I know and read what u had to say about Illmatic, but I'm glad people finally giving It was written it's due, because when it came out I remember people saying nothing but "it ain't as good as Illmatic." People respected Nas with due respect, but they weren't giving that album the respect it deserved.
I think both albums were perfect and classics. Illmatic was like Thriller and It Was Written was like Bad. It was written was in my early high school days and it took me deep into the narrative of stories and life like cinema slash reality of life. Illmatic was ridiculously perfect but I wanted more; when I got It was written it was filling with dessert. That cd is what made him my favorite rapper. I say all that to say, there was a time It was written was not getting as much respect as Illmatic. Maybe that's just the way we southern folk interpreted the two cd's. I don't really know the love he was receiving up north
On another note, it's only cause of nas and early hip hop fans that were determined to keep buying his stuff that he still around and finally, damn near 15 years later truly getting the international respect and hip-hop status he deserved. I say it like that, because he's overdue man; and if it wasn't for Ether I don't know if his career would have risen as much as it did. I woulda still been buying his cd's and others too, but he'd probably be like ghostface. Ghostface is great and damn great, but Nas is on another level and he was close to being out the main game like ghost. It's probably cause he's so low key and his concerts and all that great and he doesn't really promote his own stuff, but talent wise he almost got knocked out and I'm glad he didn't
eatgoodrecords
New member
good review, big up
I remember when Illmatic came out. I used to listen to that and Midnight Marauders in my walkman all the time. As far as Ready to Die goes, it had hot singles (Juicy, The What, Big Poppa, Unbelievable, etc.) but Illmatic had more up to date beats with jazz samples (One Love, The World is Yours) and some of Biggie's beats on the RTD album sounded dated, even at the time. All in all I'd probably say that Ready to Die had better singles but Illmatic was the better album.
goldenja;8291029 said:
to me, that's all that matters.........longevity. Even if the record sales weren't as expected, if you have a mass/legion of fans who still talk about your material DECADES later, then you achieved what you set out to do as an artist. The money and accolades should be secondary, but anyone would take it along the way.
i just stepped off the short bus not too long ago and just discovered these Nas gems from his "demo tape". Even though I had these, plus others on a bootleg I made back in 00 anticipating the Death of Escobar, I didn't know these were pre-Illmatic. I thought these were new Nas material for an upcoming album "Stillmatic/DOE", and he regained his hunger.
jimprophet
New member
illmatic was overrated
Tsotsi Cape Town
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I truly feel that Illmatic is this genre's Magnum Opus, sorta like how Thriller is to its genre. It's hip hops perfect album
HipHopScribe
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Tsotsi Cape Town;8766135 said:
I think you could definitely make a good case for that
HipHopScribe
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Stew;8791231 said:
Yep, waaay back in the day
HipHopScribe
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Stew;8793718 said:
I think I remember you, it's been a while. Glad to know there are still a few people around from back then
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