It Was Written

in 1993 Following the critical acclaim of his debut album Illmatic (1994), Nas chose to concentrate his efforts in a more mainstream direction, in contrast to the raw, unpolished and underground tone of his debut. Despite its significant impact on hip hop at the time, Illmatic did not experience the larger sales of most major releases at the time in hip hop, such as Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle (1993). This was due in part to Nas's shy personality and uninvolvement in promoting the record. Nas began to make appearances on other artists' work, including Kool G Rap's "Fast Life" on his album 4, 5, 6 (1995) and Raekwon's "Verbal Intercourse" on his album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (1995), which made Nas the first non-Wu-Tang Clan member to appear on one of its solo recordings. He began to dub himself as Nas Escobar on these guest appearances. Meanwhile, his excessive spending habits left him with little money, and Nas was forced to ask for a loan to purchase clothes to wear to the Source Awards ceremony in 1995. The success of fellow East Coast act The Notorious B.I.G. and promoter Puff Daddy at the awards show sent a message to Nas to change his commercial approach, resulting in his hiring of Steve "The Commissioner" Stoute as manager. While Illmatic attained gold status in the United States, Stoute convinced Nas to aim his efforts in a more mainstream, commercial direction for his second album, after which Nas enlisted the production team Trackmasters, who were known at the time for their mainstream success. Other producers for the album included DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, Havoc of Mobb Deep, L.E.S., Live Squad, and MC Serch as executive producer. Following the recording, It Was Written was mastered by Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound in New York City. The artist Aimée Macauley designed the album cover, while Danny Clinch took photos for the packaging. ==Music and lyrics==

In contrast to Illmatic, the album contains a more detailed and elaborate production, It Was Written has Nas experimenting with a theatrical mafioso concept under the alias of "Nas Escobar" (inspired by the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar). Nas also references lines from his previous material, a common element in his music that has been analyzed by one music writer as "return[ing] to his professional beginnings in those references." One critic described the song as a "bloody narrative", and cited it as "one of the most visually evocative songs of Nas's career". The song's title references the classic hip hop single "The Message" (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Legendary producer DJ Premier had one production credit on the jazz fusion-styled "I Gave You Power", The song is accompanied by falling piano notes and stuttering drums. Brett Berliner of Stylus Magazine described the song's beat as "extremely mafioso, sounding straight out of Goodfellas, with strings and crescendos", while he cited the song as "one of the best posse tracks of all time." ==Critical reception==

It Was Written was generally well-received by critics. Marc Landas of The Source called it an "audio anthology of ghetto stories told by one of hip-hop's most prolific writers." Despite calling the album "adequate" and commending Nas for his lyricism and flow, Ex concluded that It Was Written "isn't nearly as satisfying as his first one." Q magazine called Nas's performance "angry, lean and full of drive." The album's release followed the commercial success of other mafioso-themed rap albums with similar subject matter, including Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (1995), Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt (1996) and AZ's Doe or Die (1995). Rolling Stones Mark Coleman wrote negatively of Nas's themes and called it "the latest blatant example of trashy tough-guy talk", writing "Certainly he strikes a note of creepy realism in his stories of heavyweight dealing and literally cutthroat competition. 'The Set Up', 'Shootouts' and 'Affirmative Action' [...] are chilling in their how-many-grams-to-a-kilo detail and utter amorality. On 'Watch Dem Niggas', Nas cites as inspirations both the boxing coach Cus D'Amato and the murderous drug lord Pablo Escobar. What is this guy thinking?". indicating an album that "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't." The album was ranked number 41 in NMEs critics' poll of 1996, and Jim Farber of the New York Daily News named it the sixth best album of 1996. German-based magazine Spex ranked it number four on its "End of Year" list, while the UK-based magazine The Face named it the twenty-fourth best album of 1996. "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" was ranked number 29 on NME's Singles of the Year list, and number 20 on The Village Voices Pazz & Jop critics' poll. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1997. Retrospect Leo Stanley of AllMusic later praised Nas's lyricism and ghetto-themed vignettes, along with the album's detailed production. While later reviews of the album were more positive, the subject matter was still criticized. Reviewers found Nas's violent, fantastical mafioso stories to lack the authentic, emotional qualities of his debut album. While Illmatic is often held as Nas's masterpiece, It Was Written deemed a case of the sophomore slump and the first of his subsequent work to be scrutinized in comparison to the former. ==Commercial performance==

It Was Written was released on July 2, 1996, selling 270,000 copies in its first week. remaining on the latter chart at number one for four consecutive weeks, in the top 20 for eleven weeks, and a total of thirty-four weeks in the top 200. The second single "Street Dreams" hit No. 1 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart, as well as No. 1 on the Hot Rap Singles chart, while it peaked at No. 18 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. On January 8, 1997, "Street Dreams" was certified Gold in sales by the RIAA for shipments of 500,000 copies. It Was Written remains Nas's best-selling album. On September 6, 1996, the album was certified 2× platinum, selling over 2 million copies. In 2001, it had reached sales of more than 2.13 million copies. On June 24, 2021, it was certified triple platinum by the RIAA. ==Aftermath and legacy==

"Nas is Coming" began a brief collaboration between Nas and West Coast hip hop producer Dr. Dre. The alliance also resulted in the formation of The Firm, Nas's short-lived supergroup, which comprised rappers Foxy Brown, AZ, and Cormega, who make their debut on track number eight, "Affirmative Action". In addition, West Coast-based rapper Tupac Shakur took offense to the opening line of the song "The Message", and in retaliation insulted Nas on a song titled "Against All Odds" from his posthumously released album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996). Nas and Shakur eventually met and reconciled prior to the latter's fatal shooting. As a result of his death, Shakur did not have the opportunity to remove the insults to Nas in "Against All Odds" on The 7 Day Theory. He went on to explain the album's influence on him: American reggae and hip hop artist Matisyahu regards It Was Written as one of his influences as well. He cites the introduction of It Was Written, in which slaves rebel against their owner, as having a major influence on him. According to The Washington Post, "Matisyahu, too, felt enslaved. By what? He didn't know. Just felt the chains. The lyrics rocked him. The beat did, too." Matisyahu stated that after listening to It Was Written, "I connected with hip-hop, the hardness of it, the driving beat. It's music with space, that has gaps in every little thing that happens." American rapper Cordae has also referenced the album as a big influence to his musical career. Danny Brown claimed to have quit his job in order to stay home and listen to It Was Written, inspiring him to pursue rapping full time. Subsequent work by Nas While It Was Written earned more positive notices from critics over time, its standing also suffered from comparisons to the acclaimed Illmatic. Against this standard, they have often been critically deemed as mediocre follow-ups. Nas, however, made something of a comeback with his fifth album Stillmatic (2001) and the follow-up ''God's Son'' (2002), ==Track listing==

Information is taken from the album's liner notes. Sample credits • "Album Intro" contains samples from "A Change Is Gonna Come", performed by Sam Cooke, and "The Sly, Slick, and the Wicked", performed by The Lost Generation. • "The Message" contains samples from "Shape of My Heart", performed by Sting, "Impeach the President", performed by The Honey Drippers, and "Halftime" and "N.Y. State of Mind", both performed by Nas. • "Street Dreams" contains a sample of "Never Gonna Stop", performed by Linda Clifford, and an interpolation of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", performed by Eurythmics. • "I Gave You Power" contains a sample of "Theme Bahamas", performed by Ahmad Jamal. • "Watch Dem..." contains a sample of "The Sponge", performed by Bob James and Earl Klugh. • "Take It in Blood" contains samples from "Mixed Up Moods and Attitudes", performed by The Fantastic Four, "Ease Back", performed by Ultramagnetic MC's, and "Action", performed by Orange Krush. • "Nas Is Coming" contains a sample of "Synopsis Two: Mother's Day", performed by The 24-Carat Black. • "Black Girl Lost" contains a sample of "Starlight", performed by Stephanie Mills. • "Suspect" contains samples from "El Gato Triste", performed by Chuck Mangione, and "Kitty With the Bent Frame", performed by Quincy Jones. • "Shootouts" contains samples from "I Wish You Were Here", performed by Al Green. • "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" contains a sample of "Friends", performed by Whodini, and interpolations from "If I Ruled the World", performed by Kurtis Blow, and "Walk Right Up to the Sun", performed by The Delfonics. ==Personnel==

Credits are taken from the liner notes. • Dave Atkinson – keyboards, producer • AZ – vocals • Foxy Brown – vocals • Danny Clinch – photography • Cormega – vocals • Tom Coyne – mastering • Delight – keyboards • DJ Kid Capri – scratching • DJ Premier – producer • Dr. Dre – producer, vocals • Bill Esses – mixing • Mike Fronda – mixing • Kirk Goddy – producer • Joel "JoJo" Hailey – vocals • Havoc – producer • Lauryn Hill – vocals • Ken "Duro" Ifill – vocals, mixing • L.E.S. – producer • Live Squad – producer • Aimee MacAuley – art direction, design • Nas – vocals, producer, exec. • J. Parker – vocals • Poke & Tone – producer, mixing • Kelston Rice – engineer • Eddie Sancho – engineer • Rashad Smith – producer • Steve Stoute – exec. producer, management • Trackmasters – producer, exec. producer • Richard Travali – mixing • Kurt Walker – vocals ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==