It Was Written

Nas

Genre: music4me > Urban > Hip Hop

Format: CD Album

Released: Tue 7 May 1996

Catalogue Number: 484196.2

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AUD$6.88

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Description:
For his second album, It Was Written, Nas hired a bunch of hip-hop's biggest producers -- including Dr. Dre, DJ Premier, Stretch, and Trackmasters -- to help him create the musical bed for his daring, groundbreaking rhymes. Although that rhyme style isn't as startling on It Was Written as it was one his debut, Illmatic, Nas has deepened his talents, creating a complex series of rhymes that not only flow, but manage to tell coherent stories as well. Furthermore, Nas often concentrates on creating vignettes about life in the ghetto that never are apolitical or ambivalent. This time around, the production is more detailed and elaborate, which gives the music a wider appeal. Sometimes this is a detriment -- Nas sounds better when he tries to keep it at street-level -- but usually, Nas' lyrical force cuts through the commercial sheen. Combined with the spare but deep grooves, his rhymes have a resonance unmatched by most of his mid-'90s contemporaries. Because, no matter how deep his lyrics are, his grooves are just as deep and that bottomless funk and spare beats is what makes It Was Written so compulsively listenable.

Track Listing:

1.	Album Intro
2.	The Message
3.	Street Dreams
4.	I Gave You Power
5.	Watch Dem Niggas
6.	Take It in Blood
7.	The Set Up
8.	Black Girl Lost
9.	Suspect
10.	Shootouts
11.	Nas Is Coming
12.	Affirmative Action
13.	Live Nigga Rap
14.	If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)
15.	Silent Murder