It’s funny how things work. Illmatic came out and Nas had the world at his feet, licking. Literally. After a full summer had gone by, us hip hop freaks (these were a real thing back then) had crowned Nas as an untouchable, unfuckiwidable king. He’d made a perfect album. His music was hard, smart and impeccably produced. Couldn’t say shit about it. Anyway, It Was Written came out and Nas’ rep became instant doo doo, mostly because of his (terrible) choice in beats (Ed. note 2021: it’s aged pretty well). The lyrics were still there but I didn’t even check for him until Stillmatic started popping on the radio (well I did like “Owe Me Back” but that’s not really a Nas song). Point being we missed a lot of shit.
- black double vinyl pressing
- printed inner sleeves
- digital download included
- music label: Columbia 2018