Nas - Illmatic vs. It Was Written

[da publisher]

Stillmatic >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> It Was Written

^no doubt

Starvin since you want to mention Jay-Z, I feel as though Nas should have been the one to have "The Gift & The Curse" as an album title. IWW isNas most overrated album, but according to Nas he said that Marley Marl leaked verses to uncompleted songs on the radio, and I always wondered "damn whatif?". I honestly believe "True Dialect" was one of the songs he was talking about.

I'm not defending IWW but besides the quote "I can't trust my fans", "If I made another Illmatic, I would have been done" is therealest s*** I ever heard from dude. It's very obvious he didn't know how to capitalize off his first album and felt like a failure to himself and tohis projects he repped hard body. Let's not forget that he stop doing shows, so he was basically s*** out of luck.

 

[starvin harlem]

With IWW Nas made a decision that he's spent the rest of his career trying accept/move foward from . . . He was basically the walking, talking resurrectionof gritty park hip hop, that was lyrically inclined, he just swayed . . . Some people liked it, some people hate it . . .

I guess at the end of the day your either someone who liked IWW or you're someone who hated it . . .

 

[shoalin23jordan]

IWW is great but i think stillmatic is better.

 

[da publisher]

I'm just saying the Drug dealing cigar smoking Nas is not the artist I wanna hear . . . Political Nas I like, ummm frustrated at hip hop Nas I like, battlerapper Nas I like, anything but a MOBster/Drug Lord.

^Yo Starvin let me holla at you for a second brother

Starvin: What's the deal son?
Publisher: I feel the same way you do man
Starvin: Huh?
Publisher: Political Nas I like, ummm frustrated at hip hop Nas I like and etc. I use to like the song "If I Ruled The World" for years, but lastyear I realized I no longer like that song.
Starvin: And why is that?
Publisher: It's basically a song full of the glamorous lifestyle quotables, you know?
Starvin: True
Publisher: Well now that I'm an adult, the 2nd verse sealed the deal for me. I mean if I was an emcee, my ideal world wouldn't be waking up smokingweed for breakfast, purple M3's and jet skis, I'm just saying though
Starvin: No doubt no doubt, I'm looking forward to the N***** album, especially since Dead Prez is going to be on there, Lets Get Free is one of my favhip-hop albums of all time
Publisher: word but I just wanted to tell you that man, I'm bout to continue on watching the Jazz vs Hornets game, I'm out
Starvin: ight kid stay up, one
Publisher: one

...............

 

[mossman75]

Every Song on Illmatic is hot i can't say the same for IWW

 

[starvin harlem]

you wildin . . . I was listenin to dead prez lasstnight and this morning

. . .

 

[airuphere23]

It's very close...I'm a very big Nas fan..especially the Nas of the 90's.


Overall, I think It Was Written was a more complete album. There were soooo many ill tracks on that album.

Street Dreams
The Message
Take It In Blood

Live *@#%* Rap

If I Ruled The World
Affirmative Action
Black Girl Lost

Sorry for naming alot of songs off that album, but that album was sick. I used to listen to that on my Sony Walkman to school almost everyday in 96'.


Illmatic is one of my all time favorite albums. Classic songs, but it wasn't a complete album. It was actually an EP anyway. Short and concise, but it ismemorable..

Favorite Track~ Memory Lane

Props also to:

It Aint Hard To Tell
The World Is Yours
Life's a @%!$$
NY State of Mind

Overall~ It Was Written FTW~

 

[airuphere23]

Originally Posted by Starvin Harlem

Stillmatic >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> It Was Written

This just throws in the wrench in the whole "Jay Z vs Nas" argument (which this will eventually turn into since no ones wants to keep it 100 about how wack, fake, phoney, fabricated, and gimmicky IWW truly is) . . .

Back to what I was sayin,
Jay Z has ATLEAST 3 (I'd say 5) albums better than IWW, so if IWW is Nas's 1st or 2nd best albums that makes Jay A LOT better than son . . .

Judging on the fact you have Biggie Smalls in your avy (RIP)..what is so different between the gimmicky Frank White alter ego he had and NasEscobar? They basically both were alter ego rap split personalities that rapped about drug heists, guns, sex..etc. IWW might not be your cup of tea, but theconsensus from most people is that it's definitely not wack, hell even Dr. Dre produced on it.


Also Jay-Z is a legend undoubtedly. But hand and hand...lyrical ability, Nas is on a higher platform than Jay-Z. Don't think so? Go listen to Ether wherehe murders Jay-Z. Go listen to Rewind where he tells a story backward. Go listen to I Gave You Power off IWW where he talks as if he were the actual gun inthe song. There are sooo many dope concepts Nas has come up with in songs and just cuz Jay has higher album sales doesn't mean he spits nicer than Nas. Igot love for both here, but Nas' lyrics just make you visualize.

 

[nex87]

I can never decide between these 2 albums, but they are most definitely his best albums up to date..But i'll take it was written over ILLMATIC

the concepts and topics are ridiculous.

 

[championhood]

Originally Posted by Starvin Harlem

Stillmatic >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> It Was Written

This just throws in the wrench in the whole "Jay Z vs Nas" argument (which this will eventually turn into since no ones wants to keep it 100 about how wack, fake, phoney, fabricated, and gimmicky IWW truly is) . . .

Back to what I was sayin,
Jay Z has ATLEAST 3 (I'd say 5) albums better than IWW, so if IWW is Nas's 1st or 2nd best albums that makes Jay A LOT better than son . . .

i tried to ignore u but u just sound so ******ed....i want u to post da entire tracklist of it was written and IN YOUR OPINION tell us what tracks u think aregarbage...you then we can laugh at you...

2 tidbits....it was written is lupe's favorite album...(for all you hipsters)
i gave you power >>>> starvin harlem

 

[the natural mystic]

Jay-z might have one album on par with IWW and that's RD.

but for the record..illmatic wins all arguments when it comes to hip-hop greatness to me. my top 5 hip-hop albums goes like this:
illmatic
the Infamous
IWW
RTD
RD

 

[spot rusherz]

Dudes really Think IWW is better than Illmatic?

Stillmatic>>>It Was Written

Favorite Track~ Memory Lane

Props also to:

It Aint Hard To Tell
The World Is Yours
Life's a @%!$$
NY State of Mind

Overall~ It Was Written FTW~

One Love? Halftime? Represent?...I can let Illmatic play through without skipping over any songs

...
But with It Was Written you gotta over skip mad songs.

 

[starvin harlem]

BIG was ALWAYS on that Don $%*# . . . Looked how he dressed that was his whole persona from jump, son had maroon leather jackets hoppin off the G2 this is 1995fam, he sat on the stage at the thrown as he was christened to be the King/ Savior of NY hip hop at the Source awards, Nas came in around 92, on the Zebraheadsoundtrack, he was down with MC Search for christ sake, he didn't get on thet Don $%*# till "Mo Money, Mo Murder" off Doe or Die, then came IWWin 96 . . . That's 4 years fam, he watched otha dudes do they thing and then tried to piggyback off the idea . . . BIG was building songs around being acrimeboss on Ready To Die. To add to that Ready To Die is deffinetly a concept album, and its basically follows his trail from street level to boss status, hiscareer was built off that $%*#.

NinjaHood
I did a review on the album and explained my stance track by track sometime ago, I'm not sure if it was before Yuku, but I'll go through real quick . ..

1. Intro - Nas is a slave in the south?? SKIP
2. The Message - Dope song.
3. Street Dreams - ??? What is this, that hook?? That beat ?? SKIP
4. I Gave You Power - Classic
5. What Dem Ninjas - ??? Is this Warren G, this $%*# sounds awful SKIP
6. Take It In Blood - This is decent, I wouldn't listen to it now, but when I was younger I liked it, these days . . . SKIP
7. Nas Is Coming - Prolly top 5 MC and top 5 producer (prolly #1 at that time) and this is the end result?? SKIP
8. Affirmative Action - AZ and Megas verses are sus song doesn't live up to the hype. I prolly wouldnt care if I never heard this song again.
9. The Set Up - This just sounds dated SKIP
10. Black Girl Lost - Dope song.
11. Suspect - This hook?? That beat?? OMG this song appropriatley titled, "Suspect" . . . SKIP
12. Shootuts - As a young lad I loved this song, its coo now, nothing amazing now.
13. Live @$@@* Rap - Some $%*# should stay in 1996 . . . I used to think this song was coo when I was younger, these days SKIP
14. If I Ruled The World - Classic

You can't have a classic album if you only got 2 classic songs . . . Illmatic is 8/9, OB4CL is prolly 13 or 14/16, this album is 2/13

In the last 8 years, I've had the urge to listen to this album all the way through prolly one time (because of a thread just like this, thanks to EZFlash)I'm not sure there's one song on this album that I've listened to more than 3 times in the past year . . . I'd take the 2nd verse of"Street Dreams" Remix >>>> ANYthing on IWW.

There's no way this album is top 5 . . . 10, 15, 25, 50, 100

 

[beatjunkie5]

On a song by song comparison, I skim through more songs on IWW than I would on illmatic...I can listen through the whole illmatic album and not skip a song.You could argue that IWW has more songs than Illmatic, but It Ain't Hard to Tell and Memory Lane >> Anything on IWW..

Oh and illmatic is one of my favorite albums EVER, and not just in hip hop...in general.

 

[blackmagnus514]

Illmatic is prolly one of the rawest street poetry albums i've ever heard. IWW is kinda wack to me save a few cuts...

 

[airuphere23]

Originally Posted by Starvin Harlem

BIG was ALWAYS on that Don $%*# . . . Looked how he dressed that was his whole persona from jump, son had maroon leather jackets hoppin off the G2 this is 1995 fam, he sat on the stage at the thrown as he was christened to be the King/ Savior of NY hip hop at the Source awards, Nas came in around 92, on the Zebrahead soundtrack, he was down with MC Search for christ sake, he didn't get on thet Don $%*# till "Mo Money, Mo Murder" off Doe or Die, then came IWW in 96 . . . That's 4 years fam, he watched otha dudes do they thing and then tried to piggyback off the idea . . . BIG was building songs around being a crimeboss on Ready To Die. To add to that Ready To Die is deffinetly a concept album, and its basically follows his trail from street level to boss status, his career was built off that $%*#.

NinjaHood
I did a review on the album and explained my stance track by track sometime ago, I'm not sure if it was before Yuku, but I'll go through real quick . . .

1. Intro - Nas is a slave in the south?? SKIP
2. The Message - Dope song.
3. Street Dreams - ??? What is this, that hook?? That beat ?? SKIP
4. I Gave You Power - Classic
5. What Dem Ninjas - ??? Is this Warren G, this $%*# sounds awful SKIP
6. Take It In Blood - This is decent, I wouldn't listen to it now, but when I was younger I liked it, these days . . . SKIP
7. Nas Is Coming - Prolly top 5 MC and top 5 producer (prolly #1 at that time) and this is the end result?? SKIP
8. Affirmative Action - AZ and Megas verses are sus song doesn't live up to the hype. I prolly wouldnt care if I never heard this song again.
9. The Set Up - This just sounds dated SKIP
10. Black Girl Lost - Dope song.
11. Suspect - This hook?? That beat?? OMG this song appropriatley titled, "Suspect" . . . SKIP
12. Shootuts - As a young lad I loved this song, its coo now, nothing amazing now.
13. Live @$@@* Rap - Some $%*# should stay in 1996 . . . I used to think this song was coo when I was younger, these days SKIP
14. If I Ruled The World - Classic

You can't have a classic album if you only got 2 classic songs . . . Illmatic is 8/9, OB4CL is prolly 13 or 14/16, this album is 2/13

In the last 8 years, I've had the urge to listen to this album all the way through prolly one time (because of a thread just like this, thanks to EZFlash) I'm not sure there's one song on this album that I've listened to more than 3 times in the past year . . . I'd take the 2nd verse of "Street Dreams" Remix >>>> ANYthing on IWW.

There's no way this album is top 5 . . . 10, 15, 25, 50, 100

Wow! That's all I'm gonna say...

 

[king jay xi]

WHAT!!!!!!!! IS THIS AN ACTUAL QUESTION!!??!!??

NOTHING CAN TOUCH iLLMATIC, MUCH LESS SOMETHING ELSE BY NaS!

THERE IS NO ARGUMENT!!!

 

[sillyrichard]

Originally Posted by Starvin Harlem

Nas came in the game with a whole different persona, listen to 'Live At The BBQ", Nas came in the game on some hood poetic rebel type music, I mean if you listened to him you would know this . . . Then he comes with this Escobar persona eating off otha dudes plates . . .

Ghost, Rae, Jay, BIG, was always on that fly drug rap ###% . . . Nas wasn't I smoke a lot and forget show, but I don't remember any drug raps from Illmatic, if there are some someone post please . . . (The line in Represent is all I can think of)

�JAY always on that fly drug rap?

NAS "Live At The BBQ" > JAY-Z "The Originators"

 

[mw2889]

Nas is the +%@!+!! GOAT

 

[championhood]

Originally Posted by AirUpHere23

Originally Posted by Starvin Harlem

BIG was ALWAYS on that Don $%*# . . . Looked how he dressed that was his whole persona from jump, son had maroon leather jackets hoppin off the G2 this is 1995 fam, he sat on the stage at the thrown as he was christened to be the King/ Savior of NY hip hop at the Source awards, Nas came in around 92, on the Zebrahead soundtrack, he was down with MC Search for christ sake, he didn't get on thet Don $%*# till "Mo Money, Mo Murder" off Doe or Die, then came IWW in 96 . . . That's 4 years fam, he watched otha dudes do they thing and then tried to piggyback off the idea . . . BIG was building songs around being a crimeboss on Ready To Die. To add to that Ready To Die is deffinetly a concept album, and its basically follows his trail from street level to boss status, his career was built off that $%*#.

NinjaHood
I did a review on the album and explained my stance track by track sometime ago, I'm not sure if it was before Yuku, but I'll go through real quick . . .

1. Intro - Nas is a slave in the south?? SKIP
2. The Message - Dope song.
3. Street Dreams - ??? What is this, that hook?? That beat ?? SKIP
4. I Gave You Power - Classic
5. What Dem Ninjas - ??? Is this Warren G, this $%*# sounds awful SKIP
6. Take It In Blood - This is decent, I wouldn't listen to it now, but when I was younger I liked it, these days . . . SKIP
7. Nas Is Coming - Prolly top 5 MC and top 5 producer (prolly #1 at that time) and this is the end result?? SKIP
8. Affirmative Action - AZ and Megas verses are sus song doesn't live up to the hype. I prolly wouldnt care if I never heard this song again.
9. The Set Up - This just sounds dated SKIP
10. Black Girl Lost - Dope song.
11. Suspect - This hook?? That beat?? OMG this song appropriatley titled, "Suspect" . . . SKIP
12. Shootuts - As a young lad I loved this song, its coo now, nothing amazing now.
13. Live @$@@* Rap - Some $%*# should stay in 1996 . . . I used to think this song was coo when I was younger, these days SKIP
14. If I Ruled The World - Classic

You can't have a classic album if you only got 2 classic songs . . . Illmatic is 8/9, OB4CL is prolly 13 or 14/16, this album is 2/13

In the last 8 years, I've had the urge to listen to this album all the way through prolly one time (because of a thread just like this, thanks to EZFlash) I'm not sure there's one song on this album that I've listened to more than 3 times in the past year . . . I'd take the 2nd verse of "Street Dreams" Remix >>>> ANYthing on IWW.

There's no way this album is top 5 . . . 10, 15, 25, 50, 100

Wow! That's all I'm gonna say...

basically...if da same logic was used today they'ed be no rap left cuz it would ALL suck according to you....and judging by those awful reviews yourimplyin that it was written has no replay value which is far from da truth......

9. The Set Up - This just sounds dated SKIP

thats one of my favorite tracks.

 

[rapper slash exec]

&

@ this even being an argument.

 

[apocalypz]

Originally Posted by SEND ONE

Illmatic.

It aint even close.

 

[thejrob]

I love them both, but Illmatic being the intro to Nas puts it over the top. It has less songs, but every one is unskipple in my mind.

 

[acidicality]

at a Nas/Jay-Z argument naturally entering the thread

 

[atransta]

9. The Set Up - This just sounds dated SKIP

thats one of my favorite tracks.


co-sign one of my favorite tracks off IWW