Reacting to "It Was Written" by Nas

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100 gecs – 1000 gecs, 10,000 gecs
21 Savage – Without Warning
50 Cent – Get Rich or Die Trying
A Tribe Called Quest – Low End Theory, Midnight Marauders
Ab Soul – Control System
A$AP Rocky – Live.Love.A$AP
Baby Keem – The Melodic Blue
Backxwash – I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES
Beyonce – Lemonade, RENAISSANCE
Billy Woods – Maps
BROCKHAMPTON – Saturation
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Creepin on Ah Come Up
Chance the Rapper – Acid Rap
Chief Keef – Finally Rich
Childish Gambino – Because the Internet
Clipping. – There Existed an Addiction to Blood
Common – Be
Conway the Machine – God Don’t Make Mistakes
D’Angelo – VooDoo
Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition, XXX, uknowhatimsayin, Quaranta
Dave – Psychodrama
De La Soul – Three Feet High and Rising
Death Grips – The Money Store, Exmilitary, Bottomless Pit
Denzel Curry – Taboo, Unlocked!, Melt My Eyez See Your Future
DMX – It’s Dark and Hell is Hot
Doja Cat – Scarlet
Drake – Take Care, Reading This/Too Late, Nothing Was the Same
Earl Sweatshirt – Doris, IDLSIDGO, Some Rap Songs, Solace
Erykah Badu – Baduizm
Frank Ocean – Blonde, Channel Orange
Freddie Gibbs – Pinata
Future – DS2, Monster, We Don’t Trust You
Ice Cube – Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
Ice Spice – Like..?
Injury Reserve – By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Isaiah Rashad – Cilvia Demo
J Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive, 4 Your Eyez Only
J Dilla – Donuts
Jay Z – Blueprint, Reasonable Doubt, Watch the Throne, 4:44
Joey Bada$$ – 1999
JID – The Never Story, The Forever Story, Dicaprio 2
JPEGMAFIA – Veteran, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, LP!, Scaring The Hoes
Ka – Honor Killed the Samurai
Kanye – College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation, 808s & Heartbreak, MBDTF, Yeezus, Life of Pablo, Ye
Ken Carson – A Great Chaos
Kendrick – Section.80, Good Kid Mad City, To Pimp a Butterfly, DAMN, Untitled Unmastered, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers
Kenny Beats – Louie
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon
Kids See Ghosts – Kids See Ghosts
Killer Mike – Michael
Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of
Lil Ugly Mane – Mista Thug Isolation
Lil Uzi Vert – Pink Tape
Lil Wayne – Tha Carter, Tha Carter II
Lil Yachty – Let’s Start Here
Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, Grey Area, NO THANK YOU, Drop 7
Lucki – Watch My Back
Lupe Fiasco – Food & Liquor
Mac Miller – Swimming, Circles
Mckinley Dixon – Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
Metro Boomin – Heroes & Villains
MF DOOM – Madvillainy, Mm Food
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Mick Jenkins – The Patience
Mobb Deep – The Infamous
Mos Def – Black on Both Sides
Mos Def, Talib Kweli – Black Star
Nas – Illmatic, It Was Written
Nicki Minaj – Pink Print, Pink Friday, Pink Friday 2
NONAME – Telefone
Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die
On Man – Self Titled
Outkast – Southernplaya, ATLiens, Aquemini, Stankonia
Pierre Bourne – TLOP4
Playboi Carti – Die Lit, Whole Lotta Red
Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions
Pusha T – Daytona
Richie Russo – Make Believe
Rihanna – ANTI
Run the Jewels – RTJ1, RTJ2, RTJ3
ScHoolboy Q – Blank Face, Blue Lips
Slick Rick – Great Adventures of Slick Rick
Slowthai – Ugly
Smino – Luv 4 Rent
SZA – CTRL, SOS
Teezo Touchdown – How Do You Sleep at Night
Teyana Taylor – KTSE
The Roots – Things Fall Apart
The Weeknd – House of Balloons, Thursday, Echoes of Silence
Three 6 Mafia – Mystic Stylez
Thundercat – Drunk
Travis Scott – Astroworld, Rodeo, Utopia
Tupac – Me Against the World, All Eyez On Me
Tyler the Creator – IGOR, Flower Boy, Call Me if You Get Lost (The Estate Sale)
UGK – Ridin’ Dirty
Vince Staples – Hell Can Wait, Big Fish Theory
Wu-Tang – 36 Chambers, Liquid Swords, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Yeat – Afterlyfe, 2093
Youngboy NBA – AI Youngboy 2, 3800 Degrees
Young Thug – Barter 6

This is my first time listen and reaction to the album “It Was Written” by Nas. Enjoy!

0:00:00 – Opening Thoughts
0:03:15 – Album Intro
0:06:20 – The Message
0:12:40 – Street Dreams
0:22:40 – I Gave You Power
0:29:55 – Watch Dem Niggas
0:37:55 – Take It in Blood
0:45:10 – Nas is Coming
0:52:10 – Affirmative Action
0:59:40 – The Set Up
01:06:35 – Black Girl Lost
01:14:25 – Suspect
01:22:15 – Shootouts
01:29:40 – Live Nigga Rap
01:34:40 – If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)
01:41:45 – Closing Thoughts

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49 thoughts on “Reacting to "It Was Written" by Nas”

  2. Following up illmatic would have been tough for anyone. This, and Stillmatic were good, but the pressure to lean more into the gangster image, felt like a step backward for someone as intelligent as Nas

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  5. Circa Back To The 1st Nas Verse U Ever Heard….
    New York State Of Mind he was in a shootout in the Daytime so he's been both the Solider and Reporter that's what makes him a great one. Plus he's from the most Notorious Projects in NYC History so u get alot of commentating too 😂 Great Reaction 💥

    Before u go to his new works u gotta react to
    "I Am"
    "Stillmatic"
    "Lost Tapes"
    "GOD'S Son"
    And "Life Is Good" 1st lol

    Reply

  10. To me this albums is about just as good as Illmatic. Cant say its underrated but for the longest time there existed a myth that Nas only had one good album and he has proven that wrong both in the 90´s and now with his new albums

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  14. It Was Written is definitely my favorite naS album and infinitely better than Illmatic. LOL nah naS stories are not true theyre like movies.

    I Gave You Power is just personification of a gun. Thats the only metaphor. In order to get those additional layers you have to listen to Lupe

    Take It In Blood – yeah naS sometimes says some stuff that just doesnt mean anything… gibberish. His stans will never admit it. That particular bar was gross too.

    naS is coming is wack, my least favorite song on the album. Got wack bars like "nacho cheese, Im Castro".

    What you said about naS turning more "gangsta" on this album than on illmatic is why I take such exception with the narrative surrounding naS and hip hop as a whole. People will claim up and down that that Illmatic made everyone change their style when in actuality Illmatic flopped and it forced naS to change his style. Literally the opposite of what people say about naS is true. Like you were looking for layers on I Gave You Power bc the narrative is that naS is layered. He's not, he's as basic as anyone else except he has a knack for telling detailed stories.

    I liked the analogy you gave with naS being a reporter, Pac being in the action, and Jay calling the shots.

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  22. While you are on the nas track, listen to his third album ''Stillmatic'' it's really good and it includes disses towards Jay-Z, with ''ether'' being one of the best disstracks ever.

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  25. YES SIRRRRRR! FINALLY! I've been listening to Illmatic again (always have) but this time on repeat. Whole album. And I got more out the lyrics after so many years. Im young though, 31, so I got into Nas maybe 15 years ago or so. It Was Written is just as much of a classic imo. None hip-hop heads sleep on this album sometimes.

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  28. Don't apologize because sometimes we aren't quite ready. As a kid when I was into hip-hop but didn't know much (nobody introduced me to anything) so after a few years of radio singles and music videos, I started downloading albums. Illmatic just seemed boring but I always liked NY State of Mind. When I got older into my teens I fell in love with this album. And as I became a fan of hip-hop, I find out it's considered by many as THE BEST hip-hop album ever. And for good reason! The credits alone OH MY GOD! All legends!

    So my point is we aren't always ready and listening to this immediately after Illmatic was maybe too early in your journey too. So things happen when they happen for a reason. And I think it was better this way anyway. Now with all the mainstream stuff out the way, the newer music, you can appreciate a classic and the skill that went into it.

    I'd like to point out something I heard someone else say which is a great point: Production at the time meant learning the ins and outs of the machines you had access to. Machines that had limits. Floppy discs. In an era of tape! These sampling machines could only do so much so people got creative. Hooked machines up, used multiple floppies, had to go find new hardware, track down old hardware, etc. Nowadays you have every instrument ever made a few clicks away. It's all plugins and bs. Just too much. So the creativity has been lost in mainstream hip-hop. Producers now click a bit, drag some stuff and in 20 minutes have a basic beat that people love. It's annoying. Which is why I think I started experimenting with other artists. Outsiders in a way. JPEGMAFIA being one. His production is so unique leagues above some of the biggest names in current day hip-hop.

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  29. You probably have covid or long covid symptoms. I know I got some muscle soreness, tiredness and even pins & needles. But after a couple weeks it went away. You'll be fine either way. Rest up brother.

    Reply

  33. People slept on Dre around these years. After The Chronic (1992). He had a group with Nas and others called The Firm that same year (1996). It didn't do well. And Dre had another album The Aftermath which didn't sell well. This made Dre doubt himself until he started working on The Chronic 2001 and met Eminem who lit a fire under his ass 😂. Dre even says Em saved his career. Gives him huge props.

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  37. i was a teenager in new york when this was out, i bought the tape and also stole my friend's CD (lol still have it till this day)…. Nas Is Coming was the most hated song on the whole album (eventhough i liked it) but yeah its not jjust you, its just not a typical nas great song.

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  38. BTW the cassette tape has a bonus track called Silent Murder and its a very good song beat wise and lyrics. It's not on streaming services or the cd release… its a gem to those who actually bought the tape back in 1996

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  45. I can understand you needing more time with this because it's such a switch from Illmatic. I'm sure you didn't know what to expect yet you had certain expectations because of what you've been told.

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  46. I would say if there's an analogy in the song "I Gave You Power", it's the cycle of black-on-black violence and human beings (with a specific focus on the black poor in ghettoes) being devalued and instrumentalized – being made into an object who can only generate profit through violence, because of their circumstances – under capitalism.

    Reply

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