Nas, It Was Written
A casualty of our belief that other people's lives should make sense
The luxury of revisiting Nas's second album some 15 years later is that reappraisal allows for tempered expectations. In the aftermath of Nas's debut, Illmatic, still one of the most economically compelling pieces of music ever recorded, It Was Written was bizarre, showy and incongruous. It was neither a celebration of new status nor, as many fans lamented, a renewal of old themes. This was an entirely different Nas, one who presented himself as a cosmopolitan, Mafioso kingpin rather than the kid with the chipped-tooth smile dreaming of life beyond the "Rotten Apple."
Despite shattering Nas's persona as rap's great prodigy, It Was Written remains a consistent, occasionally thrilling album. "Escobar status" didn't make him lazy, as evidenced by the meticulous gangland tales of the Havoc-assisted "The Set-Up" or "Take it in Blood." "Affirmative Action" might have benefited from a tougher beat, but hearing Nas hatch plans alongside A.Z., an on-form Cormega and Foxy Brown is mob rap at its best. Schmaltzy Sting sample notwithstanding, "The Message" is an intoxicating mess of "one love/one king," TV-in-the-headrest fantasy. Even its erratic moments, like the first-person, Nas-as-gun experiment "I Gave You Power" or the pop-lunge "If I Ruled the World" seem more fascinating in retrospect, as trial balloons for future Nas personas.
Ultimately, It Was Written was a casualty of our belief that other people's lives should make sense. A couple years earlier, Nas had emerged fully-formed, the teenaged heir to Rakim and Kool G Rap. But the kid had other schemes, new hats he wanted to try on. From the stocking cap to the fedora, presume the unpredictable.
