Official Nas Thread

[Piff Perkins]

#1 for a month straight

Ahead of some massive albums that were pushing units weekly. Load was huge, Jagged Little Pill was huge, The Score was enormous etc.

Also interesting that nearly every artist in that top 24 are viewed as legends today Crucial Conflict is the only group/artist on the list who didn't sell out arenas or/and sell millions of records. IWW wasn't outselling a bunch of scrub albums or one hit wonders, those were legit projects from legit artists.

 

[Surreal]

#1 for a month straight

First East Coast Rap Album to debut #1 in history

 

[spliz]

First East Coast Rap Album to debut #1 in history

Not spoken about enough.

 

[DeuceZ]

And best friends become strangers....

 

[Alexander Wiggin]

First East Coast Rap Album to debut #1 in history

From a solo mc, because Beastie Boys and Fugees were first. But yeah for a solo artist, all the others who done it before were all west coast, snoop, pac, ice cube ect, even biggie was already dead before seeing number 1

iww was also an important mark in the separation for better or worse between the mainstream and the undergroud with the release the same day of de la soul's stake is high. Two visions of hip hop collided that day and the same year cats like jeru, the roots the wu or bcc started to clash with bad boy. Ironically nas and De La freestyled together on Tim Westwood and were super cool

 

[HNIC973]

Yo, release what's in me
Besides the Henny, it's eyes that's seen plenty
Fiends get skinny as if Queens was a Craig Jenny
Instead of diet plans, it's crack, 200 grams
I pump a G-pack, peepin' for where the D's at
It's slow, lookin' for Rambo
The cop who got grazed back in the days
Chasin' nikkas through my project maze
That cop — he got a death wish
He run behind nikkas until you breathless
Everyday, he makin' ten arrests, shyt!
My nikka, check this, I know the bytch he rest with
I even blessed it, forty-dash-ten, inspect it
(Already checked it, dunn, near his ankle you could see his gun)
Peep, he parked his Jeep in the back of the slum
To check Tanisha, fat ass, real fly with the blonde caesar
Vittadini summer gear, she push the two-seater
I heard she brag about the way he eat her
A Irish man, short, slim with a tan, they say he laced her cheeba
She due, be lookin' weaker, now her teeth are foul
Speakin' loud, peep her style, in and out of every reefer cloud
Fat ass dissolvin', like cotton candy in a mouth that's starvin'
Rock the same gear daily, like a soldier in my squadron
I heard she let Jake investigate from her window
'Cause she's a nympho, suckin' dikk and coughin' up info
So now it's set up, her and the beast to get wet up
I know he's vest up, we blazin' from the neck up
(Yo, let me knock first) Soon as he open, let your Glock burst
They had the chains on, son, hit the lock first
We busted in, the cop jerked, Jungle popped one in his shirt
I grabbed the bytch by her t*ts, she tried to say she Earth
We saw the cameras, tape recorders and the monitors
They eyein' us, (Nas, yo, he survived one from the fo'-five)
Pull his shades down, they seen his last days now
There's no way now, we can be treated just like a slave now
Two in the dome, he's laid down
A-yo, the bytch is saved now
She's livin' in a snitch grave now

 

[Piff Perkins]

Not spoken about enough.

That seems deliberate to me, to be honest. You'd think the album doesn't exist the way a lot of people - including Nas at one point - treated it in subsequent years. In a hip hop media ecosystem where certain "real hip hop" figures praise Vol 1 and cosign Diddy hits, those same people will tell you If I Ruled The World was/is wack. It's the weirdest shyt ever and has to be personal. Speaking of personal, it also may be why you can't find any Hot 97 interviews from those four weeks. Yet you can find plenty of Biggie interviews from the same time periods, everyone has stories about his runs, etc.

 

[spliz]

That seems deliberate to me, to be honest. You'd think the album doesn't exist the way a lot of people - including Nas at one point - treated it in subsequent years. In a hip hop media ecosystem where certain "real hip hop" figures praise Vol 1 and cosign Diddy hits, those same people will tell you If I Ruled The World was/is wack. It's the weirdest shyt ever and has to be personal. Speaking of personal, it also may be why you can't find any Hot 97 interviews from those four weeks. Yet you can find plenty of Biggie interviews from the same time periods, everyone has stories about his runs, etc.

Wow this is an interesting take.

 

[HNIC973]

Ever heard a song with 3 perfect verses not 1 bar wasted? there's your answer

 

[Sound (∀√a) Maths]

I seen some cold nights and bloody days
They grab me, bullets spray
They use me wrong, so I sing this song to this day
My body is cold steel, for real
I was made to kill, that's why they keep me concealed
Under car seats, they sneak me in clubs
Been in the hands of mad thugs
They feed me when they load me with mad slugs
17 precisely, one in my head
They call me Desert Eagle, semi-auto with lead
I'm seven inches, four pounds, been through so many towns
Ohio to Little Rock to Canarsie, living harshly
Beat up and battered
They pull me out, I watch as nikkas scattered
Making me kill, but what I feel, it never mattered
When I'm empty, I'm quiet, finding myself fiending to be fired
A broken safety, nikkas place me in shelves, under beds
So I beg for my next owner to be a thoroughbred
Keeping me full up with hollow heads

How you like me now? I go blaow
It's that shyt that moves crowds, making every ghetto foul
I might have took your first child
Scarred your life, crippled your style
I gave you power, I made you buck-wild
How you like me now? I go blaow
It's that shyt that moves crowds, making every ghetto foul
I might have took your first child
Scarred your life, crippled your style
I gave you power, I made you buck-wild (flawless hook)
Always I'm in some shyt
My abdomen is the clip, the barrel's my dikk
Uncircumcised, pull my skin back and cock me
I bust off when they unlock me
Results of what happens to nikkas shock me
I see nikkas bleeding, running from me in fear
Stunningly, tears fall down the eyes of these so-called tough guys
For years, I've been used in robberies
Giving nikkas heart to follow me
Placing peoples in graves, funerals made 'cause I was sprayed
I was laid in a shelf, with a grenade
Met a wrecked-up TEC with numbers on his chest that say
5-2-0-9-3-8-5 and zero
Had a serial defaced, hoping one day, police would place
Where he came from, a name or some sort of person to claim him
Tired of murdering, made him wanna be a plain gun
But yo, I had some other plans, like the next time the beef is on
I make myself jam right in my owner's hand

How you like me now? I go blaow
It's that shyt that moves crowds, making every ghetto foul
I might have took your first child
Scarred your life, or crippled your style
I gave you power, I made you buck-wild
How you like me now? I go blaow
It's that shyt that moves crowds, making every ghetto foul
I might have took your first child
Scarred your life, or crippled your style
I gave you power, I made you buck-wild

Yo, weeks went by and I'm surprised
Still stuck in the shelf with all the things that an outlaw hides
Besides me, it's bullets, two vests and then a nine
There's a grenade in a box, and that TEC that kept crying
'Cause he ain't been cleaned in a year, he's rusty, it's clear
He's 'bout to fall to pieces 'cause of his murder career
Yo, I can hear somebody coming in
Open the shelf, his eyes bubbling
He said it was on, I felt his palm troubled him
Shaking, somebody stomped him out, his dome was aching
He placed me on his waist, the moment I've been waiting
My creation was for Blacks to kill Blacks
It's gats like me that accidentally go off, making nikkas memories
But this time, it's done intentionally
He walked me outside, saw this cat
Cocked me back, said, "Remember me?"
He pulled the trigger but I held on, it felt wrong
Knowing nikkas is waiting in Hell for him
He squeezed harder, I didn't budge, sick of the blood
Sick of them thugs, sick of wrath of the next man's grudge
What the other kid did was pull out, no doubt
A newer me in better shape, before he lit out, he lead the chase
My owner fell to the floor, his wig split
So fast, I didn't know he was hit, it's over with
Heard mad nikkas screaming, nikkas running, cops is coming
Now I'm happy, until I felt somebody else grab me
Damn!

I Gave You Power is one of the best pieces of writing I've ever heard straight poetry genius level.

Not only because of the extended metaphor but also because the fact the gun is going through growth in each verse is immaculate (verse 1 = child, verse 2 = teen, verse 3 = adult). And then the very compelling 3rd verse story that ends with the "damn!" to show the cycle of violence because the song began with a "damn"!!! One of the greatest writings of all time.

 

[spliz]

Ever heard a song with 3 perfect verses not 1 bar wasted? there's your answer

This right here is my fav version of this song.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Wow this is an interesting take.

It's weird isn't it? I know you from NY...do you remember Nas being on the radio chilling a lot in 1996/1997, or much Nas discussion from hosts compared to the Biggie interviews/discussions/debates/specials/etc? What about Nas songs on the radio...sure there were hits on IWW but I'm talking about radio play months after release? I got a theory but I'll hold off lol.

 

[Sound (∀√a) Maths]

That seems deliberate to me, to be honest. You'd think the album doesn't exist the way a lot of people - including Nas at one point - treated it in subsequent years. In a hip hop media ecosystem where certain "real hip hop" figures praise Vol 1 and cosign Diddy hits, those same people will tell you If I Ruled The World was/is wack. It's the weirdest shyt ever and has to be personal. Speaking of personal, it also may be why you can't find any Hot 97 interviews from those four weeks. Yet you can find plenty of Biggie interviews from the same time periods, everyone has stories about his runs, etc.

This, definitely.

 

[spliz]

It's weird isn't it? I know you from NY...do you remember Nas being on the radio chilling a lot in 1996/1997, or much Nas discussion from hosts compared to the Biggie interviews/discussions/debates/specials/etc? What about Nas songs on the radio...sure there were hits on IWW but I'm talking about radio play months after release? I got a theory but I'll hold off lol.

From what I remember. Nas was def on the radio. Street Dreams and If I Ruled The World. Ironically it remember Street Dreams being played more but it was a long time ago so who knows. Even non singles like Affirmative Action got play. I know Wendy Williams was in love with Nas so she always held him down when others didnt. What's ur theory tho?

 

[UnQuantized]

I think Nas is naturally aloof, doesn't really play the game as you are supposed to at that level. Deals with people at his own pace. Rubs people including those who love him the wrong way. He's not a diplomat like Jay Z or everyone's friend like a Snoop.