- hip hop, boom bap
- 59 min
- 14 tracks
- Columbia
It Was Written is the second studio album by American rapper Nas, released on July 2, 1996, by Columbia Records. After the modest commercial success of his debut album Illmatic (1994), Nas pursued a more polished, mainstream sound for It Was Written. Produced largely by Trackmasters, it departed from the debut's raw, underground aesthetic and embraced mafioso and gangsta themes.
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Character
Grave, classical in form, spare and earnest.
- gravecomic
- classical in formformally daring
- sparerichly built
- earnestironic
- cooloverwhelming
Who loves it, who doesn't
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Reviews
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What critics gave it
Each outlet on its own scale.
- AllMusic4/5 ★
- Chicago Sun-Times3.5/4 ★
- Chicago Tribune3.5/4 ★
- Entertainment WeeklyA−
- Los Angeles Times3.5/4 ★
- NME6/10
- Q4/5 ★
- Rolling Stone2/5 ★
- The Rolling Stone Album Guide4/5 ★
- The Source4/5 ★
As listed in the ratings box of Wikipedia’s article (CC BY-SA). Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
Tracks
- 1Album Intro2:25
- 2The Message3:54
- 3Street Dreams4:40
- 4I Gave You Power3:53
- 5Watch Dem Niggas4:05
- 6Take It in Blood4:48
- 7Nas Is Coming5:41
- 8Affirmative Action4:20
- 9The Set Up4:02
- 10Black Girl Lost4:23
- 11Suspect4:12
- 12Shootouts3:46
- 13Live Nigga Rap3:45
- 14If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)4:42
14 tracks, 59 minutes.
About the album
- Artist
- Nas
- Label
- Columbia
- Type
- Album
- Format
- Digital Media
- Country
- US
From MusicBrainz, the earliest official release of this album.
Where to listen
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