Ryan Reviews: It Was Written (1996) by Nas
As the second generation of Queensbridge hip hop came to fruition in the first half of the 90s, the leader of that new generation, Nas, gave the world an absolute gift in 1994, dropping his debut album Illmatic. Needless to say, after how influential Illmatic was from the get-go, Nas created a high standard for himself, but was able to capitalize off of Illmatic’s success and, two years later, came back with one of the better sophomore albums in hip hop history. On July 2, 1996, It Was Written was released, like its predecessor, on Columbia Records. And while it isn’t quite on the same overall level as Illmatic, it’s a fantastic follow-up for which Nas deserves eternal credit.
Nas went for a bit more of a mafioso theme in his lyrics, which had started to dominate east coast hip hop by the middle of the decade. The album was longer and featured more guest appearances than its predecessor, with cameos by Dr. Dre, The Firm, Mobb Deep, and Lauryn Hill. While Nas was excellent lyrically, the production was also very strong, handled by Trackmasters, DJ Premier, Havoc of Mobb Deep, L.E.S. and Dr. Dre also contributing. The beats were state of the art for 1996, and did not skimp on the hard drums and excellent sampling over which Nas made his name. And though it cannot compare lyrically or production-wise to Illmatic, It Was Written is a classic album and should not be overlooked.
There is a more diverse offering on this record, and it is less compact and straightforward. The first three songs are absolute classics, and are some of Nas’ most celebrated work. “The Message” gives a graphic look into street-level activities over a fantastic guitar loop. “Street Dreams” introduces the mafioso theme with Nas dropping some incredibly slick bars. “I Gave You Power” is probably the most creative song off the album, with Nas telling a story from the perspective of a gun over a remarkable DJ Premier beat. “Watch Dem N*****” brings fellow Firm member Foxy Brown into the fray for the first time, as the two trade sharp bars over a more relaxing instrumental. “Take It in Blood” is another lyrical gem, almost a follow-up to “Street Dreams”, with a catchy-yet-unforgiving approach to street-level operations over a delightfully dusty instrumental.
Perhaps based off of the success and influence of Illmatic, Nas was approached by Dr. Dre in the mid 90s, and the two started a brief creative relationship. The first iteration of this was on the surprisingly underwhelming “Nas is Coming”, the seventh cut off of this record. Often considered one of the weakest and most commercial tracks on the record, the song plods for almost six minutes, but leads into a track featuring a group of MCs from the soon-to-be-created supergroup, curated by Dr. Dre himself, that would be known as The Firm. “Affirmative Action” sees AZ join Foxy Brown and Cormega — the latter two would go on to be involved in The Firm, while Cormega was ousted from the collective early on for fellow Queensbridge rapper Nature. “Affirmative Action” features some of the strongest guest verses in the history of Nas’ discography, with Foxy Brown absolutely bringing down the house with her final verse, which contains a number of memorable cocaine-related mathematical calculations.
Havoc from Mobb Deep jumps on “The Set Up”, which is one of the most underrated Queensbridge cuts in existence. Nas and Havoc trade ultra-grimy street tales over one of Havoc’s patented menacing beats. “Black Girl Lost” brings in JoJo from K-Ci & JoJo and delivers some of the more conscious subject material on the record. “Suspect”, “Shootouts” and “Live N**** Rap” gloriously bring the street-level mentality back into the fray with a vengeance, with the last of those three seeing both of Mobb Deep’s members this time: Prodigy delivers a top-notch verse, extremely characteristic of him in 1996.
But perhaps the crown jewel of the record is the last track, the seminal “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” featuring Lauryn Hill of The Fugees. Over an idealistic but somber beat, Nas lets his imagination run wild, envisioning a fantasy world in which social problems like racism, crime and poverty simply don’t exist. It is one of the most imaginative and ambitious hip hop songs ever, and features excellent vocal work by Lauryn Hill in between Nas’ excellent verses. While it’s chronologically the last track, it is the de facto centerpiece of It Was Written, and caps the record off in an unforgettable manner.
1996 was the beginning of the infamous “shiny suit era” of extreme materialism and a sellout mentality in hip hop. It’s the year where the genre began to show ominous signs of commercializing and shamelessly crossing over into pop music territory, making the early 90s blunders of Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer look relatively tame in comparison. But for Nas, it was an important year of establishing himself and beginning to solidify his legacy following his debut. While It Was Written wasn’t as gritty as his debut, and featured some subtle hints of commercialization itself, it resonated mostly well with listeners. It also aged rather well, arguably landing in the top three or four of his whopping 16-record discography. It takes the themes, concepts and soundscapes from Illmatic and pushes them in new directions without sounding inauthentic or forced. It throws in a little more polish and a few more guest appearances, and helped Nas solidify his presence in the rap game, a presence that is still extremely strong today.
In short, the record is often overlooked, but it shouldn’t be. It Was Written is worth any hip hop fan’s time and attention, and it remains in my all-time top 25.
Ryan’s rating: 8.75/10.
