the first two tracks. I loved them but can see why people thought a certain way
 
Alexander Wiggin

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H.S. said:
Nas Is Coming is dope as fukk and has some of the illest verses on the album.
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This song is a classic example of average beat fire lyrics. Nas really spazzed out on nas is coming in terms of lyrics and flow. But because of the annoying intro, the mediocre chorus and the average beat, the song is overlook. And the song got a bad rep because of vlad. But anyone who actually care about the song as a all can't deny nas murdered that shyt
 
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H.S.

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Alexander Wiggin said:
This song is a classic example of average beat fire lyrics. Nas really spazzed out on nas is coming in terms of lyrics and flow. But because of the annoying intro, the mediocre chorus and the average beat, the song is overlook. And the song got a bad rep because of vlad. But anyone who actually care about the song as a all can't deny nas murdered that shyt
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The intro is classic and I love the beat too :yeshrug:
 
Mastamimd

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Alexander Wiggin said:
This song is a classic example of average beat fire lyrics. Nas really spazzed out on nas is coming in terms of lyrics and flow. But because of the annoying intro, the mediocre chorus and the average beat, the song is overlook. And the song got a bad rep because of vlad. But anyone who actually care about the song as a all can't deny nas murdered that shyt
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This song grew on me a lot over the years

And fukk Vlad
 
Ziggiy

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Figaro said:
To this day i still don't understand what makes IWW a commercial album :yeshrug:

Commercial singles, yes...Commercial album, hell no...

Also i still haven't heard the new version of Life is like a dice game yet, i have Apple music not Spotify :mjcry:
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ANYTHING with the Trackmasters was considered Commercial back then. Remember IWW dropped RIGHT BEFORE the shiny suit era where Puffy and Bad Boy drew a clear and distinct line between mainstream and underground. Anything with that “shiny” type of cinematic sound was considered commercial.


Illmatic literally had zero “polish” to it so the backpackers who expected Nas to adhere to that sound and that sound ONLY labeled it commercial without even realizing that the ambition that went into the production VASTLY helped Nas grow and expand as a writer. It Was Written is one of the best WRITTEN (no pun intended) albums of the entire 90’s. Nas’s pen matched those beats perfectly.


It’d be like if Spike Lee were able to follow up She’s Gotta Have It with Inside Man. Inside Man is slickly produced, with better actors and cinematography than She’s Gotta Have It. But if Inside Man were released as a direct follow up it might throw some people off because the leap into a different genre, with bigger actors and set pieces might rub people who were looking for a more “independent arthouse” feel the wrong way
 
Alexander Wiggin

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Ziggiy said:
ANYTHING with the Trackmasters was considered Commercial back then. Remember IWW dropped RIGHT BEFORE the shiny suit era where Puffy and Bad Boy drew a clear and distinct line between mainstream and underground. Anything with that “shiny” type of cinematic sound was considered commercial.


Illmatic literally had zero “polish” to it so the backpackers who expected Nas to adhere to that sound and that sound ONLY labeled it commercial without even realizing that the ambition that went into the production VASTLY helped Nas grow and expand as a writer. It Was Written is one of the best WRITTEN (no pun intended) albums of the entire 90’s. Nas’s pen matched those beats perfectly.


It’d be like if Spike Lee were able to follow up She’s Gotta Have It with Inside Man. Inside Man is slickly produced, with better actors and cinematography than She’s Gotta Have It. But if Inside Man were released as a direct follow up it might throw some people off because the leap into a different genre, with bigger actors and set pieces might rub people who were looking for a more “independent arthouse” feel the wrong way
Click to expand...

In a French show they made a comparaison between illmatic and it was written saying it was like scarface and carlito's way. The first more mythical but the latter is better in terms of acting story production ect
 
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