ipo.. nas - it was written

It Was Written is great...but honestly it really doesn't live up to Illmatic. Lyrically, production-wise, conceptually...at all.

I think "If I Ruled the World" is ridiculously cheesy.

great.

i find this record boring

the monologue at the start of "i gave you power" is obnoxious

"street dreams" is for serious, "nas is coming" is great, i actually kinda dig "if i ruled the world," and "affirmative action" is alright but feels like a missed opportunity. the rest of this is snooze to me. maybe i just haven't given it enough of a chance.

ban bo jackson overdrive.

j/k of course. i kind of feel you w/ this hoos. i never got why so many people here hate on "if i ruled the world". i think rev likes it. song's awesome.

I think it's just Deej who hates "If I Ruled the World", he's just vocal about it to the point where it seems like multiple people. "The Message" is A++, too.

dk's analysis was real on point but considering he dismisses 1/3rd of the tracks (and hes right) i have trouble getting all contrarian about this record being the REAL ILLMATIC or whatever. but yeah a good half of this shit is amazing, and 'street dreams' is the joint ive been playing on rewind a lot lately. sometimes you just hear the beat in your head and have to hear it again and again.

Now how can I perfect this (uhh, what)
livin reckless, die for my necklace
Crime infected, drivin a Lexus with a death wish
Jettin, checkin my message on the speaker
Boppin to Mona Lisa brown reefer, ten G's, gun and my Visa
CD crankin, doin ninety on the Franklin-D-Roosevelt
No seat belt, drinkin and thinkin
My man caught a bad one son, niggaz is frightened
Secret indictments, adds on to one seekin enlightment
My Movado says seven, the God hour, that's if you follow
traditions started by the school not far from the Apollo
My "Fuck Tommorrow" motto through the eyes of Pablo
Escobar the desperado - word to Cus D'Amato

Some niggaz watch you (uh) see you when you think on the low
Ain't hard to spot you, you swore to keep it real after you blow
Three ki's, new V's, went to Anguilla with your hoe
Stayed around the hood, smoothest cat, gettin the dough
Them old timers, advise you to them problems that's ahead
Drama with the Feds, not listenin just bobbin your head
Your Roley shinin, thinkin to yourself nobody's takin mine
At the same time, your hoe is gettin snatched from behind
Put in the van, where's the hundred grand, script in her hand
From all the ice, wouldn't you know -
- you knew these niggaz all your life
What made them mark you victim, you fucked up somehwere down the line
now they had to target your Wisdom
She took em to your place, straight to your safe
You doubted it could happen sick of yappin
Dump in your ride, headed to your side
Puffin ganja get to your crib, can't find her
Just a reminder shit and have your stash house where you crash out
Coulda passed out, your coke was gone, now you assed out
Dead bitches tell no lies, you should use your eyes

love this mid 90s trackmasters shit, works so well w/ the lyrical paranoia

The cartel Argentina coke with the nina
Up in the hotel, smokin on sessamina

always loved this couplet for some reason

really like this album, my fav stuff off of it-- street dreams, watch dem niggas, if i ruled the world, affirmative action-- i like as much as anything he's ever done and the rest is just really solid

i listened to this a bunch this week

still doesn't really hit me like illmatic but its grown on me a little.

the mafioso thing is kinda ehhh though

occassionally sounds like dudes are playing Gangster Movie Madlibs

i love that illmatic sounds effortless, totally like dudes were just spitting 24/7 and they just recorded illmatic one day-- this is a little more calculated i think, paranoid like deej says. def not good as illmatic but it holds up i think

foxy has the best verse on affirmative action

the set up = fire

foxy has the best verse on affirmative action

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 2:18 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Link

only cuz she has the line about sittin on 50 grand in the nautica van
http://www.thestencil.com/archives/2005/12/sittin_on_top_o.html

that was pretty challenging opinion of me i guess

but still shit is dizzying

nah, deej is clearly the kind of challenging opinion in this thread: It Was Written is great...but honestly it really doesn't live up to Illmatic.

i find this record boring

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 9 December 2007 17:02 (4 months ago) Link

say it ain't so HOOS!!!!

this record is great

It's grown on me a bit, but I tend to skip about 2/3rds of it and then go "oh shit I just skipped most of the album"

street dreams beat lost a lot of its appeal when i heard the sting solo joint its jacked from

hold up im thinking of the message street dreams is dope

yeah much preferred 'the message' when i thought it sampled some sicilian mafioso classical shit

oh shit really? yeah i just assumed it sampled some lute bro

well "Shape Of My Heart" was on The Professional soundtrack so it was probably picked up with some intended gangsta vibe. the fuck y'all know about Ten Summoner's Tales?

#59
STING - TEN SUMMONER'S TALES (406 points, 28 ballots)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000005IL1.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

"possibly the funkiest record ever recorded" - Alex in NYC

-- PSYYYYYYYYYYYYYYCHE (James Blount), Friday, 19 November 2004 20:52 (3 years ago) Link

hahahaha

did i dismiss 1/3rd of the tracks what. i listen to this straight through and feel everything on it. yall dont understand how fucking uselessly i fucking know every song on this and feel it in my bones. half of everything in my head at any time is it was written lines.

MAD PIES, LOW PRICE
I BLOW DICE AND THROW THEM
.45 BY MY SCROTUM
MANIFEST THE DO OR DIE SLOGAN
MY NIGGAS ROLLIN TEN M3S
TWENTY GODS POPPIN WHEELIES ON KAWASAKIS
HIP-HOP'S GOT ME ON SOME OL
SPRAYIN SHOTS LIKE A DRUMROLL
BLACKIN OUT NEVER MISCOUNT THE SHELLS MY GUN HOLD
I DON'T STUNT I REGULATE
HENNY AND SPRITE I SEPARATE
WATCHIN CRAB NIGGAS MARINATE
I'M ALL ABOUT TECS, GOOD JOOKS AND SEX
ISRAELITE BOOKS HOLDIN GOVERNMENT NAMES FROM NESS
MCS ARE CRAWLIN OUT EVERY HOLE IN THE SLUM
YOU BE AIGHT
LIKE BLOOD MONEY IN A PIMP'S CUM

CURRENCY IS MADE TRUST IN THE MESSIAH
I'M SPENDIN IT TO GET HIGHER
EARTH WIND AND FIRE SINGIN REASONS WHY I'M
UP EARLY
TRUSTWORTHY IS A NINE THAT BUST EARLY
SUNSHINE ON MY GRILL I SPILL
REMI ON IMAGINARY GRAVES, PUT MY HAT ON MY WAVES

dont get me listening to it was written

it's mandatory see that pussy they hand it to me
i got no game just some bitches understand my story

no one is going to mention theres a song from the point of view of a gun? i feel like if we had all nurtured this madcap/ponderous aspect of nas a little more wed be seeing some real cosmic shit by now.

i bought this record at midnight when it came out - same day as stakes is high - i think thats the only time i ever did that.

dude have you heard some of the goofy ass high concept shit on the last few Nas albums?

i feel like nas was right to try and flee the reality rap sausagefest but trackmasters simultaneously shiny/cheap shit isnt quite it

yah i mean yr right alex he is always reliably goofy but still there couldve been so much more

we already got a dude rapping from the perspective of a cheesburger lets not get greedy here

laughing my ass off just thinking about the 'kinky undertaker' bit from "The Makings Of A Perfect Bitch"

yah but nas does it w/such sincerity is the thing

And yet Nas sounds much better over Trackmasters than most of the shit he's rapping over today.

jus sayin

yah well dude isnt exactly known for his beat choosing skills

was just thinking about how 1. great the beats to 'street dreams' and 'watch dem niggas' are and 2. how relentlessly corny all Nas 'concept' songs are really. some are good, some are bad, all are corny

"who killed it" to thread

i still will defend that

the so bad it's good defense?

^^^lol

i dont know why ive been so hardline in this thread. its obv easier just to be like 'classic album' than worry about how corny 'i gave you power' is

take it in blood is my favorite nas jam, ever

i kinda feel that way about the song before it

the beat to which is very balearic i think

jeez not everything etc...

This album prob has at least 4 top 20 Nas jams. I'd probably rather listen to IWW more than any non-Illmatic Nas album right now.

Haha I was sorta trolling

You know, I was thinking about this album and due to the fact that the Nas of It Was Written is much closer to Illmatic-era Nas than it is to current Nas, all the "This is not the same Nas!" handwringing over it seems rather quaint.

yeah i just assumed it sampled some lute bro

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, April 10, 2008 1:16 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark

still some of my favorite shit i've ever said tbh

alright so

i kinda feel this now

been playin it nonstop and the narrative shit like the setup feels like hype williams doing ellroy or something, super abstracted crime shit i love it.

i can pretty much do "take it in blood" from memory now and that line about "20 gods poppin wheelies on kawasakis" is dope as fuck just such an incredible mental image

i peeped you frontin i was in the jeep
sunk in the seat tinted with heat beats bumpin
across the streat you was wildin
talkin bout how you ran the island in 89
layin up playin the yard with crazy shine
i cocked the baby nine that nigga grave be mine
clanked him What was he thinkin on my corner when it's PAY ME time
dug em "you owe me cousin" somethin told me plug him
so dumb felt my leg burn then it got numb
spun around and shot one heard shots and dropped son
caught a hot one
somebody take this biscuit before the cops come
then they came askin me my name
what the fuck
i got stitched up and went through
left the hospital that same night
got my gat back, time to backtrack
i had the drop so how the fuck i get clapped
black was in the jeep watchin all these scenes speed by
it was a brown datsun and yo nobody in my hood got one
that clown nigga's through blazin at his crew daily
THE BRIDGE touched me up severely
hear me
so when I rhyme it's sincerely yours
be lightin Ls sippin coors on all floors in project halls
contemplatin war on niggas i was cool with before
we used to score together uptown coppin the raw
but uhhhhh a thug changes and love changes
and best friends become strangers
word up

yo d what do you think of "daughters" and the other recent stuff

i dunno. i sort of ignored everything after god's son but i've been listening to hop hop is dead and other stuff recently

daughter is really dope. sincere and great flow.

what else is new? the don?

yeah i guess by 'new' i just meant whatever in the past year or so that's been out. i liked the verse on the CJ Hilton song a lot.

it's mandatory see that pussy they hand it to me
i got no game just some bitches understand my story

― dylannn, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 10:18 PM (7 years ago)

dying

oh shit really? yeah i just assumed it sampled some lute bro

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 9:16 PM (7 years ago)

what are you dying over

i wish i could find my screenshots of jay elec trying to drunkenly quote that line on twitter

xp how it sounds like he's saying hey i'm just a man who gets pussy this is my story

i take it as
he doesn't have time for nonsense with women
he fucks with women of a higher caliber who are not looking for game
in person he's mumbly and awkward but his true story is more compelling than any bullshit you'll hear from other dudes

and the number of bitches that understand his story is like... it's not a lot, but every now and then

glad that's clear

right yes sigh

cmon dylan can you just

let me have this

sorry, buddy.

you got me involved in the first place.

feelin like i got my hands on a real batsignal type thing here

if you want to discuss nas further please don't hesitate to email me!

sorry, i am a mere neophyte just enjoying a lil thread bump

is there a time we could get together to discuss it further?

not unless your next stop is in minnesota

alex in nyc what do you think of nas it was written

i would have been like 19 years old when i made this thread

going to drunkenly try to qutoe ain't got no game just some bitches understand my story on twitter imho

j. do u think dre and nas were really smoking weed on nas is coming

i don't know lately i have been trying to imagine my favorite rappers like shopping at target or whatever so that the entire affair of spitting lines over dope beats appears as constructed as possible

buying those gel dispensers for freshening your toilet

looking for the aisle where the shower curtain hanger rings are but not being able to find it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-eNmjgfaKM

that's now how you buy fabric softener

such a great record.