![]() The first iteration of this was on the surprisingly underwhelming “Nas is Coming”, the seventh cut off of this record. Dre in the mid 90s, and the two started a brief creative relationship. Perhaps based off of the success and influence of Illmatic, Nas was approached by Dr. Nas in Queensbridge, Long Island City, Queens, mid 1990s “Take It in Blood” is another lyrical gem, almost a follow-up to “Street Dreams”, with a catchy-yet-unforgiving approach to street-level operations over a delightfully dusty instrumental. “Watch Dem N*****” brings fellow Firm member Foxy Brown into the fray for the first time, as the two trade sharp bars over a more relaxing instrumental. “I Gave You Power” is probably the most creative song off the album, with Nas telling a story from the perspective of a gun over a remarkable DJ Premier beat. “Street Dreams” introduces the mafioso theme with Nas dropping some incredibly slick bars. “The Message” gives a graphic look into street-level activities over a fantastic guitar loop. The first three songs are absolute classics, and are some of Nas’ most celebrated work. There is a more diverse offering on this record, and it is less compact and straightforward. And though it cannot compare lyrically or production-wise to Illmatic, It Was Written is a classic album and should not be overlooked. The beats were state of the art for 1996, and did not skimp on the hard drums and excellent sampling over which Nas made his name. While Nas was excellent lyrically, the production was also very strong, handled by Trackmasters, DJ Premier, Havoc of Mobb Deep, L.E.S. Dre, The Firm, Mobb Deep, and Lauryn Hill. The album was longer and featured more guest appearances than its predecessor, with cameos by Dr. Nas went for a bit more of a mafioso theme in his lyrics, which had started to dominate east coast hip hop by the middle of the decade. And while it isn’t quite on the same overall level as Illmatic, it’s a fantastic follow-up for which Nas deserves eternal credit. On July 2, 1996, It Was Written was released, like its predecessor, on Columbia Records. Needless to say, after how influential Illmatic was from the get-go, Nas created a high standard for himself, but was able to capitalize off of Illmatic’s success and, two years later, came back with one of the better sophomore albums in hip hop history. As the second generation of Queensbridge hip hop came to fruition in the first half of the 90s, the leader of that new generation, Nas, gave the world an absolute gift in 1994, dropping his debut album Illmatic. ![]()
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