It Was Written/Stillmatic [Box] [PA]

Performer: Nas
Artist: AZ; Amerie
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: This two-in-one compilation gathers together the second and fifth records of the groundbreaking Queens rapper Nas, a deft pairing of two records that found it their lot to try and live up to the MC's 1994 landmark debut, ILLMATIC. IT WAS WRITTEN, released two years afterward, boasted tight production from MC Serch and the street poet's elevated sense of rhyme style, and was highlighted by the off-kilter single, "Street Dreams." 2001's STILLMATIC, in both name and spirit, attempted to revive the rapper's halcyon days, and mostly succeeded, aided by a fire fueled by a beef with Jay-Z.

With charged poetic lyrics spit in an almost impossibly smooth flow, Nas turned the rap world on its ear in 1994 when the Queens MC unleashed the instantly immortal ILLMATIC. The immaculate record contained few frills, no skits, no celebrity cameos, just the rapper's deceptively complex rhymes, words that lounged in the listener's psyche for days after, layered over beats by some of the best producers of the day. While the following years would find Nas hard-pressed to live up to his supernova debut, he quietly released solid records. In 2001, his spirit revived by a beef with Jay-Z (they would reunite on stage years later), he released the acerbic STILLMATIC, which was followed by a string of critically praised records, but no shortage of controversy.

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