#FlashbackFriday: It Was Written (20th Anniversary) - @Nas; A Niles P. Joint

Comparing hip hop to movies is a time honored tradition.  I’ve done it before, I’m about to do it now, and I’ll more than likely do it later.  But since it's the 20th anniversary of It Was Written, the metaphor is certainly warranted.  To understand how Nas arrived here, think of him as a writer/director instead of an emcee.  After making an arthouse flick his first time out, he received universal acclaim but not necessarily the expected spoils financially, nor the awards.  So the second time around, he was tapped for a production with a bigger budget and wider release.  Make no mistake, Nas’ goal this time was to knock it out of the park and garner mass appeal & sales.  But selling out completely proved impossible, as old habits die hard and the album itself became triple-layered yet nonlinear.  

At its root, IWW is about progression from project dwelling poet to drug dealer chic.  The latter takes form in an increase in glossy production as Trackmasters had a hand in 8 of 14 beats on the album.  1996 was the heyday of Mafioso rap and Nas jumped in headfirst with wondrous results.  Street Dreams was his first blatantly commercial single.  An Annie Lennox interpolation in the hook conveyed the want for material things as a sign of wealth.  The video even inspired some ridicule for Nas’ pink suit, but the tone was set either way.  La Cosa Nostra vibes flowed on the posse cut Affirmative Action which was the birth of would-be supergroup The Firm, which then included Nas Escobar, AZ, Cormega, & Foxy Brown.  Boss talk over Mediterranean strings was the order of the day.  He even linked with Dr. Dre for the criminally underrated Nas Is Coming which happened at the time of much media hyperbole about East vs. West in hip hop.  

No matter how much he left Queensbridge in the physical, Queensbridge never fully left him.  This is how you get street tales from one of the best storytellers in hip hop.  Fellow QB dweller Havoc contributed his trademark menacing beatsmith skills on The Set Up along with hook vocals.  Nas puts you right in the action of the narrative, whether you want to be there or not.  Old friend L.E.S. once again hops behind the boards for Suspect, which is another edition in Nas’ library of hard boiled stories.  The hook warns potential snitches, which saw a recent rebirth in a recent era.  More Queensbridge brotherhood is abound in Live Nigga Rap as this time both halves of Mobb Deep arrive as reinforcements for a filthy track that’ll murder you with one of those mini bats they got at a Mets game.  It’s easily the rawest on the album, necessarily unpolished.  

Despite drug kingpin wishes and projects sensibilities, Nas still prevails with cerebral creativity.  On the Album Intro, he imagines a slave revolt over the string section from Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come.  Nothing is more ingenious than I Gave You Power, where Nas personifies a handgun.  No matter how many times I’ve heard it (a lot) it still captivates me like the first time.  Also, somehow I didn’t realize that DJ Premier produced it until the other day (SHAME!)  While it would be derided today by misguided Tumblr whiners accusing it of any transgression possible, Black Girl Lost actually has Nas looking out for young sisters that might be moving too fast down a bad path.  But the crown jewel of the album is If I Ruled The World.  Inspired by Kurtis Blow, Nas creates his own idea of a Black utopia on wax.  Of course this was made possible by a gorgeous hook & bridge by Fugees-era Lauryn Hill.  There couldn't be a more perfect ending.

More than likely, your first instinct will be to compare the sophomore album to the debut one.  Don’t.  They come from two entirely different places in Nas’ life and by playing the comparison game, you’ll undoubtedly miss a lot of the brilliance in It Was Written.  His first album was about life as it is.  This album was about ambition for better while realizing the perils of your past aren’t that far in your rearview.  Materialism might consume you for part of it but if you keep focused you can create your own reality.  This album has been praised by a number of hip hop luminaries as an influence.  This author even remembers shopping for Jordans at A&J’s in Neptune City while Take It In Blood played in the store.  The progression makes you want more for yourself, wherever you may be in life.  As an adult I can appreciate its scope more, especially when viewed singularly.  And 20 years later, hip hop is finally giving the props it deserves.

#ThrowbackThursday: Doe Or Die - AZ (@QuietAZMoney); A Niles P. Joint

Believe it or not, it’s entirely possible to have a bonafide classic/genre defining album and still be one of the most criminally underrated rappers in Hip Hop history. Such is the case with AZ. 

Born Anthony Cruz, the BK emcee used his guest appearance on Nas’ Life’s A Bitch (from the legendary Illmatic) as a launching point for his own career. His 1995 debut Doe or Die celebrated its 20th birthday a week ago. It is regarded as a classic by those in the know and definitely plays a pivotal role in the genre’s history. However, despite selling a million copies, I still feel that the album mirrors AZ’s career as a whole inasmuch as it is slept on by far too many people. So for this Throwback Thursday, we’re going to revisit Doe or Die for the fans and hopefully put some new people on to a classic.

The album actually starts on a gritty note, as the intro soliloquy spills into Uncut Raw which is the darkest song on the album. The gun sound effects built into the beat make it the musical version of rolling up on your enemy with a black hoody on.The scene shifts completely with Gimme Yours. Nas comes through on the intro and chorus while AZ raps about his desire for the finer things in life. As a kid listening to this I always imagined this song playing while you were laid up with a naked chick in some expensive ass hotel room eating lobster provided by room service. That still applies as this song is the epitome of decadence, albeit peppered with AZ’s trademark wisdom. Speaking of which, the Buckwild produced Ho Happy Jackie works as a story of a fictional gold digger and how to avoid real ones. Peep game because the money saved might be your own.

Rather Unique has AZ flexing lyrically over an easygoing Pete Rock beat. Every rapper needs a track where he both tells and also shows you how ill he is with the wordplay. This is that track. The tempo kicks up a few notches on I Feel For You.  Erica Scott provides omnipresent backing vocals and AZ takes a moment to briefly feel sorry for the competition. The instrumental fits his multi syllables like a glove, mostly incorporating fast paced drums and a periodic bell. Sugar Hill was the album’s most popular single as far as charts and radio goes. Appropriately enough, it features legendary NYC radio personality, Miss Jones and very capable singer on the hook. This is another one that gave me visualizations of a champagne-induced pool party at a Spanish-style villa. Those thoughts were triggered as soon as I heard the beat (exquisitely concocted by L.E.S.). The album contains a wonderful paradox in Mo Money, Mo Murder, Mo Homicide because while the lyrics are violent in nature, DR Period cooks up a swanky beat built around an O’Jays sample. They contradict in theme but it ultimately works, especially when you have AZ and Nas trading bars.  As an added bonus, a short song called Born Alone, Die Alone is hidden within the song. The title says it all when it comes to the lyrics, as it’s the most dour track on the album in mood, with rain sound effects and simple drums.

The title track invokes feelings of the old show “NY Undercover” partially because AZ mentions it in the song intro. Overall, the vibe would fit right at home on any 90’s cop and crime-related tv show.  We Can’t Win is a thematic departure of sorts because it deals with Five Percent Nation ideology in addition to conspiracy theory type bars in order to explain the plight of the Black community. Amar Pep provides the beat, intro, first verse, and chorus. While I wouldn’t necessarily label this song as conscious rap, it definitely fits as the proverbial change-of-pace track. Ski laces Your World Don’t Stop with a popping snare drum and pulsating piano chords. AZ raps from the perspective of a prisoner and details the harsh realities of life behind bars. In spite of rugged conditions he remains optimistic that life will go on, hence the title. This would be the perfect closing track, but instead it becomes the penultimate one as we get another added bonus in the remix to Sugar Hill. This one is tougher than the original but still excellent and stands the test of time.

This album is a classic not only in sheer quality of music but because of where it stands in Hip Hop’s timeline. It’s a companion piece to Illmatic and essentially bridges the gap between that and It Was Written, gradually taking the setting from the projects to a lavish life. It’s also the thematic cousin to Raekwon’s masterpiece Only Built 4 Cuban Linx as they both came out in 1995 and popularized Mafioso rap, which was a staple that later gave way to the bling era and whatnot. Viewed as a singular project, Doe or Die is absolutely sensational. AZ manages to walk a very thin line between the streets and a more opulent lifestyle, all while staying believable. His bars have substance and he manages to fit multi syllables into every song without falling into the realm of becoming the dreaded “Rappin-Ass-Rapper” who says things just because they fit schematically without having much relevance. Throughout his career AZ has had one of the best ears for beats in the business, and it all started here as nothing is out of place musically. Doe or Die was the starting point for a very solid career for one of the most unfairly slept on emcees in the rap game. In recent years, there have been talks about releasing a sequel to his debut album (something that’s been popular lately in rap). No matter what happens though, AZ can take pride in the fact that he made a perfect album. Take a trip with me and revist the classic Doe or Die below.