It Was Written was better than Illmatic

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Remark said:
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I'm okay with seeing this for the rest of 2014
 
Premo, Pete Rock, Extra P and Q-Tip beats >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Trackmasters. No album containing 'Nas is Coming' can possibly be better than Illmatic.
 
So, you mean to tell me that even NAS got it wrong? I mean, the dude just celebrated the 20th Anniversary of Illmatic, and that's not his best album, according to you?

Nah breh. Even Nas will tell you you're wrong...
 
While the OP is clearly wrong, I love It was Written and it is one of the few albums where I know every single song by heart, even without having heard it in years. Love that album.
 
RP912 said:
Are you serious :/.

Illmatic hands down was responsible for bringing back the new york hip hop scene and birthed so many rappers to this day. Its one of the most heavy influential albums of all time. It was written was good but not one song touching the essence of The World Is Yours....even If I Ruled The World which was a dope track.
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hughh The Notorious BIG and Wu-tang clan are also responsible for bringing NY back on the map. illmatic was praised for being creative, new, and a fresh of air, but it certainly wasn't getting the praise it has now (really people started to ride the illmatic gravy train in the early 2000's).
 
It Was Written: Nas is a coke dealing Mafioso and makes videos in pink suits doing a scene from Casino.
"The Message"
"I Gave You Power"
"If I Ruled the World"
"Black Girl Lost"
(For get the name of the Firm Song..brain cart :( )

Illmatic: Story's from the streets. True shit. Selling rock on the corner, passing in elevators, etc..
Whole album is a masterpiece..

So, Illmatic wins imo. Less bullshit "everyone's Pacing/DiNiero" mafia bullshit that plagued the late 90's. No bad songs, iWW had some terrible songs tucked between those classics.
 
One album contains arguably the greatest flow ever put on wax and an unprecedented collaboration of hip hop's greatest producers at the time.

The other album is a somewhat underrated, but awkward crossover attempt that abandons real narrative to knockoff Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.

I'm not writing off IWW because it jumped on the mafioso trend. Concept albums can be good. IWW is good. But compared to Illmatic? Come on. IWW has 4 or 5 songs on the same level as Illmatic. Most notably I Gave You Power. That's some next level shit; it sounds like the natural extension of Illmatic. But it's the exception, not the rule. OP has no case besides vague non-critiques like "sounds like dust". What does that mean anyway?
 
enzo_gt said:
I'd imagine people younger (like me) just would go to Illmatic and then work their way up.

And not come to this conclusion.
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I did just this a few months ago.

And Illmatic was BY FAR his best album. To the point where his other albums just sounded mediocre. I only went up to Stillmatic though.
 
I am... better than Illmatic? Nastradamus better than Illmatic!?

This thread is outrageous. Next thing I'll read is "the Lost Tapes was garbage". "Street's Disciple and God's Son are the best Nas albums".
 
The hatred is real but it's okay. I understand what the album did in hip-hop BUT that was then. In 2014 looking back at both, IWW is the superior album content-wise and production-wise. This is not opinion this is fact.
 
How would you guys rank The Lost Tapes? Personally, it's in my top five (with Illmatic, IWW, Stillmatic, and Life is Good). I always get nice vibes from that album.
 
Illmatic
Lost Tapes
It Was Written
Stillmatic
Life Is Good

That's the ranking.

It Was Written is a really good album, a great mafioso rap record in an era when that was the style.

It just can't be better than Illmatic, though. That's like later MJ records (read: Bad, Dangerous, History, etc) being better than Thriller.
 
The Message, I gave you power, Take it in blood and Shootouts are just as good as anything off illmatic imo, the rest not so much.

Illmatic > IWW

God's Son > Stillmatic

Nas > Jay
 
Storm Chamber said:
It Was Written is a great album on the surface


but its really nothing other than Nas trying too hard to be some italian don


one of the earliest L's in a long line
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I agree. Thats why I didnt like IWW at the time. Its a good album, but I wanted more of the Illmatic Nas. Plus Raekwon, Biggie were doing the don shit much better.
 
Inspectah Deck said:
hughh The Notorious BIG and Wu-tang clan are also responsible for bringing NY back on the map. illmatic was praised for being creative, new, and a fresh of air, but it certainly wasn't getting the praise it has now (really people started to ride the illmatic gravy train in the early 2000's).
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Dude Nas was one of the first rappers to use multiple producers the way he did back then. Rappers really weren't doing that until Illmatic.
 
Illmatic is the superior album but I understand why some people prefer IWW. In my experience I notice younger people tend to prefer IWW. The production and lyric content is more in line with what they like.

IWW is a great mafioso rap album. People forget that Nas created the "Nas Escobar" persona on Eye For an Eye, back in 1995. IWW is basically that moniker for nearly the entire album. Similar to the Wu personas on Cuban Linx.

My problem with IWW is that the song content bleeds together. Cuban Linx is pretty much all mafioso shit too but consider the variety of the storytelling. Some tracks are just Rae and Ghost bragging. On one, Ghost gets shot during an ambush. On another Rae describes an Italian kingpin he took out the game. All while both Rae and Ghost throw in colorfully random details, like Ghost getting a butter almond donut before doing a hit.

IWW has some masterful storytelling (The Set Up), haunting imagery (Suspect), top class mafioso shit talking (Affirmative Action), etc...but the production isn't nearly as colorful as Cuban Linx, or Illmatic. It was a blatant cash grab, as Illmatic had sold poorly and Nas was broke.
 
PhoenixDark said:
Illmatic is the superior album but I understand why some people prefer IWW. In my experience I notice younger people tend to prefer IWW. The production and lyric content is more in line with what they like.

IWW is a great mafioso rap album. People forget that Nas created the "Nas Escobar" persona on Eye For an Eye, back in 1995. IWW is basically that moniker for nearly the entire album. Similar to the Wu personas on Cuban Linx.

My problem with IWW is that the song content bleeds together. Cuban Linx is pretty much all mafioso shit too but consider the variety of the storytelling. Some tracks are just Rae and Ghost bragging. On one, Ghost gets shot during an ambush. On another Rae describes an Italian kingpin he took out the game. All while both Rae and Ghost throw in colorfully random details, like Ghost getting a butter almond donut before doing a hit.

IWW has some masterful storytelling (The Set Up), haunting imagery (Suspect), top class mafioso shit talking (Affirmative Action), etc...but the production isn't nearly as colorful as Cuban Linx, or Illmatic. It was a blatant cash grab, as Illmatic had sold poorly and Nas was broke.
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A great money grab at that. The album was dope too. Some people forget that the Mafiso rap was big in the mid 90s in NYC hip hop. It wasn't just nas
 
mckmas8808 said:
Typical response. You hate Track Masters?
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No, I don't. I enjoy the beats on many songs on It Was Written, like Affirmative Actin(although the whole Firm gimmick is goofy) and of course If I Ruled The World (but musically it owes so much to the Whodini beat that they sampled verbatim). Like others said, there is a lot more filler on IWW, whereas I could listen to Illmatic from start to finish all day. NY State of Mind, The World Is Yours, One Love, Memory Lane, Life's a Bitch, etc. it just doesn't compare.
 
mckmas8808 said:
A great money grab at that. The album was dope too. Some people forget that the Mafiso rap was big in the mid 90s in NYC hip hop. It wasn't just nas
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Exactly. People want to sneer at Nas while hyping Cuban Linx, Doe Or Die, etc. Mafioso rap was big, and featured some of the best rhyming patterns in rap (see Kool G Rap).

It's not Illmatic but it's a great album. I don't see how people can act like an album that includes The Message, I Gave You Power, Take It In Blood, Affirmative Action, etc is a bad album.
 
Can someone post some rap tracks that have a similar beat to Affirmative Action? That shit sounded like harpsichord or something, it just sounds so nice and different.
 
IWW was very good OP tracks like If I Ruled The World, Take It In Blood, I Gave You Power, and Street Dreams are all great songs but like others have stated there is some filler on this LP while Illmatic has none IMO from beginning to end Illmatic is timeless.
 
Rastafarian42 said:
IWW was very good OP tracks like If I Ruled The World, Take It In Blood, I Gave You Power, and Street Dreams are all great songs but like others have stated there is some filler on this LP while Illmatic has none IMO from beginning to end Illmatic is timeless.
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It's 10 tracks verse like 18 tracks right? What happens if we condense IWW to 10 songs?
 
Not even close. Illmatic to this day stands as one of the best if not the best albums of all time. Production was just insane and Nas was never better.
 
Remark said:
You sound like those real hip-hop people. Please don't be that person.
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dude, nas circa illmatic is better than nas circa it was written. hyper detailed folk tales from the street with jazzy beats c'mon.

rap is better when commercialism is far, far away. there are millions who disagree with me.
 
One was -ehh-, the other was Illmatic
That's a one hot album every ten year average

"It Was Written" was the "ehh"

And I'll go on record as hating Track Masters. They had their good moments (most of which were on IWW) but they're outweighed by their terrible ones.
 
It Was Written is ever so slightly more consistent with its beats. Illmatic is much better lyrically, and beatwise it's highs are higher.

So Illmatic.

Also, God's Son fucking sucks but probably has one of if not the best Nas song ever on it.
 
Timedog said:
It Was Written is ever so slightly more consistent with its beats. Illmatic is much better lyrically, and beatwise it's highs are higher.

So Illmatic.

Also, God's Son fucking sucks but probably has one of if not the best Nas song ever on it.
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Can't leave us hanging. Which song?
 
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