Sixteen years ago today, a little piece of hip hop history was made.
Nas‘s second album, It Was Written (1996) shook up the world of rap. The Pablo Escobar-esque persona Nas may have alienated some fans on this album, but ultimately helped spawn a whole sub genre within hip-hop of mafioso rap.
Today, many stubbornly insist, as they also did back then, that his first album Illmatic (1994) is far superior and remains his magnum opus. Many believed that Nas had ‘sold out’ after his debut album’s success, and its true that It Was Written was, and still is, his most commercially successful album ever.
Of course, few can deny the massive influence of Illmatic had. But context aside, no one can deny the technical excellence, vivid storytelling, mind-bending wordplay, and sheer poeticism of It Was Written. To remind the skeptics, and inform the young ones that have yet to move past Illmatic, here are the 13 best bars off of the album.
1. “The Message”
“A thug changes, and love changes/ And best friends become strangers”
2. “Street Dreams”
“From Fat Cat to Pappy, niggas see the cat/ Twenty-five to flat, push a thousand feet back/ Holding gats wasn’t making me fat”
3. “I Gave You Power”
“Always I’m on some shit/ My abdomen is the clip/ The barrel’s my dick, uncircumcised/ Pull my skin back and cock me, I bust off when they unlock me/ Result of what happens to niggas shocks me”
4. “Watch Dem Niggas”
“My Movado says seven, the God’s hour that’s if you follow/ Traditions started by the school not far from the apollo/ My fuck tomorrow motto through the eyes of Pablo/ Escobar, the desperado, word to Cus D’Amato”
5. “Take It In Blood”
“MC’s are crawling out every hole in the slum/ You be aight like blood money in a pimp’s cum”
6. “Nas Is Coming”
“A provocative plan could bring a knot to my hand/ As the pyramids stand on top of the sand”
7. “Affirmative Action”
“Life’s a bitch, but God forbid the bitch divorce me/ I’ll be flooded with ice so hellfire can’t scorch me”
8. “The Set Up”
“While we was gleaming, niggas was scheming/Seen the ill Beamers beaming/ Triple-beam and doublin’ cream had ’em feinding”
9. “Black Girl Lost”
“Could you believe Eve, Mother Earth of the Seas/ Niggas thirst you, you just let ’em hurt you and leave.”
10. “Suspect”
“It justifies, Nas Escobar’s leavin’ shit mesmerized/ Mega live like the third world/ Decipher my deceiver make him a believer/ Spitting gem stars, words in my mic type receiver”
11. “Shootouts”
“Shootouts is similar to Wild West/ Broad daylight, face to face without a vest/ You know the episodes, thugs camouflaging spectacles/ Please God to save the life that the Devil sold.”
12. “Live Nigga Rap”
“Anthropologists, dynasties of great knowledgists/ I preserve in my dome, niggas mics are full of silicone.”
13. “If I Ruled the World” feat. Lauryn Hill
“The way to be, paradise like relaxing black, Latino and Anglo-Saxon/ Armani Exchange deranged/ Cash, lost tribe of Shabazz, free at last/ Brand new whips to crash then we laugh in the iller path”
PHOTO CREDIT: GettyImages, WENN, Instagram
