West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => Outbound Connection => Topic started by: teecee on June 13, 2004, 04:22:56 PM
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I mean, most fans didnt even check for Illmatic when it dropped, not unless you were truly an underground hiphop head (or got it from Columbia House music club like me because it said Explicit lyrics lol). When It Was Written dropped, EVERYONE thought that shit was incredible, except for the majority of Nas Illmatic fans. I thought the two albums were completely different, but aside from the overdose of Mafioso bullshit, IWW was/is an incredible album.
Alot of younger people nowadays will automaticly diss It Was Written cuz Illmatic is hailed as a classic, while IWW is considered Nas' downfall. BUt it really never happened like that. Sure, at first many were pissed he swithced it up from his bebut, but the production was still incredible and so were the majority of the lyrics. He had great singles also, truly an underrated and incredible album. Too bad it doesnt get its due. Compare that album with anything that has dropped in recent years, and it sounds even better. WHile it is not quite as good as Illmatic, it definitely sounds more current and with the times....
The Message
Take it in Blood (this and the Message are AMAZING)
I Gave U Power
Shootouts
Affirmative Action
Black GIrl Lost
If I Ruled The World
Street Dreams
listen to those and tell me this cd isnt dope.........has to be 4.5/5 for sure
btw, I'm not trying to belittle Illmatic, thats top 10 for me
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the only Nas Album really criticized is Nastradamus... as far my awareness goes.
the Message is a classic track.
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I always thought that It Was Written was shit-on back in '96 but gets it's props today.
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4.5/5 for me, great album....
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dope album, much better than nastradamous!
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it not a rap classic but defo a east coast classic
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CLASSIC
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lol...what are you talking about? this was considered nas' downfall? nastradamus is the album everyone hates on (even though its not a bad album at all). It Was Written is actually my favorite nas album (followed by gods son and then illmatic)...i have a more different taste in nas' music though..
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Very good album.
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lol...what are you talking about? this was considered nas' downfall? nastradamus is the album everyone hates on (even though its not a bad album at all). It Was Written is actually my favorite nas album (followed by gods son and then illmatic)...i have a more different taste in nas' music though..
when this first dropped a lot of people say nas fell off with this album. from critics to hip hop heads. It not untill a year or 2 ago this album started to get the props it deserved.
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Exactly what Tom Gotti said..........yes, it is alot of peoples favourite Nas album but it has always been more fashionable to say Illmatic. Only now have people opened their ears up and really started to check how dope IWW is..........i would go so far as to say its 5/5, or at least it is to me personally.
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Exactly what Tom Gotti said..........yes, it is alot of peoples favourite Nas album but it has always been more fashionable to say Illmatic. Only now have people opened their ears up and really started to check how dope IWW is..........i would go so far as to say its 5/5, or at least it is to me personally.
be honest if nas never dropped illmatic i seriously think this album would be rated a 5/5. every song on the album is a banger. Not one track you have to skip over.
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I hated this album when it first came out. I guess I was expecting every song to sound like that first single that dropped (If I Ruled The World). Well, after listening to Stillmatic and hearing some of the deep stuff he was spitting on there, I decided to pull out the album and blow all the dust off of it. After listening to it again, I can't believe how young and naive I used to be. It's definitely a great album and it's better than the so-called classic Illmatic. 4/5
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I dont know if its better than Illmatic, it is just completely different. Its too hard to compare, one was straight authentic hiphop, one was a rap/pop masterpiece. You may still be young and naive Strider, because Illmatic is a classic. Sure it sounds a little dated, but it is truly dope, it just takes awhile to see that.........as for IWW, its at least 4.5/5, and Tom Gotti is right, it probably is 5/5.......
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I dont know if its better than Illmatic, it is just completely different. Its too hard to compare, one was straight authentic hiphop, one was a rap/pop masterpiece. You may still be young and naive Strider, because Illmatic is a classic. Sure it sounds a little dated, but it is truly dope, it just takes awhile to see that.........as for IWW, its at least 4.5/5, and Tom Gotti is right, it probably is 5/5.......
you can't call it rap/pop just because lauryn hill was on one single...the rest of it was just as street as illmatic and wasnt even very different from illmatic.
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yeah teecee is on point.. to be honest it too me a while to get into illmatic at first, because of the beats. same with ready to die.. now i appreciate them both.
i always liked it was writted "affirmative action" is tight as hell.. the tracks are a lot more polished/commerical on this album that on illmatic. even Dre drops a beat on here.. and i believe this is the start of Nas hooking up with trackmasters, IMO they produced the weaker tracks (but produced one or two nice ones.. so much its hit n miss..) (they also did the wack shit on the firm project.. arggggggg).
nas switched up on the themes he was covering too.. it was quite a diversion from illmatic.
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always felt this album, not as much as Illmatic but its still a classic imo.
Silent Murder is one of my faves from this cd
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i basically agree with what tecee said. I still don't like the way Nas went from his poetic street narrator style to tryina act 'gangsta' or whatever u wanna call that Nas Escobar shit, but i agree on the lyrics bein very strong on this album too. As for production IWW had ups ("The Message", "Affirmative Action") and downs ("Nas Is Coming", one of Dre's weakest tracks ever) IMO, but overall it was good too. IWW was a lot more radio friendly than his debut, but it wasn't a bad album at all, people just hate on it because of Illmatic
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yeah i cant believe people hated on this album prolly cuz it was nuthin like illmatic, black girl lost is one of the best tracks nas ever did
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it deserves all the hate it gets, and if you were around when it was released, you would know why. the only thing improved on this album was flow. he went from pete rock to trackmasters, what an idiot. illmatic will always be his best album.
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Hey smartass, i was around and a huge fan of Illmatic-nas, and when IWW dropped i took it for what it was, an album full of hits(If i Ruled the World, Street Dreams) and great songs (The Message, Take it in Blood, I Gave U Power)....
And pete rock only did one song on Illmatic, but i get your point. He went from TRUE hiphop to trackmasters, although the Trackmasters actually produced some very good songs on te album. If you dont like The Message, you got problems.
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im sure trackmasters did the message...........one of the sickest joints ever made....by any rapper.......
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dope album and only Nas album I listen to.
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Illmatic shits all over It Was Written. The beats and rhymes on Illmatic are consistantly much better than on It Was Written. I've bought IWW twice now, having repurchased it last year thinking I was prehaps too dismissive of the album in my youth, I realised I still had to skip through half the album, and traded it back in within a month or so. I just can't listen to the album all the way through, whereas Illmatic I can easily just pop in my cd player and listen from start to finish.
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When it was written came out, I wasn't into it right away due to Nas trying to be a mobster. That turned me off to it a bit but I didn't really listen to it initially. I think I listened to it once and I let someone borrow the tape (big mistake) and it was quickly eaten.
The funny thing is, I wasn't into Illmatic right away either due to the beats. They're both tight albums and I appreciate them both more than when I first heard them, but compared to what was being released in that time period, I don't think either of those albums stack up against the best albums that came out during that period, IMO.
For me, Stillmatic is my favorite Nas album.
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...They're both tight albums and I appreciate them both more than when I first heard them, but compared to what was being released in that time period, I don't think either of those albums stack up against the best albums that came out during that period, IMO...
Agreed.
...For me, Stillmatic is my favorite Nas album...
Agreed again. "Illmatic" isn't a classic in my opinion, I don't like the beats very much and I think his lyrical ability grew with the time and he spits fire on "Stillmatic". Just thinking of "Rewind" 8)
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im sure trackmasters did the message...........one of the sickest joints ever made....by any rapper.......