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Thaofficialshed
Think I just fell back in love with this album, hopefully with Nas as a whole
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todayistheday1
I still remember buying the "clean" version by accident back in 96. I wasn't allowed to buy cds with parental advisory stickers on it. I thought the store forgot to put it on the cover. I was pumped. That shit was unlistenable.
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journik850
Used to be a sole Illmatic fan, but I've revisited this after two years and found a new appreciation for its clean sound. I must be just falling hard for that 90's vibe.
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maddsurgeon
I like it a lot better than Illmatic just based on the production. The raps themselves don't impress much, though.
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SimonePerrota
It's frustrating that all of It Was Written's most conscious songs, bar one, are also it's most commercial songs. Joints like “Affirmative Action” and “Nas Is Coming” offer some reprieve from the usual but they’re played out and overblown. Another contemplative number or two in the vein of “I Gave You Power" or "Memory Lane" would have made quite a difference. Nas rarely sounds uncomfortable here (even though his relentless imagery/narration and fast-paced flows often impinge on the songwriting) but it’s hard to escape the sense that the pop flourishes AND Mafioso touches (or should I say smudges) were opportunistic and that calculation is too loud for me to label It Was Written a classic, let alone AS GOOD AS ILLMATIC (come on!). It's an 8.5/10 for me.
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SimonePerrota
Disappointing? No. Inferior to Illmatic? Yes. Even though the bulk of It Was Written's subject matter is Mafioso in tone and the content gritty, the album is crafted with a firm eye on what's selling... It's possible to find an equilibrium (as we saw with Reasonable Doubt) but It Was Written is a little top heavy and a naïve. A few beats suffer from overly-polished production and arrangements and the album's sound begins to trail off into monotony ever so slightly towards the end... As accomplished as Nas is on It Was Written, there's a discernible lack of variety topically. Almost the entire album is ingrained in the same territory (high-octane, often moral-laced accounts of shoot-outs, come-ups and criminal ties), which makes the exceptions, Black Girl Lost and If I Ruled The World (good tracks but cross-overs-in-waiting), sound jarring. Suddenly you’re taken from the street to a plush r&b club and back again. The sequencing doesn’t help either…
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BLACKENEDPLAGUE
Now so far the AVERAGE opinion is that this a disappointing sophomore album after Illmatic, but damn so far this is every bit as good!
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SimonePerrota
Reasonable Doubt > It Was Written. It's fresher and the production doesn't lag towards the end...
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DickBigems
Though it's a really good album and one of the better ones by Nas, it's composition was sort of gimmicky in nature.
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nialldapoet
Overall this album isnt as good as Illmatic, but I Gave You Power is my favourite nas song ever, well 2nd only to one love.
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MCNasirJones
Nas Ratings Best To Worst 1:Illmatic 10/10 Classic 2:Lost Tapes 10/10 Classic 3:It Was Written Classic 4:Stillmatic Classic 9.9/10 5:Gods Son 9.2/10 Near Classic 6:Hip Hop Is Dead 9/10 7:Untitled 9/10 8:Distant Relatives 9/10 9:Streets Disiple 8.8/10 10:I Am... 8/10 11:Nastradumus 7/10
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