"There's one life, one love, so there could only be one king."
There are some things I find hilarious day by day. Take into account this fact: people were actually disappointed with this album. Granted, most of us hip-hop heads were spoiled by mad releases the year Nas came out with his sophomore album, It Was Written (Reasonable Doubt, ATLiens, Stakes Is High, Hell on Earth, Illadelph Halflife, I could go on and on...). But long gone was the raw and brash production on Illmatic, and its lyrical focus traded in well written street tales for more mafioso styled themes. Whether or not that was a good or bad thing depended upon how Biggie and Junior M.A.F.I.A. affected your listening habits. For those who listened closely though, the detail was never lost, nor was its knack for storytelling. Sure, we all hate the fact that Trackmasters and Dr. Dre (many people I know were still confused about Dr. Dre and Nas together, and were expecting WAAAAAYYY too much) gave a little bit more polished efforts on the production side, and many questioned Steve Stoute's involvement with Nas, which would later rear its ugly head shortly after Puff had issues with some controversial footage in "Hate Me Now" off the I Am... album. But regardless, this was still a stellar sophomore effort by all accounts, and a hell of a lot better than sophomore releases after it.
So after all that spiel, another installment of Take Three is taking place. Take Three is an attempt to choose 3 cuts to give to a listener who may not either be familiar with the work of an artist, or the specific releases of an artists. Without further dudes (Peter Griffin, can you dig it?) let's get this thing underway.
1. I Gave You Power
Seems like everytime I hear about Nas, or about the best Nas cuts ever recorded, there's always a few that seem to grab my attention (I heard someone once include "You Owe Me" in their top 10 Nas cuts ever, weird). I continue to be surprised by the omission of "I Gave You Power," because it was everything that rested in Illmatic brought back for one tune. One of the lone DJ Premier productions that made the album, Premier draws in stark piano notes, and hard-hitting drums, while Nas personifies himself as a gun and his travails as this weapon. It's rich in its depictions and detail, has a stellar yet fucked up ending (jamming in his owner's hand, and being elated about having control, until another owner picks him up), and all the while, Nas weaves this tale intricately about his owner's rise to fame, and the macabre mentions of his own melodramatic treatment recieved as the gun. If there's some reason this tune isn't in your "Best Nas Cuts Ever" list, well then, that needs to change.
2. The Message
You might remember hearing a piece of this tune in the video for "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)" and being like "where the hell can I hear all of this?" Granted, upon first listen, its a trickster of a tune; a lot of people upon release of the record didn't think it was the strongest introduction to It Was Written, but once they saw the video for "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)," folks that hearlded Nas in the Illmatic days thought he was going off. Hilarious how this song works, and the trick that was played. We were listening to the introduction to It Was Written that whole time and didn't even notice the correlation. Regardless though, this is still a strong introduction, not only for the shot it took at Notorious B.I.G., but once again, Nas's battle stance is unfazed, and every word is delivered as clearly and bravely as it could be.
3. If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)
This song probably got the most mixed reaction in the world when it was chosen as the single for It Was Written. Sure, Lauryn's on the hook, how come not a verse? What's with Nas and this positivity shit? In the grand scheme it was a smart choice, and very well written song, still is much better than "I Can", right? Digressions aside, using Whodini's "Friends" as a backdrop to think about the ways of the world and what would change if Nas ruled it makes for a great song. And damn it, if Lauryn's voice on the hook and breakdown isn't heavenly, there's something wrong with your ears.
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