It Was Written [PA] - Nas (CD 1996)

Ah, the welcoming pressure of making a second album! At least credit Nas for at least putting up a herculean effort. Or did he? Illmatic was an album hard to complement with an equal follow-up, perhaps more than any other debut album in hip-hop history. It was probably closer to perfection than any hip-hop album that came before and after it (check out my Illmatic review). I mean, really, considering how excellent this album is, don t you think it would have scared Nas out of his wits even thinking of making a sophomore album? Hell, I wouldn t have completely blamed him if he decided to...

Releasing a stunning, genre-changing debut album for any artist is always a double-edged sword I feel. Very, very few artists ever come close to even equalling their previous efforts. This problem is particularly poignant in the world of hip-hop. Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, The Pharcyde, The Wu-Tang Clan, AZ, hell even Dr. Dre have always struggled to top their previous groundbreaking debuts. Queensbridge emcee, and hip-hop luminary, Nas knows about their struggles only too well. He released one of THE greatest albums of all time in 1994 with Illmatic - literally introducing his new highly complex,..

It is well documented by hip hop fans that Nas coming of age vengeance album is Stillmatic . Now from those on epinions who have read my reviews or generally know my taste in hip hop, I personally didn t highly rate Stillmatic and thought it was an album that was hyped around Nas and Jay-Z s beef . As many people will know and speculate Nas has had one of the most disappointing and turning music careers of the last twenty years, and in many ways a very unfortunate one. After releasing the second best hip hop album ever made Illmatic , Nas had so much to live up to and in all honesty was...

When an artist drops such an amazing first debut such as Illmatic that is crowned a classic, one has to wonder how that artist will follow up to that amazing album. Most, if not all, artists hit a "sophomoric slump" and end up releasing an album that tries to recapture the glory that the first one had, but fail miserably. This is especially true in the genre of Hip Hop. In 1994 an emcee by the name of Nas released that classic Illmatic, which most had deemed a classic in the Hip Hop world. While many believed that he was the "next coming of Rakim",(who was and still is today an excellent...